OUR MISSION:
Institutionalize a knowledge sector in the West Virginia economy.
Facilitate the institutionalization of a “knowledge” sector in West Virginia that substantively provides a sustained positive contribution to the state’s economy.
OUR STRATEGY:
Pursue a strategy called the Federal Anchor Model focused on the recruitment of Federal operations with the following characteristics:
- Operational emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related efforts.
- Operations involve a substantial amount of annual contracting opportunities for the business community.
For over 30 years, the High Technology Foundation has been committed to building a stronger West Virginia. The single biggest obstacle to a stronger West Virginia is the state’s lack of economic diversity. Therefore, the High Technology Foundation’s mission is dedicated to facilitating economic diversification.
A fundamental principle of the High Technology Foundation’s economic diversification approach is the emphasis on the institutionalization of a new economic sector in the state that facilitates these key structural objectives:
- It allows the state economy to participate competitively and sustainably in the largest segments of the national economy.
- It enables greater participation by West Virginia citizens with a higher educational attainment – especially those in STEM.
- It serves to attract the nation’s investment community by fostering an entrepreneurial culture and expanding the state’s innovation capacity.
- It lends itself to the growth of an “ecosystem” of large, medium, small and start-up companies that allows the efficient expansion and operation of a competitive business environment based upon capitalistic principles.
James L. Estep, Director, President and CEO
President and Chief Executive Officer
High Technology Foundation
James L. Estep has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the High Technology Foundation since June of 2000. The flagship of the High Technology Foundation’s efforts is development of the I-79 Technology Park to serve as a catalyst to facilitate the growth of a regional knowledge sector. Mr. Estep’s efforts have positioned the I-79 Technology Park as the premier economic diversification effort in the state. Under his leadership, the I-79 Technology Park has expanded to almost 400 acres and over 800,000 square feet of Class A office and lab space. Mr. Estep has led highly successful recruitment efforts attracting both government and private tenants to the park who have contributed substantially to the business case for a regional knowledge sector.
Recruitment at the I-79 Technology Park has included several high-priority national programs, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Environmental Security Computing Center (ESCC), one of the most advanced supercomputing centers in the nation. Mr. Estep led the effort to recruit two of the nation’s most critically important satellite ground station operations, namely the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Network and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). In addition, Mr. Estep recruited the U.S. Department of Commerce and NOAA Enterprise Security Operations Center (ESOC) to the park. Placement of the Commerce Department’s ESOC in north central West Virginia has positioned the region to play a substantive role in the rapidly expanding national cybersecurity sector. In 2018, these programs alone accounted for over $650 million in local contract awards contributing to the growing critical mass of a West Virginia knowledge sector.
Mr. Estep is active in several business and technology efforts around the state and serves as a current Board Member and past Chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Aerospace Complex. He earned a master’s degree in computer science from West Virginia University (WVU) and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the West Virginia Institute of Technology.
A native of Braxton County, Mr. Estep resides in Morgantown with his wife Melissa. They have three children and three grandchildren.
Dr. Frank W. Blake, Director
Consultant
Dr. Frank W. Blake retired as vice president of engineering for EWA Government Systems Inc., after being responsible for the firm’s West Virginia operations for more than 20 years. In this capacity, he devised corporate-wide standards observed by all professional personnel, conducted a continuing quality control operation, and established qualifications for new members of the professional staff.
Prior to 1978 when he joined EWA, he was a radar analyst for the Army Foreign Science and Technical Center responsible for Soviet radar. He served three years in the U.S. Army as a radar operator on a Nike-Hercules missile base.
A graduate of the University of Virginia (UVA) with a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degree in electrical engineering, he has also taken short courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Harvard. With service on the Industrial Advisory Boards at UVA and at Norwich University, he has also served on the President’s Visiting Review Committee at UVA, where he evaluated and advised the electrical engineering department.
