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 Regional Growth Manager 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 Regional Growth Manager 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.

James E. Smith

James Smith 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.

James’ role as a Regional Growth Manager 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.

In addition, James is the Program Manager for the Virginia Tech Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) Senior Design Program. The program is designed to be the capstone, integrative experience that provides the basic skills needed to effectively plan, manage, and implement technical projects. Specifically, students work in teams to apply learned skills to real-world manufacturing opportunities, improving processes and accelerating growth.

With 38 years of industry experience, James has proven expertise in strategic business development, systems process improvement, workforce solutions, project/program management, product design, quality management, fiber optic electronics, and automation controls systems.

James earned his BS in Management and Leadership from Bluefield College and has considerable education in Manufacturing Technology with a focus in Electronics from East Carolina University. He is certified through the Siemens Technik Akademie of Berlin, Germany to teach the Siemens Mechatronics Systems Certification Program, and to assess program graduates.

Prior to joining GENEDGE, he served as Workforce Development Program Manager at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke. Outside of GENEDGE, James has membership affiliations with various regional organizations including chambers of commerce, city planning commissions, and higher education boards.

John Hagwood

John is the Regional Growth Manager for the Central Virginia Region. In this role, his focus is establishing new and maintain existing relationships with small, medium, and large businesses while partnering with local, regional, and state economic developers, industrial associations, research/incubator facilities and academic institutions. He will continue GENEDGE’s direct collaboration with our clients by deepening existing relationships and identifying new opportunities for helping firms achieve their strategic goals.

His service area includes the combined cities of Colonial Heights, Emporia, Fredericksburg, Hopewell, Petersburg, and includes the combined counties of Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Essex, Gloucester, Goochland, Greensville, Hanover, Henrico, King and Queen, King George, King William, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, New Kent, Northumberland, Powhatan, Prince George, Richmond, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Surry, Sussex, and Westmoreland. John was previously the Regional Growth Manager for the Southside Virginia Region before transferring to the Central Virginia Region.

John brings +25 years of experience in business development, supply chain, data analysis and manufacturing with a focus in IT/semiconductor industry. While here at GENEDGE, he led: the OEA Rural DoD Supply Chain Program, PowerAmerica Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program for Virginia, and the NASA Red Program enabling small businesses access into NASA Langley’s technical resources.

John has earned master’s degrees in both Business and Engineering, and he joined GENEDGE in December 2016.

Steve Dalton

Steve Dalton is the Regional Growth Manager for the Shenandoah Valley/Blue Ridge Region. Steve’s role as a Regional Growth Manager 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.

His service area includes the cities of Buena Vista, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton, Waynesboro, Winchester and includes the counties of Albemarle, Augusta, Bath, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Frederick, Greene, Highland, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Page, Rappahannock, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Warren.

Steve is a results-oriented, client-driven Sales Professional, Team Leader, Business Coach and Entrepreneur with over 30 years of proven results. An effective communicator who is skilled at assessing needs and providing profitable solutions.

Before joining the GENEDGE team, Steve worked: as a Sales Manager Consultant & Leadership Coach at Peak Performance Coaching LLC; as the Owner/Entrepreneur & Product Designer for HOUSEHOLDSUPPLIES.COM LLC; as Senior Team Leader at Allstate Insurance Corporation; and as the VA Territory Manager/Developer for Diamond Paper Corporation.

Steve holds an Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from Averett University of Danville and an MBA from Radford University. Certifications and affiliations include ACC Leadership/Business Coach ICF (International Coaching Federation), ITIL certification, and Chamber of Commerce Import / Export certification.

In his free time, Steve enjoys spending time with family at Smith Mountain Lake, biking, coaching sports, and boating.