Brandon Downey

By Jean Hardiman

Life can always take unexpected turns, and for Brandon Downey, one of those turns came after a high school internship introduced him to the power of computers.

As a student at Jefferson High School in the mid-1990s, Downey took an internship in a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory in Kearneysville, WV. The lab was sequencing fragments of DNA.

He changed gears while he attended West Virginia University (WVU) and became a software and systems architect. In 2010, he launched a successful technology company in Bridgeport.

Now, as co-founder and CEO of Trilogy Innovations, Inc., he and his team of about 100 skilled professionals practice software and systems engineering, cloud modernization, cybersecurity and data-driven decision-making to help clients accomplish their missions.

An SBA-certified 8(a) small and minority-owned company, Trilogy is headquartered in Bridgeport with offices in Morgantown. The company was named to Inc. magazine’s Inc. 5000 from 2022-2025. The magazine also named Trilogy the fastest-growing business in West Virginia in 2022 and 2023.

“My greatest professional achievement has been helping build and scale Trilogy from nothing, literally zero revenue, into one of the fastest-growing companies in West Virginia for multiple years,” he says. “With that growth came something bigger than business success: real economic impact for employees, their families and the communities around us.”

In looking back at those who inspired him, Downey thanks his mother, who raised him and his sister alone. He also thanks mentors who helped him grow in systems engineering and provided lessons in communicating with clients and treating his team well.

“My career path has always been built on stepping into responsibility early,” he says. “From my first professional roles, I leaned into every chance to learn the full landscape of systems and software engineering, technical delivery, project leadership, customer engagement and the discipline of defending designs and decisions.

He also spends time nurturing the environment for tech companies. He and his business partner, Randy Cottle, founded the annual Tech Yeah conference, which showcases West Virginia’s tech offerings and homegrown talent and strengthens relationships with government, larger businesses and organizations outside the state.

In addition to Trilogy, he’s also involved with the Charles Pinkerton Foundation, a benefactor of the Tech Yeah conference; West Virginia Public Education Collaborative K-12 Speakers Bureau; The Advanced Leadership Institute CEO Council; WVU Statler College Visiting Committee Advisory Board; M.S. in Cybersecurity & Risk Management Industry Advisory Board; and Country Roads Angel Network.

Trilogy has an internship program as well.

“As Trilogy has matured, our focus has increasingly shifted toward workforce development because we believe long-term economic impact in West Virginia will be driven by strengthening K-12 and higher education and preparing people to succeed in a rapidly changing technology economy,” Downey says.

He also sponsors and supports STEM programs and student activities, from robotics to youth sports, that give kids structure, confidence and a team-oriented mindset.

“I’ve seen how access to the right activities, mentors and positive environments can change a student’s trajectory, and I want more kids to have those chances,” Downey says. “I want to help build a West Virginia where more kids can imagine a bigger future and then have the skills, support and opportunities to make it real.”

Downey says his family is the foundation of everything he does. He and his wife, Stacy, whom he describes as his rock, have three children. He wants to build a bright future for them and all West Virginians.

“West Virginia shaped who I am: the resilience, grit, loyalty to community and belief that you earn what you build,” he says. “I’ve always felt a responsibility not just to succeed personally but to help create opportunity in the place that raised me.”