Create West Virginia

Dubbed the “Official Statistician of the Creative Class”, Kevin combines a depth of knowledge with an appreciation of the importance of finding and sharing the knowledge or “pearls of wisdom” gained from his comprehensive understanding of the Creative Class and the Creative Economy.

His talk at this year’s Create WV Conference is entitled “The Creative Economy Outside City Limits.” He described his talk this way. The Creative Economy isn’t just the latest dance craze.  It’s a way to describe the fundamental shift that has been happening and continues in the world’s developed and developing economies.  It is not just something that only impacts “the big cities” – it is across the board.  This transition is creating significant challenges for West Virginia’s cities, towns, townships, and rural areas.  This talk will discuss this transition to a Creative Economy and the important role of the Creative Class, present overview information on West Virginia and its major cities, and provide strategies and examples for leveraging this transition and the regions’ natural advantages for success.

David is a native West Virginian and a graduate of Marshall University, which is in our host city this year. In addition to being a professor at Brigham Young University he is the Chief Openness Officer of Flat World Knowledge, Founder of the Open High School of Utah , and Founder of OpenContent.org. This year Fast Company magazine named him one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. His career is dedicated to increasing access to educational opportunity for everyone around the world.

His talk at this year’s Create WV Conference is entitled “Enrolling in the Creative Class:
Education and the Future Economy." He described his talk this way. As new technologies are invented and new fields of study appear with increasing frequency, a commitment to ongoing, life-long learning becomes central to the success of individuals, communities, states, and nations. This commitment must be shared equally by all involved. Unlike our fathers and mothers who joined a company and worked there through retirement, individuals must now adapt to a world in which a program of ongoing learning is a fact of life necessary to help them move from job to job and from field to field. Social and political organizations designed to meet the needs of previous generations of workers often fail to meet the needs of these individuals and frustrate their plans. This talk will focus on the innovations needed for our primary, secondary, and post-secondary educational systems to support the emergence and strengthening of a creative class capable of participating in what some have called the "new economy."

Anya is a staff writer for Fast Company Magazine and the author of Generation Debt. She's also written a Generation Debt column for Yahoo! Finance and written for publications ranging from New York Times and the Village Voice to ReadyMade magazine and Mental Floss. Her work for the Village Voice was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Her forthcoming book on the future of higher education will be published by Chelsea Green in 2010.

Her talk at this year’s Create WV Conference is entitled “Beyond the Grid: How West Virginia Can Build a Green Energy Economy Through Small-Scale, Smart Renewables." She described her talk this way. A unique renewable energy bill passed in Gainesville, FL earlier this year saw the local solar industry catch fire, while home and business owners benefited from their investments. Ten times the state's current solar power level will be installed by 2014 in that one city. The evidence is growing that privately owned, consumer-driven, small-scale, geographically distributed renewables could deliver a 100% green-energy future faster and cheaper than big power projects alone. Concepts like the smart grid, thin-film solar, small wind, and home retrofitting for efficiency could have up to half of the nation's homes and businesses generating their own renewable energy. Through the right incentives, a state like West Virginia has the opportunity to foster a vibrant local renewable energy industry and become a leader in the future of the "microgrid".

Marcus joined NASCAR as a Senior Manager for National Media Outreach. He was named NASCAR’s managing director of public affairs in June 2006, where among other things he managed the Diversity Internship Program. Before NASCAR, Marcus worked in politics as the Deputy Campaign Manager for a presidential campaign, Chief-of-Staff for a congressman, and in other communication positions.

His talk at this year’s Create WV Conference is entitled “Championing Diversity in Non-Diverse Worlds." He described his talk this way. How do you find new markets for your products and services and find new talent for your endeavors? The short answer is to diversify. For NASCAR that means making the sport more appealing to more people like Hispanics, African-Americans and others. To grow the audience we need to grow the diversity of the talent competing. In my talk I will share lessons learned from working with a passionate industry in developing proactive diversity programs that open up new markets and new pools of talent for the future. Together we will apply these ideas to economic development in West Virginia.