About Excel Together West Virginia
Excel Together West Virginia is an ambitious education and workforce initiative that brings together many different entities across the state, working together towards common goals. A description of Excel Together's approach is given here.
Excel Together West Virginia is a program of SeeMore Impact Labs, a national non-profit based out of Boulder, Colorado. The initiative grows out of SeeMore's work across the nation in schools, colleges, adult education, workforce development, and employee upskilling. SeeMore is contributing free resources in coach training, participant outreach, marketing, and other areas.
Advisory Council
Excel Together West Virginia's Advisory Council is a collection of people with deep roots and experience across the state. The Advisory Council meets regularly through the year for updates on the initiative, brainstorming on how to improve Excel Together West Virginia's activities and outcomes, and discussion of emerging opportunities.
Jonathon Compton
Assistant Director, Workforce Development, Workforce West Virginia
Bornand raised in West Virginia, and a WVU graduate, Jonathon brings a deep understanding of the unique struggles West Virginians face when seeking employment opportunities and furthering their education. He previously served as State Monitor Advocate overseeing farmworker rights and protections throughout the state, and has a strong relationship with many businesses and state agencies from his time in that position. In his current role as Assistant Director of Workforce Development, Jonathon works closely with the local workforce development boards in conjunction with the Department of Laborto facilitate WIOA funded projects and programs throughout the state. Additionally, Jonathan and his team coordinate WorkForce WV's dislocated worker grants, the state's Work Opportunity Tax Credit program, and various other workforce development projects and initiatives.
Dr. Teresa Eagle
Dean, College of Education & Professional Development at Marshall University
With an Ed.D in Educational Leadership studies, an Ed.S in Education Supervision, and a B.S. in Mathematics, Teresa has served as a teacher, professor, and college administrator. With years in classroom math education, Teresa was awarded the WV Teacher of the Year award. As the Dean of Marshall University's Graduate School of Education and Professional Development for the past decade and earlier as coordinator of Marshall's doctoral programs in education, Teresa has been instrumental in shaping the next generation of West Virginia educators.
Amber Furman
Director of Workforce Development, West Virginia Hospital Association
Amber, a lifelong resident of West Virginia, is a seasoned medical professional with 23+ years' experience, known for her meticulousness and leadership. Skilled in communication, relationship-building, and project management, as Director of Workforce Development at the WV Hospital Association, she coordinates retention and workforce pipeline activities, connecting stakeholders, supporting programs, and analyzing data for informed decisions. With a Master’s in Healthcare Administration and a BBA from Marshall University, Amber is dedicated to supporting a healthy West Virginia.
Mendy Marshall
Executive Director, Office of Adult Education and Workforce Development, WV Department of Education
Mendy Marshall has been employed by the West Virginia Department of Education’s CTE Division for 28 years. Twenty-one of those years have been spent in the Adult Education Office, and she has served as the Director of Adult Education since 2016. Mendy has accumulated a deep understanding of the needs of adult learners in West Virginia, and learning how to work with community-based organizations, employers, and colleges to improve access to education and workforce training opportunities. Mendy is driven by seeing the successes of adult students who have overcome a barrier to education and employment.
Jimmy Smith
President/Director, WV Society for Human Resource Management
Jimmy has over25 years of experience in Municipal Government Human Resources, Finance and City Management. He currently is the Manager of Human Resources for HREA, Inc, a non-profit electric Utility Company in Harrison County WV. A lifelong resident of WV, he has given back through numerous volunteer roles. For over 20years, he has been a volunteer for the SHRM and is currently the WV State Director. He also is the current President of the Harrison County Planning Commission and has previously been the President/Chair for Local School Improvement Councils and PTA’s in the Harrison County School System. He has a degree from Marshall University and holds the SPHR, SHRM-SCP and IPMA-SCP professional human resource certifications.
Team members
Here are the people that bring you Excel Together West Virginia. Click here to meet Excel Together West Virginia's Advisory Council.
David Goldberg
Co-Director, Excel Together West Virginia
As Co-Director of Excel Together WV, David focuses mainly on business development and expanding the scope of the initiative's reach and mission.
David is a molecular biologist who was among the first to transfer a gene back into a higher organism (curing fruit flies of alcoholism!). He then "went bad" as a serial entrepreneur in 20 different companies and as many industries and technologies (geophysics, image indexing, consumer electronics, medical diagnostics, and more). He has a BS from Yale University, a PhD from Caltech, and completed postdoctoral work at Harvard and University of Cambridge in molecular biology, with additional postdoctoral work in artificial intelligence from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
David also serves as CEO of SeeMore Impact Labs, a national non-profit based in Boulder, CO that is running the national Excel Together initiative. David served as the initial co-architect of the CSM Course, the initial software developer of the CSM software platform, and is on the trash take-out rotation.
David is married to Marty Goldberg, the co-Founder of SeeMore Impact Labs (whose name is a hat-tip to her father), and has two children and three granddaughters in Boulder, who keep him young (well, maybe just younger...).
Miriam Goldberg
Co-Director, Excel Together West Virginia
As Co-Director, Miriam does a little bit of everything, and has the primary responsibility for Excel Together West Virginia operations and technology.
With a BA from Yale in Computational Social Sciences and a masters in Sociology from Columbia, she brings perspectives from psychology, sociology, and related fields, as well as experience in data analysis and experimental design. Miriam also serves as Chief Education Officer of SeeMore Impact Labs, a national non-profit based in Boulder, CO that is running the national Excel Together initiative. She has served as co-architect of much of the pedagogy of SeeMore's products, is the fount of knowledge of CSM implementation, and also works on the business development team.
Miriam has 2 elementary aged daughters who are champing at the bit until they're old enough to take CSM.
Kaitlin Garrow
Partnership Specialist, Excel Together West Virginia
As Partnership Specialist/CSM Coach, Kaitlin serves as the frontline interface with both individual CSM users, as well as primary implementation and support lead for organizations using CSM.
Prior to SeeMore, Kaitlin was most recently a product manager in the public safety market, with previous roles in marketing and sales, always with a people-focused perspective. This has served her well in having coached hundreds of students through CSM, coming from different vastly different backgrounds. Kaitlin has a BA in theater from Purdue.
Participating organizations
The initiative owes much to many forward-looking organizations in the state, including:
