As “America’s Family Financial Expert,” she has contributed to the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and was a charter columnist for Military Spouse magazine. She has written regular columns for six national magazines and is a Moms Money Clinic advisor for Parents Magazine.
She is the founder and CEO of the Heroes at Home nonprofit, which provides free financial education to military members and their families. In the past 4 years, the Heroes at Home tour has presented 58 shows at 37 bases in 4 countries. She is a podcast host on The Money Millhouse, joining her millennial daughter over coffee with a combination of money and banter.
Ellie graduated from Colorado Christian University with a bachelor’s degree in human resources management and is an Army Family Team Building master trainer. She is an Air Force Academy admissions liaison officer and a member of the 25th Congressional Military Academies Selection Committee. She has received the Army’s Dr. Mary Walker Award and the Marine Corps Spouse Medal. She is a preferred Naval Special Warfare resiliency presenter with the Navy SEALs, and the Air Force awarded her an incentive flight in an F-15E Strike Eagle jet.
Ellie has spent much of her life connected to the military. Her father retired from the Air Force as a chief master sergeant, and her husband is a retired Air Force fighter pilot. Three of her seven children are in the military as well: an infantry officer in the Marine Corps (U.S. Naval Academy 2011), a fighter pilot in the Air Force (U.S. Air Force Academy 2015), and an infantry officer in the Army (U.S. Military Academy 2017). The Kays make their home in Palmdale, California.
