Born and raised in Welch, WV, Jina was instilled with an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age. After starting her own business at 16 years old, Jina was the first student to receive the McKelvey Foundation Entrepreneurial Scholarship during their junior year of high school.
After graduating from Concord University in 2009 with a B.S. in Recreation and Tourism Management with an emphasis in Event Planning & Promotions, Jina returned home to assist her family in expanding the only non-profit food pantry in McDowell County. While there, Jina served as Trust Systems Administrator for 7 years at MCNB Bank and Trust Company.
In 2016, Jina followed the urge to leave the finance industry to fulfill her gut and help her community develop to its fullest potential. Working as Chief Business Officer with Coalfield Development, Jina worked closely with WV leaders and entrepreneurs to strengthen the substantiality of social enterprises across Appalachia. While there, Jina’s work in capital access and small business development organically crossed paths with NRGRDA and their great work being done in Southern WV.
In February 2019, Jina officially joined the NRGRDA as Director of Business Development. Combining her previous community development skills with her background in finance and social enterprise will allow her to provide the New River Gorge region with resources and expertise needed to grow the thriving economy of Southern WV. In December 2020, Jina assumed the role of Executive Director and continues to focus on implementing the organization’s strategic vision to grow the organization’s capacity and work across the New River Gorge region.
Kent Spellman joined the One Foundation team in 2018 after a diverse career as a private sector entrepreneur and as a social entrepreneur. He has been a building contractor, a designer, a newspaper publisher and editor, and an economic and community development professional. He also helped create the 72-mile North
Bend Rail-Trail as a volunteer in the late 80s and early 90s.
In 2008, Kent became the founding executive director of the WV Community Development Hub, which he led until his retirement in 2016. When Kent applied for the position at the Hub at the age of 56, it was the first job application he had ever submitted.
Throughout his career, Kent has thought of himself as a builder, whether building rail-trails, designing and building homes and commercial spaces, or building communities and community-based economies. He is delighted to join the One Foundation team and to be working with the Foundation’s remarkable partner organizations.
Kent lives with his wife, Betsy, in Clarksburg WV.
Katie Loudin is an innovator in the nonprofit sector in West Virginia. Katie is currently the Director of Strategic Development at the West Virginia Community Development Hub where she has served on the Executive Leadership Team since May 2021. Katie enjoys developing resources and people to serve rural and historically underinvested communities across Appalachia in her role at The Hub.
Prior to joining The Hub, Katie built a career of developing young leaders and growing nonprofit organizations. Katie was the Director of Community Engagement at West Virginia Wesleyan College from 2010 until 2020, when she joined the One Foundation as the WV Program Director and eventually, as the Executive Director. Katie became familiar with the WV Hive’s work through that role and became committed to supporting the mission of the organization.
Katie graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College with a B.A. in Sociology and Applied Music in 2007 and taught English on a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship in Thailand after graduating from Wesleyan. Katie then earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana University in Nonprofit Management and Policy Analysis before returning to her “home among the hills” as a young professional.
Katie lives in Buckhannon with her husband Adam and their two sons, Thomas and Elliot. Katie is an active community member, serving in Create Buckhannon and on the board of the Buckhannon Community Theatre. She served on the Upshur County school board from 2017 until 2022 and was just re-appointed to the board of the Upshur County Public Library. When she isn’t working or volunteering, she enjoys shuttling her children to their many activities, signing her family up for new adventures, singing, performing, cooking, and reading.
Chris Fussell is a former Navy SEAL Officer and President of McChrystal Group, a premier leadership and management consulting firm founded by General Stan McChrystal. Since leaving the military in 2012, Fussell has focused on bringing his Special Operations experience and expertise in cross-functional collaboration, knowledge sharing, and decision making with large corporations facing similar challenges.
Fussell was commissioned as a Naval Officer in 1997, and spent the next 15 years on US Navy SEAL Teams, leading SEAL elements in combat zones around the globe. From war torn Kosovo, to counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, to highly specialized efforts in the troubled areas of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, Fussell experienced the modern evolution of the US military’s Special Operations community from a siloed bureaucracy struggling to keep up in a turbulent environment into an agile and effective network for counter-terrorism.
In his career as a Navy SEAL, Fussell served first on SEAL Teams Two and Eight, then in the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. During his time on the SEAL teams, he conducted and planned hundreds of operations against high value targets all around the world. He was then selected to serve as Aide-de-Camp to then-Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal during General McChrystal’s final year commanding the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), where they served a year together in Iraq. As McChrystal’s right-hand man, Fussell was an integral part of team that made the Special Operations community’s transformation into a successful, agile network possible. He was at the center of the communication and leadership systems that involved thousands of participants sharing information and experiences in real-time, across the world.
