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Photo of Rodney Williams

On The Board

On The Board

Rodney Williams, an alumnus of the Chambers College, has been named one of the newest members of the WVU Alumni Association Board of Directors. Elected during the November 2022 meeting, Williams will serve a six-year term expiring in 2028.

Williams is the co-founder and president of SoLo Funds, a financial service company offering community banking and lending solutions to Americans in communities that may face hurdles to traditional banking options. Prior to founding SoLo, he launched LISNR, a Visa-backed fintech company, and secured numerous awards and partnerships across retail and financial services. He currently serves as the company’s chairperson.

Read more about Williams from a previous issue of the WVU Magazine.

First Pitch

Supported by Silicon Valley CEO Ray Zinn, the first ZinnStarter Pitch Competition, hosted by the LaunchLab, gave aspiring collegiate entrepreneurs an opportunity to win cash to build their ideas into the next groundbreaking product or business. Winners included: First place ($2,500): Emma Adams, WVU animal and nutritional sciences major, and her business idea PetRecord, which provides universal medical records for pets in emergency situations; second place ($1,500): Cameron Keefe, global supply chain management major, and her idea ThermoRoller, which combines physical massage with temperature control to relieve sore muscle pain; and third place ($1,000) to the team of Austin Davis, Anne Byer and Emily Thomas, from the University of Charleston, and their idea Second Chance, a program that helps give active control back to people with quadriplegia and paraplegia. 

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Supply Change

Bernie Quiroga, associate professor of supply chain management and program coordinator of global supply chain management, coauthored a paper that analyzes the effectiveness of urgent care for stroke victims. The paper, published in the Journal of Operations Management, uses supply chain methodology to determine best practices for patient care. 

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Inspiring the Next Generation

Each year, West Virginia Executive magazine publishes a “Young Guns” list recognizing young professionals in the business community who drive our Mountain State forward. We're proud to share that Tara St. Clair, program director of our Encova Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, made West Virginia Executive magazine's Young Guns Class of 2023! As one of 10 West Virginia professionals, St. Clair was honored to be chosen for this year’s class.

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Immersed in Indonesian

Jana El-Khatib, a Master of Business Administration student from Hurricane, West Virginia, was one of four WVU students to earn the Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State. Over the summer of 2021, El-Khatib got to study Indonesian, a language she became interested in after spending time living in Southeast Asia as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. She hopes to use the skills gained from the scholarship to improve her cultural competency for a future career as a healthcare provider. 

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It Merits a Mention

Some students find their purpose in college. Others find it long before they set foot on campus. 

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