President & CEO
Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation

Michelle Foster’s career trajectory is marked by remarkable diversity and profound impact. Commencing as a chemical engineer, she transitioned into community economic development, leveraging her expertise to fortify West Virginia families through various initiatives.

Her educational journey is extensive, boasting degrees from esteemed institutions like City College of New York, Southern New Hampshire University, and Marshall University, encompassing fields ranging from chemical engineering to community economic development and engineering management.

Her dedication to community service shines through her leadership roles in numerous organizations, both nationally and locally. Noteworthy achievements include receiving numerous accolades recognizing her contributions, such as the Woman of Achievement Award from the YWCA and the Living the Dream Award from the WV Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission. Her involvement spans diverse sectors, from nonprofit management to impact investing, showcasing her adaptability and unwavering commitment to effecting change.

Michelle’s commitment to knowledge dissemination and problem-solving is further evidenced by her publication of a book and the launch of a podcast. These platforms afford her the opportunity to reach a wider audience and share insights on successful strategies for dynamic nonprofits.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Michelle indulges in a variety of hobbies, including travel, attendance at music festivals and theatrical productions, crafting scented candles, and soul line dancing. This well-rounded approach to life underscores her passion for exploration, creativity, and enjoyment beyond the realm of her professional obligations.

In sum, Michelle Foster’s journey serves as a testament to the transformative potential of education, community engagement, and continuous learning in fostering positive change and enriching lives.

Deputy Director
Cassiopeia Foundation/Purple Tiger Impact

Stephanie drives social change through investments that bring positive environmental and social impacts in addition to financial returns. She works to build mutually beneficial relationships that increase local wealth ad power.

Working with the Appalachia Funders Network, Stephanie has led the development of “Invest Appalachia,” a market-making fund to accelerate economic opportunity in a six state region. This systems level collective will balance and blend a $17 million pool of catalytic capital to unlock and deploy a $35 million investment fund.

Working closely with community members and multisector partners, Invest Appalachia provides tailored capital stacks to enterprises and community investments that build long term economic self sufficiency.

In her role as Deputy Director of Cassiopeia Foundation (formerly Blue Moon Fund), Stephanie works to strategically identify investment opportunities that will advance the environmental and social impacts defined by the founding family while also producing financial returns.

Chief Executive Officer
The Foundation for Appalachian KY

Kristin Walker Collins is the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky (Foundation) in Hazard, Kentucky, the only nationally accredited community foundation in southeastern Kentucky. Before starting her career in philanthropy, Kristin worked as an attorney specializing in Family Law and Municipal Law with the law firm of Hollon & Collins.

Kristin is active in many community activities including serving as Vice-President of the Hazard-Perry County Chamber of Commerce, and serving as Board Chair of the Appalachian Early Childhood Network. She is the founder and President of the Hazard Rotary Club Foundation, Inc., which operates the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Perry County, Kentucky, a program providing a free book a month to children under the age of five. In addition to serving on the Appalachia Funders Network Steering Committee, she is a member of the Appalachian Cradle to Career Coalition, Chair of the Endow Kentucky Commission, and a Trustee for Philanthropy Southeast.

In her (little) free time, she enjoys traveling the world, quilting, visiting with family and friends, and reading. Kristin resides in Hazard, Kentucky with her husband, Jonathan, a local attorney, and their daughters, Palmer and Piper.

Founder & Lead Cultural Strategist at Art at the Intersections

Joe Tolbert Jr. (Joe T.) is an organizer, executive, minister, writer, and commentator whose work and passion lie at the intersection of art, culture, spirituality, and social justice. In 2023 he was named Waymakers Collective’s first Executive Director, where he builds on the foundational work he laid as the Collective’s founding Program Director, driven by his personal belief that art and community can be a powerful force that can create real change. A native of Knoxville TN — the state’s 3rd largest city — Joe is proud to represent a wider understanding of what it means to be Appalachian (or “Affrilachian”).

He received his B.S. in Communications from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and completed his M.Div. in Social Ethics from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Joe is a sought-after facilitator and cultural strategist who works with communities and institutions to help them harness the power of art and culture through the building, implementation, and evaluation of cultural strategies.

Waymaker’s Collective’s Appalcore Member and Artist

Tiffany Pyette is a community organizer, activist, facilitator, published poet, and visual artist based in Kentucky. She believes in storytelling as our greatest asset to connect and communicate. She centers using arts and culture to build community power and builds capacity within several organizations and collectives in Central Appalachia.

