Dusty Gwinn, General Manager of the West Virginia University Business Incubator, recently participated in Leadership West Virginia, which is a statewide program to develop, strengthen and connect emerging leaders for the Mountain State, March 26th and 27th in Martinsburg, West Virginia (located in the eastern panhandle). Gwinn is one of 52 individuals to be members of the Leadership Class of 2009, an eight session program designed to stimulate leadership in the state of West Virginia.
Gwinn is a Beckley native who now lives and works in Morgantown as a patent attorney with the West Virginia Business Research Corp., Office of Technology Transfer, as well as general manager of the WVU Business Incubator. He has passed by Martinsburg many times on his way to other places, but his stopping in Martinsburg for the two-day conference was part of the plan Leadership WV organizers had in mind: to introduce people to different parts of the state they have never before been.
Thursday’s agenda had a morning leadership training class at the Runway Restaurant and an afternoon tour of one of the West Virginia Air National Guard’s 167th Airlift Wing’s Lockheed C-5A transport airplanes and a trip to the top of the new air traffic control tower. According to the website, “The cargo bay of the C-5A is so large that the Wright Brothers’ first flight could have taken off and landed inside the plane’s hold.”
The tour consisted of information pertinent to the conference and the West Virginia economy, such as how by 2012, the unit will employ 644 people full-time, the landing strip was extended to 8,800 feet (the longest in the state), and a fueling system, fire station, flight simulator, three hangers, and a 10-story tall control tower are all new additions.
Friday continued with a presentation by Harry M. Siegel, president and CEO of HMS Technologies Inc. and a panel discussion on industry challenges in West Virginia, with Dotty Clayton of Quad/Graphics, Charlene Gilliam of Allegheny Power, Clay Herzog of Mountain View Solar & Wind Power, and Scott Rotruck of Chesapeake Energy at the Holiday Inn followed by afternoon tours of the Ecolab, Essroc and Quad/Graphics plants.
The program’s website states that “The cultivation of new leadership is of utmost importance to West Virginia’s future prosperity and progress. Leadership West Virginia works to develop and motivate a cross-section of leaders who will use their talents and abilities to inspire others and to foster a new spirit of energy, enthusiasm and vitality throughout the state.”
Of the experience, Gwinn told Journal-News.Net “”The program proves its worth right off.”
For more information, please visit The Journal and LeadershipWV
Posted by Vanessa White on April 2, 2009 at 2:10 pm in the following categories: WVUBI