Dr. Blake has taught undergraduate classes at the UVA School of Engineering and School of General Studies. In addition, he has served as coach and manager for youth baseball and ice hockey.
Chairman of the Decadal Review Committee formed by Congressman Alan Mollohan, he was also a member of the IV&V Facility Strategic Assessment Committee and served on the High Technology Foundation’s Procurement Advisory Board and its Affiliate Leadership Council.
Awards he has received include the High Technology Foundation’s Small Business Mentor of the Year, Teaming to Win Teaming Advocate of the Year, and the Congressional Leadership Award for Mentoring Efforts (1990-2000).
Dr. Blake is married to the former Elizabeth Price Green of Marlinton. They are the parents of a daughter and two sons.
William P. Getty, Chairman
Consultant
Until his retirement, William P. “Pat” Getty was the President and is now an Emeritus Trustee of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, which serves West Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania, and the multi-state economic region centered on Pittsburgh.
Mr. Getty currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the High Technology Foundation, is the active President and a founding Board Member of IN-2-Market, Inc., and a Board Member of the Allegheny County Parks Foundation.
Mr. Getty is a former Board Member of Imagine West Virginia, an independent policy research institute, and Vibrant Pittsburgh, which seeks to attract, retain, and elevate skilled and diverse talent. He helped encourage three Governors to create the Tri-State Shale Coalition and formerly served as a member of the steering committee for West Virginia Forward. He also formerly served on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Rural Affairs in Pennsylvania, the Advisory Board of Pittsburgh Regional Indicators, and the Policy Committee of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. He is a former Fellow of the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute of Politics and was a co-founder and leader of “Power of 32,” a 32-county, four-state visioning and development project in the Pittsburgh economic region.
He was a founding Board Member and past Chair of the Fund for Advancement of Minorities through Education (FAME), is an Emeritus Trustee and past Chair of Shady Side Academy, is a past Board Member and Chair of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, a past Board Member of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, a past Board Member of the Technology Collaborative and LEAD Pittsburgh, a past member of the West Virginia Jobs Cabinet and the Advisory Board of the West Virginia Teacher Quality Initiative, and a past Board Member of Vision Shared, a West Virginia state-wide economic development initiative.
A native Pittsburgher, Mr. Getty is a graduate of Trinity College and Georgetown University Law School. He had practiced law since 1970 with the Pittsburgh firm of Meyer, Unkovic & Scott prior to becoming President of the Benedum Foundation on January 1, 1999.
MATT HARBAUGH, DIRECTOR
Managing Director, Mountain State Capital
Matt Harbaugh co-founded and currently serves as Managing Director at Mountain State Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm with a portfolio of high-growth companies in sectors ranging from software to life sciences. In addition, he also founded the U.S. Research Impact Alliance, a nonprofit working to advance the commercialization of “deep tech” innovations throughout the United States.
Mr. Harbaugh’s previous roles include serving as the CEO of a Carnegie-Mellon University spinout that was acquired by Facebook and serving as the Chief Investment Officer at Innovation Works, Inc., one of the most active seed-stage investors in the United States. Mr. Harbaugh also previously led the innovation & entrepreneurship activities of West Virginia University.
Mr. Harbaugh received J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from the George Washington University and his undergraduate degree from Duke University.
Dr. Valerie J. Karplus, Director
Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Associate Director, Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy
Dr. Valerie J. Karplus is a Professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the Associate Director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. Dr. Karplus studies resource and environmental management in organizations operating in diverse national and industry contexts, with a focus on the role of institutions and management practices in explaining performance.
Areas of expertise include decarbonization of global corporate and industrial supply chains, regional approaches to low carbon transition, and the integrated design and evaluation of energy, air quality, and climate policies. At CMU, she directs the Laboratory for Energy and Organizations and serves as principal investigator for the NSF-funded Industrial Decarbonization Analysis, Benchmarking, and Action (INDABA) Partnership, involving five universities in four countries and multi-sector, multi-stakeholder partners.
