Nan McKay is a pioneering figure in the U.S. affordable housing and Section 8 programs, with a legacy spanning over 40 years. As the founder of Nan McKay & Associates, she has profoundly influenced policy changes, training, and consultancy services in the housing sector. Beyond this, she is also the owner of Nan McKay Connects LLC, a venture specializing in leader development training through the Lead and Succeed Management Training Program. A dynamic speaker, Nan is passionate about addressing the challenges and opportunities of generational shifts in the workplace, ensuring organizations are equipped to navigate these transitions effectively for a thriving work environment. Her enduring commitment to both community development and leadership training has transformed lives, neighborhoods, and businesses across the nation.

As the President of the Board of Directors of Nan McKay and Associates (NMA), Nan McKay guides a corporation she founded in 1980. She started the business, working out of the basement of her house in Minnesota, unable, as a woman-owned business, to get a credit card in her own name. After working for housing authorities for 17 years, she decided to start a business, doing what she knew best, with speaking engagements and seminars around the country, teaching subsidized housing staff how to administer the HUD housing programs within the regulatory compliance environment. NMA provided hundreds of seminars a year with NMA-developed training manuals and also presented programs for the Housing Television Network. She founded Nan McKay Computer Services, branching out into software development, developing one of the first programs for PCs, back in the days when only the very large housing authorities had computer equipment.Under the leadership of her son for the past decade-plus, CEO John McKay, NMA has grown to over 2000 employees. NMA specializes in providing the largest affordable housing program administration in the country, encompassing the management of over 100,000 subsidized housing units nationwide. NMA is the largest provider of organizational development, consulting, and training to both public and private federally affordable housing sectors with offices in ten cities. NMA is a leader in the disaster recovery area throughout the U.S. and its territories. Nan McKay was selected as 2019 California Woman Business Owner of the Year and 2018 San Diego Woman Business Owner of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Nan McKay served as the first Executive Director of the Dakota County Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Upon request of the County Commissioners, she prepared the initial paperwork with the State of Minnesota to create the Dakota County HRA. By establishing the agency, it was eligible to receive federal funding and operate affordable housing programs. She supervised the preparation of grant applications that were funded to construct and/or rehabilitate housing for the elderly and families. The agency constructed high-rises for the elderly and disabled, and single-family, townhouse, and low-rise multifamily properties for low-income families. Dakota County HRA was one of the first agencies in the country to receive funding for the Section 8 Certificate/Voucher Program for the elderly and families. She also applied for and received HUD funding for Community Development Programs on behalf of the County. The Community Development programs included constructing a human services building and purchasing and rehabilitating a shelter for battered women. The programs also included the construction of sidewalks, sewers and gutters, and other projects. She obtained a historical status for the Dakota County Courthouse. She also applied for and administered rehabilitation loans and grants for homeowners and funding for weatherization of homes in the County. Under her direction, the Dakota County Housing and Redevelopment Authority received a National Association of Counties Award. The agency was selected by HUD as one of the 13 outstanding housing authority programs in the country. The Dakota County Commissioners named a family housing development after her, McKay Manor, in Apple Valley, Minnesota.Nan served on the Board of Directors of the National Leased Housing Association. She served on the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) and was on the National Housing Committee, VP of the region, and President of the state chapter.

Serving as Assistant to the Director, Nan learned subsidized housing and urban renewal by studying under Executive Director, Harold Moriarty. She was promoted to Assistant Executive Director of the agency. Nan feels she owes her housing career to Mr. Moriarty who gave her the opportunity as a woman to prove herself at the executive level.She was responsible for the relocation of the elderly and families who were displaced by an urban renewal project. Working with the community on how Concord Street could be rebuilt, she relocated the families but found the elderly were difficult to rehouse. She prepared an application for an elderly high-rise housing of 132 people which received funding in 1968. She supervised the design, construction, and occupancy of the building, and managed the building for three years. The South St. Paul Commissioners named the nine-story building after her, the Nan McKay Building. She assisted the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development staff in writing the Business Acquisition and Relocation Guide used by cities around the country.

Nan started as a secretary working with the Minneapolis Housing Authority simply because she needed a job. She worked in the Rehabilitation Department for almost four years, a new department for the agency at the time. In that capacity, she opened, staffed, and organized three neighborhood offices that administered rehabilitation loans and grants and constructed sidewalks, sewers, and gutters. She was transferred to the central office and acted as Administrative Assistant to the department. When her boss tried to formally promote her into the position, she was told by the agency's executive staff that rehabilitation was a man's department and they couldn't officially put a woman in that position. Nan interviewed applicants and trained the man they selected for the job.