Attend fifth annual Focus Forward with Big Energy

The WVU community is invited to join Focus Forward with Big Energy from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 5 at the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place. 

Hosted by the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the fifth annual Focus Forward will look at the future of energy in West Virginia. 

Dynamic conversations will explore how the WVU community — as educators, researchers, entrepreneurs and students about to enter the job market — can work with business, nonprofit and government leaders to build up West Virginia’s workforce and economy. 

Featured speakers include President Gordon Gee, Marshall University President Brad D. Smith, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), McKinsey and Company partner Nathan Flesher, and Carnegie Mellon University expert Valerie Karplus.

A lineup of top leaders will: 

• highlight innovative energy companies that have set up shop in West Virginia and explain why,
  

• discuss how our education system can ready our workforce to fill future jobs in a diversifying and global energy sector,
  

• consider policies that attract new businesses and make it easy for startups and entrepreneurs to thrive and grow,
  

• reveal available funding options to bring in new capital, startups and investments, and
  

• share groundbreaking research, technology advancements and future opportunities in batteries, solar, wind, hydrogen, coal and more.

These dynamic, forward-thinking discussions aim to ensure West Virginia stays competitive, relevant and resilient in an evolving global economy.  

Register to attend.