From 2011 to 2016, she co-founded and directed the MIT-Tsinghua China Energy and Climate Project, a five-year research effort focused on analyzing the design of energy and climate change policy in China, and its domestic and global impacts.
Dr. Karplus holds a BS in biochemistry and political science from Yale University and a Ph.D. in engineering systems from MIT.
Holly C. Kauffman, Director
Retired Utility Executive
Holly C. Kauffman retired June 1, 2020 after over 36 years in the utility industry. Since 2012, Ms. Kauffman served as President of First Energy’s West Virginia Operations, headquartered in Fairmont, WV. She was responsible for the delivery of safe, reliable, and affordable power to over 530,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in 40 counties throughout the 13,000 square mile service territory that includes all of the Monongahela Power Company and the West Virginia portion of Potomac Edison Company.
Throughout her tenure, Ms. Kauffman achieved success through the development of close working relationships with key stakeholders including the WV Public Service commission, WV legislature, the Governor’s office, as well as many state and local officials. Ms. Kauffman made her home in north central West Virginia and was an advocate and leader for community initiatives and economic development in the state of West Virginia.
Ms. Kauffman currently serves on the Board of Directors for several non-profit organizations including the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the West Virginia Roundtable, the High Technology Foundation, Leadership West Virginia, the Marion County Chamber of Commerce, and is past President of the United Way of Marion County Board of Directors. In 2017, she was appointed by the Governor of West Virginia to the Pierpont Community Technical College Board of Governors and serves on the Executive, Audit and Finance Committees and chairs the Presidential Evaluation Committee. She is also on the Advisory Board to the WVU Master of Science Program in Energy Environments.
Ms. Kauffman joined Allegheny Energy in 1984. Allegheny Energy merged with FirstEnergy in 2011. She has held various management positions throughout her career including General Manager of Operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, Director of Transmission Projects, and Vice President of Operations for Jersey Central Power & Light, before being named to the President’s position in 2012.
Ms. Kauffman earned a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, a master’s degree in business administration from Duquesne University, and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Penn State University.
Ms. Kauffman has received the following honors:
2012 Pittsburgh Business Times Women in Business Award
2015 Marion County Chamber of Commerce Women’s Achievement Award
2015 United Way of Marion County Jack Squires Award for community service
2016 West Virginia Executive magazine Sharpshooter Award
2017 Named one of West Virginia’s 10 Most Influential People by North Central West Virginia (NCWV) Life Magazine
Jason C. Pizatella, Esq.
Chief Executive Officer
Contractors Association of West Virginia
A respected attorney, leader, lecturer, and trusted adviser in three gubernatorial administrations, Jason C. Pizatella is the Chief Executive Officer of the Contractors Association of West Virginia (CAWV). Mr. Pizatella is only the sixth person to lead the association since its founding in 1923.
A native of Fairmont and graduate of West Virginia University and the West Virginia University College of Law, Mr. Pizatella practiced law with Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC before joining CAWV on October 3, 2022. He previously served in numerous leadership roles during the administrations of Governors Joe Manchin, III, Earl Ray Tomblin, and Jim Justice including two stints as the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff. Mr. Pizatella began his career in private practice before joining state government in 2010 where, in a tenure spanning almost seven years, he also held the positions of Deputy State Tax Commissioner, Acting Secretary of the Department of Revenue, and Acting Secretary of the Department of Administration.
Throughout his career, Mr. Pizatella has been a member of the Consolidated Public Retirement Board, Water Development Authority, Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council, Parkways Authority, State Personnel Board, and Capitol Building Commission. He also briefly served as Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Pizatella is a graduate of Leadership West Virginia and the Council of State Governments’ Henry Toll Fellowship program, one of the country’s premier leadership development programs for state government leaders. West Virginia Executive magazine named him as a member of its 2015 class of “Young Guns,” and The State Journal named Mr. Pizatella to the 2017 class of “40 Under 40.”