Regional Growth Manager

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 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

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 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.