After returning from Iraq, Fussell wanted to explore the academic angle underpinning this shift he had witnessed in warfare in order to understand the theory behind what he and his colleagues had done in practice in Iraq. He went on to study Irregular Warfare from the Naval Postgraduate School, earning a Master’s Degree and receiving the Pat Tillman Award for highest peer-rated Special Operations Officer in the program. His thesis work expanded upon his JSOC experience with fusion cells, focusing on the interagency collaboration and intelligence sharing processes that drove effective, cross-silo collaboration during the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2012, Fussell left the Naval Special Warfare Development Group in order to join the McChrystal Group. Fussell is also co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement in a Complex World, with General McChrystal, and the lead author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller, One Mission: How Leaders Build a Team of Teams.
Fussell serves as a Senior Fellow for National Security at New America, a board member of the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation, a Fellow and teacher at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, and is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Chris lives in Fayette County, West Virginia, with his wife and two children.
Thomas (Tom) grew up in Monroe County with dreams of doing something to make an impact on the world. Out of high school he enlisted in the United States Air Force where he served with distinction during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as a secure communications technician. During his military service he played an instrumental role in developing a security communications system that was implemented throughout the Department of Defense.
Thomas’ first job after leaving the military was working for an alarm company which, with the encouragement and support of his wife, Donna, led to the founding of Safe and Sound Security Systems, Inc. in 1996. Thomas has been providing safety and security to individuals, families, and businesses for over 25 years and when asked to join the WV Hive Board responded that he would be honored to help entrepreneurs avoid some of the pitfalls he has encountered during his time in business.
Thomas has an Associate Degree in organizational leadership from Mountain State University and is very active in his community. He serves as vice president of the City of Hinton Planning Commission, vice president of the Summers County Planning Commission, president of the City of Hinton Civil Service Commission, and a voting member of the Summers County Local Emergency Planning Commission.
A proud West Virginian and son of a steelworker family, Ted Kula was raised in Weirton. He graduated with honors from Bethany College in 1994 with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science, and WVU in 1996 with a Master’s in Computer Science. Mr. Kula began working for a major government contractor in 1996, eventually overseeing million-dollar contracts and requiring extensive travel in the United States and Europe. That work took him to southern WV, where he met his wife Cheryl. Together they have two wonderful daughters, Lieschen and Lillian.
Ted started TK Associates, his first small business, in 2009. Since he was working full-time as a certified Project Manager, it provided him an opportunity to dip in his toe to entrepreneurship with minimal risk. What he didn’t know was how much it would teach him about the ins and outs of running a business. Then, in 2019 Ted started CyberAware Technologies, a training and consulting company that provides highly specialized training by trained subject matter experts. Ted is the CEO of the rapidly-growing company based in southern WV.
Mr. Kula believes deeply in service to his community. In 2009 Ted was appointed Summers County Planning Official to oversee county Wireless Telecommunications activities. Through his county work, he grew to know many of the county staff, who came to share his experiences and talents. In January 2021, Ted was appointed to a 2-year vacancy as a Summers County Commissioner, and was then elected to a full 6-year term as commissioner. Ted is driven by action and problem-solving, and when folks ask him why he ran for public office, he’s quick to share what’s on the concession stand sign at the Bellepoint ballfield: “Before you complain, have you volunteered?” His commission focus areas include broadband development, grant funding, and economic development.
Ted joined the Hinton Area Foundation Board of Directors in 2008, and has held positions as President, Vice President, and is currently Chairman of the Finance Committee. He is also a member of Hinton Rotary, Summers County Public Library Board of Directors, and is a long-time supporter of the Summers County Humane Society (or “ACWP” – Animal Control and Welfare Project).
As the daughter of a retired West Virginia history teacher, Amy Baker has a great love for the Mountain State and the Appalachian spirit. As a communications professional with more than 20 years of experience in communications and marketing, she believes in the power of strategic storytelling to build human connections and support community development.
Amy resides in Canvas, Nicholas County, and was a member of the first cohort of Building Resilient Economies in Coalfield Communities (BRECC), a program of the National Association of Counties and the WV Community Development Hub, representing Richwood, from March 2023 to February 2024. She is a founding member and core team member of The Dreamers community volunteer team in Richwood, a group that continues the work of the Richwood BRECC team. This team’s project to redevelop the former G.C. Murphy Building in Richwood has been selected as one of seven in the state to participate in the Opportunity Appalachia initiative with support from the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center.
