The State Journal
August 1, 2008
Andy McKenzie, the newly elected mayor of Wheeling, said being the young guy in a room full of movers and shakers isn't new to him, but an entire room of young movers and shakers is.
McKenzie met with members of OVConnect July 23 to get acquainted with the new face of the Northern Panhande's young work force.
OVConnect is a member organization of Generation West Virginia, the state's network of young professionals who have come together to combat West Virginia's brain drain.
McKenzie, who spent 12 years in the West Virginia Senate, said the event was the first time he'd spoken to a young entrepreneur business group. He liked the energy he saw.
"These are the people who are the future of definitely Wheeling and certainly West Virginia," he said. "Clearly, what they're concerned about is the future and how we've not succeeded in economic development and how we're going to move forward."
Justin Seibert, president of OVConnect and president of Direct Online Marketing, said about 40 people attended the event, and it showed there are more young professionals in the area than anybody thought.
"I was expecting exclusively Wheeling people, but we had people from other parts of West Virginia and from Pennsylvania and Ohio," Seibert said. "I thought several of the group's questions were pretty interesting; one person asked at the eend of the night what we can do for businesses - both bringing them in and helping out existing small businesses."
Seibert said the sentiment in Wheeling, whether it's accurate or not, is existing businesses aren't encouraged enough to stay. He also said the discussion hovered on things such as the housing market and how to make Wheeling attractive to CEOs.
"(McKenzie) told us how he felt Wheeling wasn't being serious about economic development up until now," Seibert said. "We definitely want to see about bringing companies in, and at this point we're just trying to throw something at the wall and see what sticks."
McKenzie said he hoped to continue the dialogue with OVConnect and hear more thoughts from its members.
The above article originally appeared in its entirety in the print version of The State Journal. |
