Credentials
Continuing education
Harvard University — CS50’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python (CS50 certificate of completion issued October 2026).
The Open University — Becoming an ethical researcher (OpenLearn; completed October 2026).
The Open University — Carrying out research for policy and advocacy work (OpenLearn; completed October 2026).
The Open University — Quantitative and qualitative research in finance (OpenLearn; completed October 2026).
Professional History
Ross Kilburn previously worked as a Washington real estate broker with AgencyOne Realty LLC, focused on residential lead generation and referrals, and as a mortgage loan originator with Hometown Lending (TMBG, Inc.).
Marketing Director — Foreclosure Defense Law Firm
Leads marketing for a Washington State foreclosure defense practice. Daily exposure to early-stage distress data — why homeowners fall behind, which programs work, and what the pipeline looks like before it reaches official statistics. American Default Research grew directly out of this work.
Founder — American Default Research
Founded American Default Research to bring together public data on household financial distress. Its American Distress Index combines five equally weighted domains into a composite score, with the methodology published for readers to inspect.
COO — Ark Law Group, PLLC
Chief operating officer of a foreclosure defense firm serving homeowners in five states, in foreclosure, short sales, loan modifications, and bankruptcy. Twice named to the Puget Sound Business Journal Fast 50. Co-authored The Ark Law Group Complete Guide to Short Sales with Lambros Politis, Esq., originally published in 2013.
Founder — Seattle Short Sales, Inc.
Founded Seattle Short Sales, Inc. at the onset of the 2008 crisis. Negotiated over 1,000 short sales between distressed homeowners and their mortgage servicers during the Great Recession — direct exposure to the mechanics of household financial collapse at scale.
Founder — Washington Foreclosure Assistance
Property preservation on foreclosed homes during the early-2000s housing run-up — the first of two decades spent inside the machinery of American household financial distress.
Why American Default Research Exists
Public data on household finances is spread across agencies and reports. American Default Research brings those measures together so readers can follow changes in debt, employment, savings, and other signs of financial distress.
The American Distress Index uses data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and other federal sources. The methodology is published and the calculations are open to independent verification.
Editorial Stance & Funding
Every number American Default Research publishes traces to the data or a cited source. Analysis and projections are labelled as ours, so a reader can always tell the measured figure from the interpretation built on it.
The site does not sell its public data or paywall any indicator. When a homeowner asks for help through the site's form, Ross connects them with one attorney, real estate agent or debt-relief provider. No one pays for that referral, and the site never sells a homeowner's information. No homeowner is contacted unless they ask to be. If any of this changes, this page will say so.
Where a conflict could exist, the site states it directly rather than burying it. Transparency is a stronger trust signal than the absence of conflict.
Contact
Research profile: Ross Kilburn on ORCID.
For media inquiries, methodology questions, or data collaboration, email: press@americandefault.org
Journalists: see the press kit for canonical citation formats, current story angles, and embed code.