| WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – As the 2025 Business Summit wrapped up its final day Friday at The Greenbrier, the record-breaking event will be sure to have positive effects on West Virginia and its business climate long after the last speaker left the podium.
The 89th West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Business Summit soared to new levels and numbers over three days at the historic hotel.
A record 1,200 people from around the Mountain State attended the event (the state’s largest gathering of business, healthcare, industry, education, financial and political leaders) in a powerful showcase of all that our state has to offer. The West Virginia Chamber has experienced a year of growth and vitality – all leading up to a new record crowd, support and engagement in the event’s history.
More than 60 speakers, including best-selling authors, the CEOs of top companies, two U.S. senators and the governor, made presentations while embracing a common goal – to make West Virginia better.
The program on Friday started with a conversation about how apprenticeships can be a workforce solution. Panelists participating in the discussion were Derek Scarbro, director of the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center; James Mull, chief executive officer of the Mull Group; and Kimberly Knapp, manager of training, development and grants at Ferroglobe/WVA Manufacturing, LLC.
Scarbro said the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center does consulting to help companies develop apprenticeship programs, and there is no cost to companies to implement the programs. Forty-two companies currently participate. He said apprenticeships are “essentially playbooks for training to grow your talent inside your company.”
After the discussion about the value of apprenticeships, a panel gathered to talk about the essential role education will play in shaping the future of West Virginia. The conversation featured Sarah Armstrong Tucker, chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission; Michele Blatt, state superintendent of schools with the West Virginia Department of Education; and Jacob Mishook, senior director of policy and advocacy at the College Board.
Chancellor Tucker said she is doggedly trying to find ways to boost the state’s going-to-college rate after students complete high school – a figure currently at 47%. Officials are holding more financial aid workshops to help fight the misconception about the affordability of college and the financial help that is available and offering dual enrollment courses to help get more students on the pathway to higher education.
Superintendent Blatt said state officials have been pleased about the improvements in test scores for students in third through eighth grades. She said they are working to have more career exploration opportunities for middle school students and offering high school students AP classes, dual enrollment courses and career pathways.
Mishook said College Board, which helps more than 7 million students a year with programs like SAT, AP, PSAT and BigFuture, will be offering two new courses – an AP business course on personal finance and a cyber security course.
The final panel discussion of the summit featured a topic that is close to the hearts of everyone who loves the Mountain State: coming home and finding success in West Virginia. Panelists participating in that conversation were Wendy Goodenough, CEO of DIGIT3; Chris Weikle, government relations director of Expand Energy; and Ed Ryan, senior manager of North America Trade Operations at lululemon.
Goodenough said she left the state to attend Ohio State University and became a divorce lawyer in Troy, Ohio, but her father’s illness and a business opportunity brought her back to the Mountain State.
“I would choose every time, in every lifetime, to be an entrepreneur and come back to West Virginia,” Goodenough said.
Weikle said he left the state for higher pay and a bigger title after feeling undervalued by out-of-state executives. But country roads came calling and he discovered returning to West Virginia, its mountains, its people and those he loves the most took him back to the place his heart has always been.
Ryan said he left West Virginia to pursue a master’s degree in international trade because the program wasn’t offered here. He lived in Washington, D.C., and worked his way up in the ranks of government. Two decades later, he came back to Mountain State, a place he loves for its people, mountains and four seasons.
As the summit neared its end and the
closing remarks, Rex Repass, president of Research America, shared a preview of the results of MetroNews’ West Virginia Poll. Full poll results will be released by MetroNews.
The summit was streamed on the West Virginia Chamber’s website and its YouTube page. You can follow the latest news from the chamber on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram. |
