Tag: Technology
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West Virginia Stereotype: Making Lemonade out of Lemons
If you study the history of West Virginia, we’ve had our share of lemons tossed our way. The state has been described as a “colony” because of the dominance of out-of-state land owners (some regions of the state have over 80% of their land owned by out-of-state corporate interests) who saw nothing wrong with extracting…
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West Virginia Stereotype: Connected to Home and Hills
The thing that struck me most about meeting Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit (you know, the folks who make the QuickBooks and Quicken software to manage your money), was how genuinely emotional he got when talking about his love for his home state. A native of Kenova, WV, near Huntington, Smith is among the technology…
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West Virginia Stereotype: Talented, But Extraordinarily Down to Earth
My Pittsburgh-native wife noticed this one right away. “You guys don’t give yourselves enough credit. You need to brag more.” Ever notice that even the celebrities that hail from West Virginia seem a little more humble, a little more down to earth, than their Hollywood peers? How much of these traits are rooted in Scotch-Irish…
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Today’s West Virginia Stereotype
In celebration of West Virginia Day (June 20), Create WV is pleased to participate in a statewide blogging “carnival” organized by Jason Keeling of abetterwestvirginia.com. The goal? To collaborate in building and communicating the “new” stereotype of West Virginia. We think this is a brilliant concept. We all know the negative stereotypes which originated from…
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Morgan Spurlock’s 30 Days as a Miner
Morgan Spurlock, our native son and famous documentarian (SuperSize Me, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?), recently premiered his latest “30 Days” series on FX at Tamarack in Beckley. The show aired to the nation last night June 3. Spurlock is one of many creative sons and daughters WV has produced. We at…
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Technology Track Leader 2008: Jamie Gaucher
We need experience, great judgment and decision making skills to lead the Technology Track. Jamie Gaucher (pronounced “smith”) demonstrated he has those attributes with his recent marriage to Elizabeth Damewood of Charleston, one of my favorite people (congratulations, they are expecting their first child in July). Elizabeth brought Jamie to an Academy Awards party a…
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WV Education
An article, “Teaming up on Tech,” in yesterday’s Charleston Gazette, 05/21/2008, disscused the different efforts in our WV Educational system to promote learning. It’s exciting to see and hear the progress that happens within our state. The article discussed a movement towards “student-centered” education with the “use of computer-based programs and Web sites.” Mark Moore…
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Small Towns, Small Companies…Big Opportunity
Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit and native of Kenova, WV, delivered a compelling keynote address on leadership at the Charleston Area Alliance annual celebration event last evening. His insights on where the economy and technology are headed could be of real interest to West Virginia. From the Charleston Daily Mail: “Ten years ago, eight out…
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Art Warriors by the River
On Wednesday, April 30, over 20 artists gathered into Café Cimino’s beautiful “Little Dishes” bar by the Elk River (www.cafeciminocountryinn.com) to provide feedback and support for the 2nd Annual Create WV Conference. createwv.typepad.com Originally, we weren’t sure how many folks would really want to take time out of their week to spend an afternoon doing…
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A Tech Industry Leader Returns Home
It’s fascinating to think of the many industry leaders who hail from West Virginia and have risen to the ranks of CEO. John Chambers of Cisco Systems is the reigning example, leading one of the most influential companies of the Internet Age. Of course, we hope over time more of those folks are able to…