West Virginia Executive Spring 2019 | Page 128

Chairman Jim Klein. “Not only does he have extensive business and market- ing knowledge in our region, but he has maintained a wonderful relationship with the Department of Commerce, which we believe will serve the airport and the region well in the future.” Visit Southern West Virginia Announces New Executive Director Lisa Strader. Strader has worked in the tourism indus- try in West Virginia for more than 27 years and has spent the last 13 years with Visit Southern West Virginia, promoting Fayette, Greenbrier, McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Nicholas, Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming counties. “Lisa has been an incredible asset to Visit Southern West Virginia over the last 13 years,” says Chairman Joe Brouse. “She has helped grow the organization into an award-winning brand, and we are thrilled to have her step into the executive director role.” Local Web Developer Selected for International Advisory Committee Visit Southern West Virginia has named Lisa Strader as its new executive director. Levi Durfee, vice president of web services at Bulldog Creative, has been selected to sit on the advisory committee of the Google Open Source Accelerate Mobile Pages (AMP) Project, an open source initiative aimed at making the internet better, faster and more respon- sive for all users. “Levi’s skill set assists our clients with many complex web development chal- lenges, and he’s being recognized inter- nationally for his work,” says CEO Chris Smart Office Michael. “We’re very proud to call him part of Team Bulldog.” The AMP advisory committee is com- prised of 16 accomplished individuals from around the world, including professionals from well-known companies such as eBay, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vox Media and Cloudflare. Durfee serves as a representative of small busi- ness concerns in the U.S. WVSOM Addresses Opioid Issue with Educational Series for Students The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) is addressing sub- stance use and opioid addiction through a five-session educational series designed for students on topics such as family and patient perspectives, first responders and law enforcement perspectives and nalox- one administration. The series was coordinated and spon- sored by WVSOM’s Neuro-Psych Club and WVSOM’s Center for Rural and Community Health. WVSOM President James Nemitz, Ph.D., says the school will continue to find ways to raise awareness and provide resources to address this issue that has adversely impacted the state. “We are one of the major players in addressing this crisis with regard to education, prevention and the possibil- ity of what we can do with treatment and workforce development,” he says. “Being able to provide resources like the opioid education series for our stu- dents will continue to help reduce the stigma of substance use and hopefully work toward reducing the number of people affected by this epidemic.” Shepherd University Professor Named 2018 West Virginia Professor of the Year Reduce Your Office Operating Expenses With Us! Look to KOMAX Business Systems when you need to increase productivity and reduce operating costs. We can also provide service and supplies for you current printer fleet. • Multifunction Printing Systems • Production Print Systems • Wide Format Systems • IT Services / Managed IT • Print Cost Recovery • Folder & Inserter Solutions • Document Imaging & Management • Paper Shredders • OCR & Document Conversions • Managed Print Services - MPS • Postage Meters (Service for HP, Lexmark, Dell, etc.) 500 D Street South Charleston, WV 25303 (304) 744-7440 Visit us at: www.komaxwv.com 126 WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE Dr. Heidi Hanrahan, a professor in Shepherd University’s Department of English and Modern Languages, has been named the Faculty Merit Foundation of West Virginia 2018 Professor of the Year. She was nominated by the univer- sity based on her achievements in teaching and her involvement on campus and in the community. In addition to teaching English and literature classes, Hanrahan is an advisor to the Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society, works with students on cap- stone projects and helps them present at conferences and publish their work. She