WVFA Winter 2018-19

www.wvfa.org Winter 2018–2019 |  West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry 29 G O V E R NM E N T New WV Speaker PLEASE JOIN WVFA IN CONGRATULATING Delegate Roger Hanshaw on his election as the new Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Speaker Hanshaw has distinguished himself during his two terms in the House as not only a brilliant lawyer and chemist but also a wise leader and legislator. We look forward to working with his administration, as we understand at this writing that Mr. Hanshaw may be selected to continue as Speaker in the new legislative session. Carmichael Announces Takubo as new Majority Leader TOM TAKUBO WILL BE THE NEW MAJORITY LEADER of the state Senate, President Mitch Carmichael announced today. The position opened when the prior majority leader, Ryan Ferns, was defeated in the General Election. Senator Takubo, a South Charleston resident who won re-election, was first elected to the Senate in 2014 when Republicans took the majority. Takubo is a critical care specialist in the Kanawha Valley. New Director, WV Development Office GOV. JIM JUSTICE HAS ANNOUNCED a new Executive Director of the West Virginia Development Office. Michael R. Graney accepted the position and will serve under the Department of Commerce Acting Secretary W. Clayton Burch. Graney is an entrepreneur, and lifetime West Virginia resident. He was the President of One Stop in Charleston from 1991 to 2015. He is now Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences and a member of the Executive Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Buckskin Council and has served in many other community non-profit roles. New Faces Gaunch is New WV Sec. of Commerce GOV. JIM JUSTICE HAS ANNOUNCED that he has appointed C. Edward Gaunch of Kanawha County as Secretary of Commerce for West Virginia. Gaunch will assume his new role in January, after finishing his current term in the West Virginia Senate. Gaunch, who has been a member of the State Senate representing District 8 since 2014, is a native of Boone County. After graduating from West Virginia State University in 1970 with a double major in Economics and Political Science, he spent more than three decades in the insurance industry including 28 years at the Carson Agency in Charleston where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer for a number of years.