She is a former fellow of programs such as KFTC’s Kentucky Empower Leadership Cohort, Younify’s Democracy Fellowship, ACF’s Capacity Builder Fellowship, and the Mountain Sentinels Fellowship She serves on Appalachian Community Fund’s Board of Directors. She is also a KEJC Board Client Member, a UK-CARES Stakeholder Advisory Board Member, and a member of the Waymaker’s Collective’s elected Appalcore.

Development Coordinator
The Alliance for Appalachia

Taysha is a resident of Wise County, Virginia, and lives in Big Stone Gap with her son, Aiden. She was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, and is an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma. Taysha is a graduate of UVA-Wise in Communications and is the Donor Engagement Coordinator at the Appalachian Community Fund.

Taysha is an active participant in social justice and flood relief efforts in Central Appalachia, including serving as a representative at UVA-Wise for Indigenous Peoples Month, a founding member of Lonesome Pine Mutual Aid, and the former president of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards. Taysha was appointed by former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to serve on the Virginia Environmental Justice Council in 2020, which she now the former chair.

She is the recipient of the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable Good Citizen award for her work as a water protector and also received the 2023 Democratic Grassroots Organizer award. Taysha was the Democratic candidate for the 9th District congressional race in 2022

Owner & Managing Director
Rural Support Partners

Thomas has more than 25 years of experience in business, social enterprise, non-profit, and foundation management; community economic development; network building; and philanthropy.

Over the years, Thomas has worked at all levels of the change ecosystem from providing hands-on capacity-building support to grassroots groups to managing national philanthropic initiatives to building and managing regional networks, including the Appalachia Funders Network & Central Appalachian Network.

For the past 15 years, he has served as the owner & managing director at Rural Support Partners – a mission-focused management consulting firm that equips changemakers, organizations, and networks with the ability to cultivate lasting, equitable, and participatory change in rural areas.

Executive Director Emeritus
Appalachian Community Fund

Margo Miller is a daughter of Appalachia, born and raised in East Tennessee. She’s a retired radio show DJ, frustrated poet, and an avid crafter with a strong affinity for art and culture and social justice.

In 2024, she retired from her role as executive director at Appalachian Community Fund, which she stewarded thirteen years. During her tenure, she stabilized the organization and helped leverage millions of dollars to support social change work in Appalachia.

In the early 1990s, she worked with Carpetbag Theatre, a professional African-American ensemble company. Through that work, and others like Alternate ROOTS, she has had the opportunity to collaborate with artists, arts organizations, and organizers all over the United States.

Mostly recently, she is one of the founding assembly members of the Waymaker’s Collective, a grantmaker in Appalachia that is disrupting philanthropy through community-led and controlled giving that supports groups often overlooked by traditional philanthropy

Former Director of Community and Economic Development Benedum

Mary Hunt has served in community and economic development roles at the municipal, county and state levels. She also held top administrative management posts at a state agency and private corporation before joining the Benedum Foundation, a regional charitable foundation where she retired after serving for 22 years as the grants program staff for community and economic development for West Virginia.

Mary currently works as a consultant and volunteers on nonprofit boards advancing arts & culture, land reuse, and innovation- based economic development.

Founder in Residence
The Foundation for Appalachian KY

Gerry Roll is the founding executive director of the Foundation, committed to helping create places where all people can thrive. Focused on building communities of people with the capacity to create solutions and the ability to leverage the resources needed, Gerry’s work in eastern Kentucky has been focused on engaging local people to create equity in housing, early childhood education, and health. She has led the creation of a regional Community Housing Development Organization, a federally qualified health center; a quality rated early care and education system and a full continuum of other support services for working families. Gerry is a founding member of Appalachia Funders Network and an alumnus of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Community Advisory Council. She is recognized locally, regionally, statewide and nationally as an advocate for rural development and community philanthropy. Gerry lives on the north fork of the Kentucky River in Busy, Kentucky.

On January 1st, 2024, Gerry stepped down as CEO and now serves as the Founder-in-Residence until her official retirement on March 31st, 2025.

Managing Director of Impact Finance, Newsgathering, & Communications
Media Growth Partners (MGP)

Eli Flournoy leads news business strategic initiatives in startup and growth capital access and impact measurement. Eli and his MGP co-founders collaborate with a network of media technology companies supporting the news industry, like Yodel Community Connections and News Games, universities, big tech, NGOs and funders of news.

