Regional Growth Manager

Francisco Gonzalez

Francisco Gonzalez is a Regional Growth Manager in the Roanoke/New River service area that includes the cities of Bristol, Covington, Galax, Lynchburg, Norton, Radford, Roanoke, Salem and includes the counties of Alleghany, Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Botetourt, Campbell, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski, Roanoke, and Wythe.

With a +25-year career in the automotive industry, he defines his core mission as “to provide strategic guidance and drive to technical teams and business leaders, so they can take decisive actions to turn innovative concepts into reality”. His focus is on advancing product and process technologies, that are implemented as new manufacturing solutions that elevate performance, cost-effectiveness, safety, and environmental sustainability of vehicle systems. Passionate about fostering a culture of creativity, experimentation, and collaboration.

Francisco earned his MS in Automotive Systems Engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Tim Rombach

Tim Rombach is a Regional Growth Manager in the Central and Northern Virginia areas that include the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, Manassas Park, Colonial Heights, Emporia, Hopewell, Petersburg and Richmond, and the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Goochland, Greensville, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, Powhatan, Prince George, Surry, and Sussex.

Tim is a sales champion with success in consultative selling based on building trust and delivering solutions. He is entrepreneurial and skilled in opening new markets, developing distribution channels, introducing new products, developing and retaining profitable business.

Tim earned his BA from Alleghany College in Political Science and Communications.

Sean Storan

Sean Storan is a Regional Growth Manager at GENEDGE where he will lead business development efforts to support manufacturers to innovate, compete, and grow in Region 5.

Sean is an accomplished senior executive with an extensive record of achievement across trade, international, and organizational boundaries, building and leveraging strategic partnerships with individuals, companies, grassroots organizations and targeted demographics to achieve market expansion. Diverse business development experience in both public and private sectors, including planning and executing successful political campaigns, winning over $600M in foreign direct investment for the Irish government, and growing a start-up from inception to $20M in contracts in less than 2 years.

Prior to working for GENEDGE, he was the Senior Vice President of Business Development at Integrity ISR, LLC, where he played pivotal role in growing the start-up to over $6M in annual revenue with over 50 highly skilled employees in 2023.

Sean received his Bachelor’s Degree in 2004, from Sligo Institute of Technology in Sligo, Ireland, where he graduated with honors.

Cheryl Valentine

Cheryl Valentine is a Regional Growth Manager at GENEDGE where she will lead business development efforts to support manufacturers to innovate, compete, and grow in Region 3.

Prior to joining GENEDGE, Cheryl was the director of New Business & Underwriting for Pacific Life Insurance Company. Prior to this Cheryl was previously in the footwear industry where she oversaw sales and marketing and supported over 2,000 independent footwear retailers across the United States. Prior to this she was with Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Va., where she was on a team that started a new medical school in conjunction with Virginia Tech. At the medical school she managed various functional areas including marketing, communications, strategy, and institutional effectiveness. Cheryl started her career with Coopers and Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) as an associate working on buy-side mergers and acquisitions in New York City.

Cheryl has a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business and a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

Cheryl lives with her husband and two children in Lynchburg, Va. She enjoys cooking for her friends and family and being outdoors, especially if it involves downhill skiing

Bill Donohue

Bill Donohue is President of Virginia’s GENEDGE Alliance. The company, in its 27th year, is a Commonwealth of VA political subdivision which is the best public resource in VA helping companies Innovate, Compete and Grow. Bill leads a regionally deployed network of talented consultants who are responsible for improving the competitiveness of the technology and manufacturing sectors in Virginia, representing 12% of the Commonwealth’s GDP. Bill’s focus is on expanding services regionally to drive Strategic Innovation, Growth and Reshoring opportunities throughout relevant industrial clusters and vertical supply chains. This includes sectors such as medical devices and PPE, cybersecurity, nuclear shipbuilding, water purification and advanced manufacturing technologies. GENEDGE is the Virginia affiliate of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Program.

Bill’s career began with GE Plastics and Silicones in the engineered materials business unit. Ultimately, he managed a global investment and technology program for a $2.5 billion annual revenues business. Prior to joining GENEDGE, he completed general management level strategic start up, expansion and turnaround assignments for Fortune 500 companies in sealants, packaging, pressure sensitive adhesive, and electronic films businesses.

Bill is a 1981 graduate of the University of Rochester and in 1983 the GE Chemical Management Program. His active board memberships include the American Small Manufacturers Coalition, the Old Dominion University Batten College of Engineering, and the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing Board of Directors. He is the vice chair for the MEP National Network Leadership Team.

Bill enjoys golf, gardening, art, his golden doodle dogs, Virginia Tech and Kansas City Chiefs football. He and his wife Pamela reside in Locust Grove, VA.

Physical address: GENEDGE, 32 Bridge St South, Ste 200, Martinsville, VA 24112
Mailing address: GENEDGE, PO Box 5423, Martinsville, VA 24115
Fax: (276) 666-8892

Sam Wolford

Sam Wolford is a Director of Client Services in the southwest Virginia service area that includes the cities of Bristol, Galax, Norton and includes the counties of Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Dickenson, Grayson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, and Wythe.

Sam’s role as a Director of Client Services is to establish and maintain new relationships with economic developers, industrial associations, and local manufacturing, industrial, and technology companies in his region. He collaborates directly with clients managing the full lifecycle of projects and supporting them in their strategic goals.

With over 24+ years of experience, Sam has expertise in leading, mentoring, developing, managing, and implementing solutions in engineering, technologies, emergency operations, process improvement, organization development, workforce development, and project/program management.

Sam has a personal narrative of strategic innovation, and creative collaboration, leading to successful operational and program management, and project delivery. He has tackled complex challenges and provided programmatic solutions for many clients and organizations across the region he serves. This is evident from having successfully led GENEDGE programs including the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF) program in partnership with the MidAtlantic Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (MATAAC), the regional Heart of Appalachia Collaborative Economic Transition Project, and GENEDGE itself through an internal organization improvement program.

Prior to joining GENEDGE, he supported Tazewell County by leading the operation of Public Safety, Technology, Workforce Development, and by providing special project coordination across various governmental disciplines. Tazewell County received two Governor’s Technology Awards for Innovative Use of Technology in Economic Development and in Government through Sam’s program work during his time there. Sam holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architectural Engineering Technology from Bluefield State College School of Engineering Technology & Computer Science and holds competencies in Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt

Outside of GENEDGE, Sam is actively involved in non-profit organizations as a member of boards of directors and advisory boards for both educational institutions and service organizations.