BOB AQUILINO, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT
Role: Bob Aquilino, founder and president of Homes for Life, and his team work one-on-one with you – from home concept to home completion – to ensure you get exactly what you want and need in your custom, beautiful, accessible home.
Credentials: After beginning his career in residential construction as a framing and trim carpenter, Bob entered the corporate world and served as an executive for more than 30 years. He returned to the construction industry several years ago and launched Homes for Life.
During his corporate career, Bob spent 16 years with PepsiCo as an international executive for both the Pepsi-Cola™ and Frito Lay™ divisions, and 10 years as a president for two United Technologies companies. He served as president of five multinational companies over a 20 year period primarily in the security and fire prevention industries.
His business experience ranges from strategic planning, to sales and marketing, to finance. A graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Bob has also completed executive studies at Oxford University, Darden School of Business and The Wharton School.
Today, he is applying his business skills to help families searching for their forever home. Bob holds a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) designation from the National Association of Home Builders and a Certified Living in Place Professional (CLIPP) designation from the Living in Place Institute.
In 2016, Bob was named to the board of the University of North Carolina’s Partnerships in Aging Program and Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, N.C. Bob has also served his community as a board member and Big Brother for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and as a board member for United Service Organizations (USO) in Rome, Italy, and for Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Bob is a guest speaker/adviser on leadership development at UNC–Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, where he also holds an adjunct faculty position.
MELANIE AQUILINO, CLIENT SERVICES MANAGER
Role: Melanie Aquilino manages every facet of your Homes for Life experience – from your initial meeting to your certificate of occupancy.
Credentials: Melanie is a client services manager and operations specialist with more than 20 years of experience in operations, training and programming for nonprofit organizations. She has worked in program design, implementation, leadership training and mentorship facilitation. Her experience includes staff and volunteer positions at organizations such as Girls on the Run and National Charity League.
Melanie has participated in many community service activities and has served on boards in several school districts and with National Charity League. Currently, she is obtaining her certification in the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education, which helps people use movement and real-time awareness of their own body sensations to make positive changes.
Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pennsylvania State University.
CAROLINA COUNTRY HOMES, ACCESSIBLE MODULAR HOME BUILDER
Role: Carolina Country Homes – a Homes for Life certified builder that knows what it takes to imagine, design and build a custom, beautiful, accessible modular home – ensures that all features in your final design plan are built according to specifications.
Credentials: Carolina Country Homes is a modular home builder serving North and South Carolina. The company, founded in 1998, specializes in personalized building that addresses the client’s needs while surpassing expectations. Carolina Country Homes also prepares lots with clearing, driveways, and water and sewage, if needed.
STALLS MEDICAL, DURABLE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT CONSULTANT
Role: Stalls Medical works with you to recommend any assistive devices, durable medical equipment and geriatric technologies that will allow you to live comfortably in your accessible home.
Credentials: Stalls Medical provides quality assistive technology: adaptive vans, manual and power wheelchairs, scooters, stair lifts, vertical platform lifts, patient lifts, hospital beds, bathroom safety items and more. A family-owned, service-oriented company founded in 1990, Stalls Medical helps clients identify products and services that enhance their lifestyles.
AMBER WARD, LICENSED OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST AND ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST
Role: Amber Ward uses her expertise to consider the science and influences of aging, medicine, healthcare – even a family’s medical history, on the home environment. She conducts personal, in-depth assessments that determine the current design needs for an accessible home as well as opportunities to deploy assistive technologies. Amber uses this data to predict what environmental needs an individual or family should consider for now and in the future. During evaluation process, she will use a standardized, digital assessment process to help create safe and appropriate living environments across the continuum of care for all persons/families, including seniors or those with physical limitations. The client will receive an In-Depth Assessment Report that will become the foundation for designing and building your Home For Life.
Credentials: Amber is a licensed occupational therapist with more than 27 years of experience. She sees clients as an occupational therapist in an outpatient neurology clinic and in the wheelchair seating clinic she manages. She holds several certifications:
Amber is a subject matter expert on Aging In Place, the impact of disability, diseases, and home technology devices that make activities of daily life easier to manage. She earned a Master of Science in occupational therapy from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee and a Bachelor of Science in occupational therapy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Amber is an adjunct professor at Cabarrus College where she teaches graduate-level courses in occupational therapy. She volunteers on the board of a therapeutic horseback riding farm as well as the board of a national group of therapists working in complex seating and wheeled mobility.
AMELIA PRICE, MARKETING MANAGER
Role: Amelia Price applies her experience in the building design industry and her working knowledge of residential land development to research emerging trends in home building for clients who are exploring their options for an accessible home for life.
Credentials: Amelia has more than 30 years of experience in marketing communications with architecture and engineering firms. She has worked with multinational, national and regional firms, and has managed marketing and communications departments. In addition, Amelia has planned and developed public involvement presentations and municipal government forums.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and comparative literature from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.
JERRY STALLS
Credentials: Jerry Stalls – the founder of Stalls Medical, a provider of quality assistive technology – has spent more than 40 years in rehabilitative health.
After graduating with a degree in rehabilitative counseling from Appalachian State University in North Carolina, Jerry worked in the vocational and rehabilitation division at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. There he formulated and opened seven cardiac rehabilitation programs across the state. He then joined the private sector as a representative for post-hospital and residential rehabilitative health products.
In 1990, Jerry opened his own business, specializing in durable medical equipment including power chairs and customized vehicles for people with disabilities. Today, Stalls Medical offers many mobility solutions and is well-connected nationally to provide products and therapeutic consulting services.
Jerry’s experience also includes working with federal and state agencies as well as health insurers.
JAMES H. JOHNSON JR., PH.D.
Credentials: Jim Johnson is a nationally recognized demographer; William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship; and director, Urban Investment Strategies Center at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill’s Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
Through his work at the Institute of Private Enterprise, Jim started the Elder Care Innovations Hub as a joint venture with UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. This initiative brings together university experts in business, medicine, bioengineering, municipal planning, public health and public policy to foster new solutions and forge new ways to approach aging in America.
Jim has a unique understanding of the business of aging. He holds a Ph.D. from Michigan State University, a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Central University.
MARK STREET
Credentials: Mark Street is president of Carolina Country Homes, a modular home builder serving North and South Carolina. Mark has a thorough understanding of the modular industry: its building processes, project-delivery methodology, marketing requirements and financial demands.
Before joining Carolina Country Homes, Mark spent 12 years in leadership positions with Meineke Car Care Centers that included serving as chief financial officer. For several years, he was a consultant and adviser to many successful startups and mid-sized private and public companies where he specialized in business performance, strategy and operations. Mark holds a degree from Minster College, Kent, United Kingdom.