Following a 24-year career at CNN, Eli is an award-winning veteran journalist and impact finance specialist, dedicated to building global communications partnerships for the restoration of news ecosystems and growth of local journalism businesses. News industry clients range from the innovative non-profit startup Athens County Independent in Ohio, and the Institute for Non-Profit News (INN), with its Rural News Network in the United States, to SocPortal Ukraine and the publishers of the Australian news association LINA.

As an Executive in Residence with the Voinovich School’s Social Enterprise Ecosystem and Impact Measurement & Management programs at Ohio University, Eli provides business coaching, strategic communications, advisory and corporate board development, and C-suite technical support to small businesses and investor clients.

Eli lives in Atlanta and holds an MBA from Ohio University, and a BA from Indiana University.

Customer Success Manager
Yodel Community Connections

Corie Loomis has been the Customer Success Manager at Yodel Community Connections for over 3 years. She’s a proud alumnus of the University of Mount Union where the leadership skills she learned as Captain of the Women’s Basketball team now translate to her collaborations with community leaders. Her role ensures successful app launches and ongoing support to all Yodel users.

Business Development Manager
Yodel Community Connections

Rachel Normansell, a seasoned professional with over 10 years of sales experience, has served as the Business Development Manager at Yodel Community Connections for over 2 years. A proud alumna of Ohio University, where she pursued a degree in psychology, Rachel brings a diverse skill set to her role and enjoys serving the community. Outside of her professional endeavors, she is a competitive powerlifter and finds joy in gardening and reading.

Co-Founder and Editor in Chief
Athens County Independent

Corinne Colbert's four-decade career encompasses journalism, book and magazine publishing, nonprofit communications and project management.

She co-founded the nonprofit Athens County Independent in 2022 after she was fired by the Athens News for warning readers about deceptive advertising in the publication; she leveraged the resulting outcry into an $18,000 crowdfunding campaign to launch the Independent. In 18 months of publishing, the Independent has grown to over 3,000 subscribers for its three weekly newsletters and 15,000–25,000 page views per month. In 2023, the Independent was chosen for Indiegraf's News Startup Fund and was named a finalist in the Future of News Division of the Next Challenge; in 2024, the Independent and Corinne were featured prominently in a Nieman Lab series on local nonprofit news.

Corinne is an avid reader who enjoys cooking, word puzzles, and stirring up trouble by running her mouth. She lives in rural Athens County with her husband and a miniature bull terrier named Grizzly.

Executive Director
Athens County Foundation

Kerry Pigman serves as the Executive Director for the Athens County Foundation, and is passionate about creating, cultivating, and sustaining opportunities for Appalachian Ohioans. Kerry is a former entrepreneur, having co-founded and led a venture backed education services company based in Nelsonville, OH for 18 years. Kerry has

also served as Executive in Residence with the Ohio University Voinovich School’s Social Enterprise Ecosystem Project where she worked as a business advisor to social enterprises and was a founding member of the Impact Innovation Group (IIG)- a collaborative focused on creating funding opportunities to help launch, grow, and sustain businesses in Appalachian OH and WV. Kerry serves on the Invest Appalachia Board of Directors and Community Advisory Council and the Appalachia Funders Network Steering Committee where she is Co-Chair of the Place-Based Foundation group.

Vice President for Business & Finance
West Virginia State University (Retired)

Retired Vice President for Business and Finance at West Virginia State University (WVSU) and former Assistant Professor of Accounting. Prior to joining WVSU, Melvin’s career included thirty plus years employment with Union Carbide Corporation / Dow Chemical Co.

In addition to his professional career, Melvin has and continues to serve the community, through his founding of the African-American Philanthropy in Action (a giving circle). Melvin also work with several local non-profits , KISRA, Covenant House, Black Voter Impact Initiative, For West Virginia’s Furfure, Charleston Area Medical Center, Vandalia Health Systems, also The Clay Center for Arts and Sciences.

Senior Director of Community
Philanthropy Together

Tyeshia ‘Ty’ Wilson is a bold catalyst for social change inspiring generosity and collective action through philanthropic advising, training, and is a sought-after speaker on collective giving and trust-based philanthropy. As Senior Director of Community at Philanthropy Together, Ty leads a global engagement strategy to scale and strengthen collective giving and advance equitable grantmaking practices. A proven fundraiser, organizer and builder of relationships, Ty has helped launch giving circles around the world and trained hundreds of individuals and organizations how to start collective giving groups through Launchpad For You, Launchpad For Hosts, and Launchpad for Nonprofits— Philanthropy Together’s flagship giving circle training programs.

