Kevin Clayton, CEO of Clayton
MHInsider Influencer Award Winner
Kevin Clayton leads Clayton, a national builder of off-site built homes, with a focus on innovation, sustainability, and customer experience. Clayton works together with industry partners to make homeownership attainable for more families. Clayton teamed around the initiative of CrossMod homes, a new type of off-site built homes with the potential to finance and appraise similarly to site-built homes. Additionally, he spearheaded matching funding for the RV/MH Hall of Fame, and has provided innumerable gifts from the Clayton Home Foundation and the Family Foundation that invest in affordable housing, community involvement, and educational enhancement.
The 2020 MHInsider Industry Awards nominees for the Influencer Award included Steve Schaub, of Yes Communities, and Mike Sullivan, of Newport Pacific. The MHInsider Influencer Award honors individuals who by their presence and authentic implementation of ideas have created widely held business practices and wholesale improvement for the industry.
What do you view as the biggest accomplishment of your career?
My greatest accomplishment is continuing the work we are doing to create a world-class experience for our customers and our team members. We continue to seek out ways to improve the lives of our team members, whether it’s investing in leadership training, diversity and inclusion initiatives, or mental health awareness, all of which have contributed to creating more engaged teams. Only together are we able to unite in our efforts to improve lives and utilize innovative building methods and products to build a better tomorrow. That is why providing an extraordinary team member experience is so important, and why we continue to look for ways to engage our workforce, reduce turnover, increase wages and invest in our facilities. We want to make Clayton more than just a place to work — it’s a family atmosphere with fellow teammates.
What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements?
One of the most important skills I’ve learned during my career is to adopt a servant leadership mindset that is focused on helping others. By directing our efforts to improving the lives of our team members, homeowners, and communities, we are able to build a stronger and better company. Warren Buffett says if he could inject one gene into every company he owns, it would be to make them customer-focused. By listening to others and striving to answer their needs, we made, and continue to make, progress. I also believe it is important for us to help the communities in which we live by getting involved locally, investing in education, and affordable housing initiatives. I recognize the unique position we are in to make the world a better place. This industry is all about building a better future for our team members, customers, communities, and future generations.
MHInsider Influencer Award Nominee Steve Schaub
Steve Schaub is the founder and the CEO for Yes Communities, one of the largest portfolio ownership groups of manufactured home communities in the United States. Schaub created a company that focuses on building and operating affordable communities nationwide and connecting residents together to form communities in every sense of the word. He oversees all the company’s acquisitions, capital market activities, and corporate strategy. His influence with the company and in the industry has been felt particularly in the area of resident relations, hospitality, and service to the customer. Schaub has authorized reallocation of vital resources during times of stress and adversity, including for residents during inclement weather events and in the economic impact of coronavirus measures.
MHInsider Influencer Award Nominee Mike Sullivan
Mike Sullivan is the CEO of Newport Pacific Family of Companies, and is a certified property manager, a California general contractor and a manufactured home dealer. Having served as president of the board of directors of the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association, and as president of the Santa Clara County Manufactured Housing Education Trust, he remains active in industry organizations. He served as board secretary of the WMA, chairman of the WMA Bylaws Committee, and on the WMA Executive and Finance Committees. Modular Lifestyles, a Newport Pacific company, has lead the factory-built housing industry in energy efficiency. Three good examples are the Schuberth house, Oak Haven, and the Touring Off the Grid Tiny House model. The factory-built home has reached major milestones from proven zero to low-cost resident/homeowner operating expenses in homes and communities. The company received an MHI award for Excellence in Manufactured Housing for its work, and the organization has been profiled several times on the news, in TV shows, and in academic research.
MHInsider is a publication of MHVillage and is the premier source of manufactured housing news with a national audience of manufactured housing professionals dedicated to producing and delivering high quality, affordable, off-site built housing.