Amy graduated from Marshall University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism in 1996 and a Master of Arts in Journalism with an emphasis in Public Relations in 2000. From 2002 to 2017, she served as Director of Marketing at Fairmont State University. Since 2017, she has been with MVB Bank. MVB Financial Corp., the holding company of MVB Bank, Inc., is publicly traded on The Nasdaq Capital Market® under the ticker “MVBF.” Through its subsidiary, MVB Bank, Inc., and the Bank’s subsidiaries, the Company provides financial services to individuals and corporate clients in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond.
Throughout her career, Amy has been active in the communities in which she lives. In Fairmont, she was a member of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Marion County Board of Directors, the United Way of Marion County Community Review Committee, the Pricketts Fort Memorial Foundation Board of Directors and the Main Street Fairmont Board of Directors. In Harrison County, she was a member of the Monticello (Clarksburg neighborhood) West Virginia Community Development Hub Blueprint Communities Team and a volunteer with the Monticello Ongoing Revitalization Effort (M.O.R.E.).
In her free time, Amy enjoys spending time with her family and friends; shopping for antiques; and reading, writing and learning about West Virginia cryptids and folklore.
A West Virginia native raised in Hurricane, Zack Statler has an entrepreneurial mindset in everything he does. Upon graduating from West Virginia University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in business, he launched his banking and finance career in 2015 at United Bank in Dunbar, West Virginia, serving as a commercial loans operations specialist.
He has advanced quickly in the company with a track record of tremendous success, rising to be the firm’s top lender by 2021. He has had successful stints in Morgantown and Charleston, and is now based in Beckley as United Bank’s South Market president, a position he achieved at the young age of 31.
His client-first focus is a trademark of his remarkable record, as he communicates well and nurtures relationships to build a trusting environment among his United team and their client base.
He challenges his new market team to do their best and strives to give his best in return, demonstrating how to handle even the toughest situations. He’ll often say, “Returning a call to give a bad answer is better than giving no answer at all. We have to always be there for the customer and our community — whether it’s great news or difficult news.”
As a West Virginia native who has built his life and career here, the love he has for the Mountain State can be seen throughout each aspect of his life. With a natural inclination to learn and pursue new things, he is motivated by trials and his ability to solve problems. He knows his position and talents put him in the position to work with many people, helping them to achieve their dreams and goals. He works tirelessly to do just that and in strengthening the state and the lives of West Virginians.
Michelle Rotellini, a Beckley, WV native and Woodrow Wilson High School alum, earned her B.S. in Business Administration from the College of Charleston’s School of Business and Economics. She began her career at Snowshoe Mountain Resort, spending twelve years in sales and marketing, ultimately serving as Director of Sales. After a move back to Beckley with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in sales, Michelle soon embraced her entrepreneurial spirit.
In 2008, Michelle opened a Visiting Angels homecare franchise (now Homecare WV), serving the aging population in five southern West Virginia counties.
Michelle’s next venture grew from her upbringing in a family dedicated to healthy living. Partnering with two aunts, she launched The Dish Café in April 2013 to bring fresh, nutritious food to the community. Their menu emphasizes non-GMO, scratch-made recipes, and locally sourced ingredients, promoting a sustainable, health-focused dining experience. The Dish Café remains the area’s top-rated restaurant on Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor, with Yelp awarding it a “2023 Top 100 in the Country” designation. This October, Michelle and her family expanded by opening a second location, Uptown Dish, in Beckley.
Dedicated to community service, Michelle joined the United Way of Southern West Virginia’s board and served as VP of Finance before becoming Executive Director in 2017. Under her leadership, United Way raised over $900,000 annually, supporting more than 45 nonprofit programs across seven counties.
In December 2019, Michelle became President/CEO of the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce, one of West Virginia’s largest chambers. Michelle’s work is centered around issues that impact business and the local economy. Key areas in which she works include workforce participation, education and training, business regulation and community enhancement.
Michelle’s board experience includes roles with a private school, the United Way, and the FEMA board. She currently serves on boards for Active Southern West Virginia, Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, Visit Southern West Virginia, and WVU Hospitals. In 2021, she was appointed by the Governor to a six-year term on the United Health System Board.
An avid runner, Michelle enjoys 5K and 10K races. She lives in Daniels, WV, with her three children, Isabella, Dominic, and Marco, and together they enjoy skiing, biking, swimming, and tennis.
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