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Tyeshia has a contagious passion for people, service and activating the community towards collective action and impact. Prior to joining Philanthropy Together, Tyeshia has worked across sectors as a hospitality manager, a fundraiser and a former local government professional.

Tyeshia is involved in numerous volunteer organizations focused on advancing equity in philanthropy and strengthening democracy, including Register HER, Our Vote is Our Voice, Philanos, Women of Color in Fundraising in Philanthropy, and is the Chair of HERitage Giving Fund, the first Black giving circle in Texas that invests in Black, women-led nonprofits serving women and girls. She holds a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Texas at Arlington and a M.S. in Public Leadership with a concentration in Nonprofit and Community Leadership from the University of North Texas at Dallas. In 2022, Tyeshia was an honoree on the annual Black Women Give Back List presented by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, Black Philanthropy Month and The WISE Fund.

Director of Community Impact
Invest Appalachia

Baylen Campbell (he/him/his) is Invest Appalachia’s Director of Community Impact. Originally from and based in Hazard, Kentucky Baylen brings experience working as a grant maker and an economic development and nonprofit practitioner. In partnership with the Community Advisory Council Baylen leads IA’s Catalytic Capital development, deployment, and community accountability. Additionally, he manages IA’s impact measurement, policy research, and partnership development with a focus on capacity building.

Consultant

Deb Markley has worked in the field of community economic development for 4 decades. In 2001, she launched, with Don Macke, the national Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, committed to building the practice of entrepreneur-focused economic development in rural communities. In the past year, her focus has been on helping to build more equitable, resilient local food systems particularly in the southeast.

Executive Director
Appalachian Community Fund

Garrett Blaize is a 24-year-old community organizer and administrator from the Appalachian Mountains. They serve as the staff lead for grantmaking and philanthropic partnerships at the Appalachian Community Fund (ACF), a regional funding intermediary and movement support fund. As a representative of ACF, Garrett sits on the Steering Committee of the Appalachian Funders Network, where they also serve as Co-Chair. Ex officio, through his work with the Appalachian Community Fund, Garrett supports the Waymakers Collective, an Assembly of radical arts grant makers serving artists and culture-bearers across Appalachia.

Garrett serves on the Coordinating Committee of Alliance for Appalachia and as a volunteer leader of their local affiliate Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, a local organizing collective dedicated to building deep democracy, accelerating a just transition, and remediating the harm caused by the historic extraction of labor, capital, and natural resources from the Appalachian region.

Mayor
City of Charleston, WV

Amy Shuler Goodwin was elected in 2018 as the first female Mayor of Charleston, West Virginia, and was re-elected in 2022. Since taking office in January 2019, Mayor Goodwin has prioritized fiscal accountability, transparent and efficient processes, diversity and inclusion, people-focused solutions, and forward-thinking policies and programming.

Mayor Goodwin, during her tenure, has spearheaded the Revitalization of existing park spaces and the strategic development of new parks, representing an investment of more than $20M and including City Center at Slack Plaza ($3.5M), the City’s first skatepark, and turfing 10 city-owned athletic fields ($8M).

Return of the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta which generated $31.5M economic impact, attracted an estimated 210,000 attendees, and directly supported nearly 6,000 jobs in its first year back (2022); and generated $37.2M economic impact, attracted an estimated 220,000 visitors, and directly supported nearly 8,000 jobs in 2023. .

Successful acquisition of more than $22M in grant funding for key initiatives including the Capital Connector Project which will enhance safety, improve transit access, and better connect our city; and the transformation of the Kanawha Manufacturing site into the Learning, Innovation, Food and Technology (LIFT) Center.

Creation and continued maintenance of the largest rainy-day fund in the City’s history — starting with $4M and with a current balance of almost $17M.

Recruitment and retention of all city employees — including police and fire — through salary increases, incentives, fixing pay discrepancies, and increasing the minimum hourly wage for full-time city employees to be no less than $15/hour.

Establishment of the Coordinated Addiction Response Effort (CARE) in 2019 to address the impact of substance use disorder, and later expanded the CARE Office to include an equally strong effort to address mental health and homelessness.

Development of a comprehensive strategy to address dilapidated structures and vacant properties—including the demolition of more than 525 structures (since 2019) and the creation of the Charleston Land Reuse Agency to reclaim vacant and abandoned properties for new housing and enhanced open spaces in our community.

