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PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Development Authority and Parkersburg-Wood County Area Development Corporation will be holding a joint annual meeting at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, at Discovery World on Market. Christine Davies, West Virginia deputy secretary for economic development and workforce participation, will be the keynote speaker.
Davies joined the West Virginia Department of Commerce after spending 25 years "at the intersection of business, technology, policy, and entrepreneurship," according to a news release from Wood County Economic Development. She is founder and CEO of Poligage, an on-demand government and public-affairs expert marketplace, where "from 2018 through 2024 she built a network of more than 250 firms with public policy, regulatory, and public affairs expertise who served clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies and trade associations and could be engaged for online consultations and remote projects," according to the release.
Davies has also been vice president of global partnerships at Asia Society, a global nonprofit founded by John D. Rockefeller III, which is meant to build strong relations between the United States and the countries of Asia. She managed the Asia Society's global fundraising network to negotiate millions of dollars in strategic partnerships with companies, foundations and government agencies while also helping to launch the Asia Society Policy Institute, according to the release.
Earlier in her career, Davies was a solution specialist at Microsoft, working to develop and harvest repeatable digital solutions for public sector organizations across the United States and around the world, which, according to the release, "generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue."
She began her career at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of State, where she supported international economic policy initiatives and advanced U.S. trade and diplomatic priorities around the world, the release said.
Those who are not members of the PWCADC but would like to attend the meeting should contact Kate Marlow at kate@developwoodcountywv.com.