SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The longtime director of the Charleston Area Alliance has left the position and now Matt Ballard will become the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the West Virginia Regional Technology Park. Ballard said the opportunity was too good to pass up.
“The park in South Charleston is a project I’ve been involved in through my work at the Alliance. It’s just an amazing asset and it’s so unique,” he said.
Ballard said the Technology Park is something he’s passionate about and continues to believe it’s a great recruiting tool to bring emerging businesses and high tech start up companies to West Virginia.
“It’s still economic development obviously, but a slightly different role and I decided to seize the opportunity and try to help the park go to the next level,” he said.
The next level, according to Ballard, is to expand those companies who are already there while trying to lure new companies to invest and bring operations to West Virginia. There have been success stories and companies like N-3 and Matric have been valuable partners creating hundreds of jobs since landing at the facility. Bridge Valley Community and Technical College has also been a staple. Although there is still plenty of space available in the park’s existing buildings, Ballard wanted to explore the creation of building pads to create custom construction for potential future tenants.
Ballard said the pandemic has changed the way people look at locations since many have figured out they can be as productive from home as the office. However, he said the kind of clients they are looking for at the tech park aren’t those kinds of clients.
“You can’t really do research out of your basement. Applied research where you’re attempting to research a new material or product to be taken to market has to be done in a lab for engineering or chemistry and that’s what the Tech Park has,” he said.