Goodwin serves on the Women in Municipal Government, a caucus within the National League of Cities that brings together female municipal leaders to network and share best practices. She also serves on the West Virginia Municipal League Board of Directors and was appointed Chair of the Resolutions Committee (2023).

Goodwin, in her role as Mayor, has been honored with the Lydia Main Breaking Boundaries Award presented by the West Virginia Municipal League (2021), as one of the YWCA’s Women of Achievement (2020), and as Best West Virginia Mayor in West Virginia Living’s Best of West Virginia (2019 and 2020) — affirming her continued commitment to the Charleston community and her steadfast public service.

Goodwin has also received the Distinguished West Virginian Ward (2004 and 2014) for her meritorious service to the state, been honored as a West Virginia Young Gun (2015), and was selected as a member of Leadership West Virginia.

Goodwin has served as the Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Tourism for the State of West Virginia. Goodwin also served as Communications Director for several governors, a congressman, a presidential candidate, and former Charleston Mayor—the late G. Kemp Melton.

Community Investment Officer
Dogwood Health Trust

Cory M. Blankenship, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has served is tribe and community for over a decade through various positions within the Treasury Division - Office of Budget & Finance. Most recently, Cory served as the tribe’s Secretary of the Treasury, overseeing daily financial operations, tribal investments and tribal economic diversification efforts. He also served on various boards and committees, including Tribal Planning Board, Balsam West FiberNet, and the EBCI Investment Committee. Cory serves as a board member of the EBCI Holdings, LLC, an economic diversification entity of the tribe, where he serves as the chair of the Finance and Strategy Committee. Cory also serves on the Cherokee Historical Association, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and the Madison Hornbuckle Children’s Cancer Foundation. He is also a past president of the Cherokee Boys Club.

Executive Director
WV Community Development Hub

A native of Charleston West Virginia, Stephanie Tyree is the Executive Director of the WV Community Development Hub (The Hub).

With over fifteen years of experience in policy, community development and community organizing, she has dedicated her career to advancing community-based, systemic solutions for rural, coal-impacted communities in Central Appalachia. Her primary area of expertise has centered around developing tools to drive community collaboration, leadership engagement, and community-driven change to build resilient rural communities. She is focused on building diverse partnerships that use creative strategies to address barriers to investment and progress in rural community-driven development.

Since joining the WV Community Development Hub in 2012, Stephanie has created the organization’s community-based policy program, expanded the organization’s footprint to better serve communities in southern West Virginia, led research and evaluation processes relating to rural community development in West Virginia, including publishing the WV Community Development Innovation Report and the 6 Best Practices of Rural Community Building, and has elevated the leadership of the organization within regional and national community economic development fields. She has served in leadership roles in multiple collaborative efforts to address barriers to rural main street development and investment, including the statewide Abandoned Properties Coalition, the WV Downtown Appalachia Working Group, and the creation of a new regional impact investment fund: Invest Appalachia.

Stephanie has an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a law degree from NYU School of Law. She was recognized as a “WV Wonder Woman” by WV Living Magazine in 2016, was a recipient of The State Journal’s “Next Generation: 40 Under 40” award in 2018 and was a 2021 Fulcrum Fellow with the Center for Community Investment.

She currently serves on the WV Community Development Advisory Boards for Wesbanco and Truist banks. Additionally, she is a member of the Fayette County West Virginia Library Board, the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation Board of Directors, and is the Chair of the Board of Directors for Invest Appalachia.

CEO
Rural Action

Debbie Phillips is the Chief Executive Officer of Rural Action, a member-based community economic development nonprofit in Appalachian Ohio. Rural Action’s mission is to develop the region’s assets in ways that are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. This is accomplished through a sector-based approach including work in sustainable agriculture, forestry, waste-reduction, watershed and ecological restoration, and clean energy. The organization has more than doubled in size under her stewardship, including the development of additional social enterprises (from three to eight), a high school internship program, and broader regional collaborative work.

Phillips has a deep commitment to helping people develop greater agency in their own lives, and her career has spanned both non-profit and public service, including four terms in the Ohio House and service as a member of House Leadership, and five years on Athens City Council. She serves on the board of Invest Appalachia and as part of the leadership team of the Central Appalachian Network. Phillips is a graduate of Ohio University, and lives on a farm in Athens County. She believes in the power of people working together to create strong, resilient systems and communities.

Sr. Dir. of Agriculture
Coalfield Development

Adam Hudson from Lavalette, West Virginia, is the Senior Director of Agriculture at Coalfield Development. Adam oversees the Refresh Appalachia program and leads Coalfield in participating and supporting the sustainable and regenerative agriculture sector in Central Appalachia. Adam grew up on a small farm in West Virginia, where he worked alongside his grandfather in the garden and the greenhouses. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture and Natural Resources from Berea College in Kentucky, he moved back to West Virginia and has been working with Coalfield sense the summer of 2017. He has been a leading partner in implementing many federal grants and collaborative projects including the 2023 USDA Regional Food Business Center Program, which established the Appalachia Regional Food Businesses Center. He is one of the current Co-Chairs of the Processing, Aggregation and Distribution working group that is part of the Central Appalachian Network. Adam works to create partnerships and collaborations that foster an inclusive and creative space in order to strengthen agriculture throughout Central Appalachia.

CEO
Appalachian Sustainable Development

Kathlyn became Chief Executive Officer of Appalachian Sustainable Development in 2011 after serving for 5 years as its first Business Operations Manager.

She uses her strong background in large national project implementations and her experience with food systems development to identify and implement collaborative, cross-sector opportunities to increase the health of the region and to promote collaborative methodologies and approaches. Kathlyn has served on the VA Governor’s Council on Bridging the Nutritional Divide and serves on numerous steering committees and advisory boards including the Central Appalachian Network and The Appalachian Funders Network. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Texas A&M University. Like many at ASD, she is an avid lover of her furry canine children along with her not quite as furry son and daughter-in-law.

Visiting Scholar
Marshall University
Director
Center for Economic and Community Development for the African American Community of Appalachia

Dr. Alan Letton serves as the Director for the Center for Economic & Community Development in Black Appalachia and Isolated Communities at Marshall University, where he also serves as a Visiting Scholar, teaching in the College of Business graduate Programs. Previously Dr. Letton served as the CEO and Chief Science Officer for MET, the company that developed the recovery technology utilized by Under Armor. He has served as the President and Chief Technical Officer and a member of the Board for Rubberlite Inc, a West Virginia-based company.

Additionally, Dr. Letton served as the Interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies at North Carolina A&T and as the Chief Science Officer and Senior Vice President of Research and Engineering for Sealy, Inc. In this role Dr. Letton was responsible for research, engineering, safety, quality, latex technologies, intellectual property, innovation and new technologies. Prior to joining Sealy, Alan was Executive Vice President for Polymerix Corporation, a biotech company that specialized in developing drug delivery systems and other combination devices.

Dr. Letton has held several positions in the academic and industrial communities; Sandia National Laboratories, Dow Chemical (Research Leader), Texas A & M University (Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Chemistry), Tuskegee University (Dean for the College of Engineering & Architecture), Allied Signal (Director of the Polymer Skills Center) and Avon Products (Director of Physical Sciences).

Alan has served on several boards, has founded several not-for-profit organizations serving as their executive officer, and has over 100 articles, patents and book contributions. Dr. Letton currently serves as a consultant in areas of patent litigation, technology management, executive leadership, DEI and strategic planning.

CEO
Appalachian Community Capital

As President & CEO of Appalachian Community Capital, Donna J. Gambrell is responsible for attracting and directing investments to Community Development Financial Institutions (or CDFIs) and other mission-driven lenders in Appalachia. These lenders, in turn, use the investments to make loans to small business owners, including to minority- and women-owned businesses, in underserved communities throughout the region. Since it began lending in 2015, ACC has deployed over $32 million to help finance renewable energy projects, manufacturing sites, elder care facilities, restaurants, ecotourism, and downtown redevelopment, among other projects.

Ms. Gambrell serves on several CDFI boards. She is also the board chair of the African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs, a 501(c)(3) organization comprised of over 70 executives that was formed in 2018 to identify solutions to closing the racial wealth gap in the communities served by the members.

Federal Co-Chair
Appalachian Regional Commission

Gayle Conelly Manchin was sworn in as the Appalachian Regional Commission’s thirteenth federal co-chair on May 6, 2021, becoming the first ARC Federal Co-Chair from West Virginia. Nominated by President Biden, Manchin works directly with ARC’s 13-member governors– one of whom is appointed annually as States’ Co-Chair– their state alternates and program managers, and a network of local development districts. Together they collaborate to build greater community capacity and strengthen economic growth throughout Appalachia, which increases the region’s ability to compete nationally and globally.

An alumna of West Virginia University, Manchin worked as an educator in Marion County Schools, served on the faculty of Fairmont State University, and was the director of the university’s first Community Service Learning Program. She later directed the AmeriCorps Promise Fellows in West Virginia. Manchin previously served as West Virginia’s First Lady and was appointed to serve as a member of the State Board of Education, serving her last two years as president at both the state and national level. She was the chair of the Board for Reconnecting McDowell, Inc., an AFT initiative serving rural West Virginia, is a past president of the Vandalia Rotary Club of Charleston, and is an emeritus member of The Education Alliance. In addition, she served as cabinet secretary for the West Virginia Office of Education and the Arts, and as co-founder of the WV Public Education Collaborative, Manchin served as the Board Chair until her appointment to the ARC.

Manchin believes in the power of partnerships and advocates for collaboration across Appalachia’s 13 states. As ARC Federal Co-Chair, her top priorities are to support the creation of greater economic opportunities in the Appalachian Region, increase broadband access and critical infrastructure in all Appalachian communities, and work to restore hope and purpose to lives upended by the opioid crisis, all through a cross-regional, multi-state approach.

Independent Consultant
Sandra Mikush Consulting, LLC

Sandra Mikush spent 25 years with the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, where she managed the Foundation’s impact investing program and led grantmaking strategy and support for economic transition in Appalachia. She was a cofounder of the Appalachia Funders Network and the Just Transition Fund.

After retiring from the Foundation in 2017, Sandra stayed active in the development of Invest Appalachia. She co-authored By Us For Us, which documents the evolution of the impact investing ecosystem in Central Appalachia. Sandra and her husband live in the mountains of northwest North Carolina and enjoy frequent visits from their six grandchildren.

Director, Organizing Power
Weissberg Foundation

Brandy is a designer, strategist, facilitator, and network builder who has dedicated nearly 30 years to advancing social justice across various sectors. Brandy began her career as a youth organizer supporting and mobilizing young people who, like herself, had been adversely impacted by the juvenile justice and foster care systems. Brandy is committed to funding, elevating, and amplifying the work of grassroots racial justice leaders and organizations to realize a more liberated future.

Inaugural Director
Press Forward

Dale R. Anglin serves as the inaugural director of Press Forward, the growing coalition of local and national funders committed to investing more than $500 million to strengthen communities, democracy, and local news. Anglin has deep experience in leading funder collaboratives, centering equity, and growing supporting local news initiatives. Most recently, Anglin served as Vice President for Proactive Grantmaking at the Cleveland Foundation, managing a $60 million grantmaking budget.

Anglin led the effort to invest in a regional network of nonprofit journalism initiatives, including the creation of Documenters Cleveland and Signal, the nonprofit newsroom of Cleveland and Ohio. From the beginning, the Signal newsroom was designed to reflect the community it serves, with stories sourced from community members. Anglin had previously invested in NJ Spotlight and Chalkbeat Newark while she worked at the Victoria Foundation in Newark, NJ.

Anglin has led multiple funder collaboratives. More recently, she spearheaded Cleveland-based collaboratives that created a new system of integrated physical health and mental wellness in schools, addressed community violence and assisted the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anglin also helped create a first-of-its-kind Cleveland Black Futures Fund, built the racial equity capacity of local foundations, and raised awareness about minority students’ lack of access to STEM programming by commissioning the county’s first-ever report on STEM equity.

Before joining the Cleveland Foundation, Anglin was associate director for programs at the Victoria Foundation, executive director of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and was a social analyst for the Congressional Research Service, both in Washington D.C. Originally from Chicago, Anglin has a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a master’s degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She was in the first cohort of the Council on Foundations Career Pathways Leadership Program.

Press Forward is housed at The Miami Foundation, which serves as its fiscal sponsor and manages a pooled fund and coordinates aligned grantmaking on behalf of participating funders.

Executive Director
The Alleghany Foundation

With a background in community economic development, philanthropy, and education, Mary Fant Donnan became the Executive Director of the Alleghany Foundation in 2011. Mary holds a bachelor of Arts in Music from Davidson College and a Masters degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Adelaide in South Australia. She and her husband Bob, a sports photographer based in the Alleghany Highlands, have three children whose school, sports, and musical activities keep them hopping.

Founder, President and CEO
Partner Community Capital

Marten is the founder of Partner Community Capital and is responsible or developing, implementing, and overseeing all business strategies, operational and capital fundraising, and fund operations. In addition to his PCAP responsibilities he is a leader in Appalachian community development efforts and active in the CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) ecosystem. Marten serves on the Boards of Appalachian Community Capital and the CFI Coalition; he is a member of the Advisory Boards of Appalachian Fund for Growth and MVB Community Development Partnership, Inc. Previously he was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines ad a research assistant for the World Bank in the Environmental Policy and Research Division.

Senior Program Officer for Community & Economic Development
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation

Bill Woodrum is the Senior Program Officer for Community & Economic Development at the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. A native of West Virginia, Bill is a nationally recognized figure who has been working to advance community and economic development initiatives in the state for the past 30 years.

His diverse career spans work in systems-building, fund development, small business development, university technology transfer extension programs, and agriculture. Bill has helped found ecosystems for Agriculture Innovation and Entrepreneurship in West Virginia. He earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Marshall University and his Master of Science from The Ohio State University.

CEO
Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE)

Kristen Cambell is CEO of PACE, a philanthropic laboratory for funders seeking to maximize their impact on democracy and civic life in America. Previously, Kristen ran her own consulting practice focused on civic engagement, education, and leadership. She served the National Conference on Citizenship as its Chief Program Officer, and has held philanthropic roles at the Case Foundation and Points of Light. Kristen is an AmeriCorps Alum and serves on the board of United Philanthropy Forum and Citizen University, as well as the advisory groups of several national groups, including the working group of the Philanthropy Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution.

Reproductive Health + Justice Program Director
The Educational Foundation of America

Before joining EFA, Laura was a Law Students for Reproductive Justice Fellow at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, where she led the expansion of the organization’s reproductive justice program. She held earlier positions at the Office of the General Counsel at the City University of New York, Kingsborough Community College, and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Laura is a graduate of The City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, where she was the Editor-In-Chief of the CUNY Law Review. Currently, she serves on the Steering Committee of the Appalachia Funders Network.

Founder
Black by God

Crystal is hard to put in one category, the poet and performer prefers: artist, advocate, entrepreneur. She is a three-time Ted-X talker, Affrilachian Folkreporter building BlackbyGod.org, author of a poetry collection titled, “Valley Girl" and is a known US Supreme Court nominee dissenter.

She serves in the completely made up but totally real office of Social Media Senator For The Digital District Of West Virginia and sells panties on the internet: BoomBoomPanties.com

Executive President
Coalfield Development

Brandon is Ashley Dennison’s husband and father to their boys: Owen and Will. In 2023, President Brad Smith named Dennison as Vice President for Workforce and Economic Development at Marshall University. As a lifelong West Virginian, Dennison is Founder and CEO of Coalfield Development, which works to build the Appalachian economy from the ground up. Coalfield has invested in over 70 new social enterprises and trained over 3,000 unemployed or underemployed workers.

Dennison graduated from Shepherd University with a B.A. in History. He holds a Master of Public Affairs from Indiana University. He holds a PhD in Human and Community Development from West Virginia University. In 2017, Brandon was named West Virginian of the Year by WV Living Magazine. He is winner of the JMK Social Innovation Prize, is a DRK Entrepreneur, and is an Ashoka Fellow. In 2019, Brandon was awarded the Heinz Award for Economy and Employment. For 10 years, he has tried to learn guitar but still only knows 8 or 9 songs (importantly, Country Roads is one of those songs).

Director Appalachian Solar Finance Fund

Autumn Long (she/her) directs the Appalachian Solar Finance Fund, a regional financial and technical assistance program designed to catalyze solar development in coal-impacted Central Appalachian communities. For most of the past decade, Autumn has specialized in solar project development, policy advocacy, and education. She holds a NABCEP Photovoltaic Associate certification and has taught a university-level course on solar PV technology and policy fundamentals. Autumn co-chairs the Central Appalachian Network’s Clean Energy Working Group and chairs the board of New Roots Community Farm in Fayetteville, West Virginia.

ReImagine Appalachia Co-Director

Amanda Woodrum is Co-Director for ReImagine Appalachia focusing on issues found at the intersection of health, energy, equity and the economy. After living in New York City and experiencing 9/11, she returned to Ohio determined to make the state the kind of place she wanted to live.

She joined Policy Matters Ohio in 2007 after receiving a master’s degree in economics and a law degree from the University of Akron. She conducts research on the role transportation, energy, health and anti-poverty policy can play to promote a more sustainable and equitable economy in Ohio.