Member, Spilman, Thomas & Battle, PLLC
By Samantha Redd
There’s always been something professional about Amy Condaras. In preschool, she preferred the newspaper to children’s books and named her doll Miss Magillicutty instead of something more age-appropriate like Susie. While that sense of professionalism might have been bumped to the back burner on occasion when she took to the football field with the neighborhood kids or dressed in the coordinating Halloween costumes her mother made for her and her two siblings, it never really left her. In fact, it only seemed to grow with her. Why else would a junior high student claim she wanted to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company when she grew up?
Condaras, a cum laude graduate of the University of Richmond and the Washington and Lee University School of Law, was the type of student who was driven to stand out among her peers. “I was always the student that didn’t just want to get an A on a social studies project,” she remembers. “I wanted to be selected to go to the social studies fair. My competitive nature always pushed me to take things one step further.”
Her drive is evident in her career. Licensed to practice law in North Carolina and West Virginia, she is also a certified public accountant in West Virginia that maintains memberships in several professional organizations. Condaras, whose area of practice is corporate and finance law, quickly rose through the ranks to the top of her field. She was named a member at Spilman, Thomas & Battle, PLLC, early in her career.
Condaras returned home to the Mountain State in October 2006 for its culture, quality of life, people and opportunities. Today she finds satisfaction in dedicating her time, personally and professionally, to projects that create opportunities, strengthen communities and impact as many people as possible in hopes of making the Mountain State a more vibrant place to live.
She has actively worked with Create West Virginia, the Charleston Area Medical Center Foundation and the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences, and she serves as a board member for the United Way of Central West Virginia and the Children’s Therapy Clinic. She is also involved with recruiting for her alma maters and often serves as a guest speaker to inspire young lawyers.
In 2009, Condaras was named the spokesperson for the Come Home to West Virginia initiative, and through the volunteer position she participated in speaking engagements to discuss her decision to move home as well as how West Virginians could continue to promote the opportunities for others to return home as she had.
“There is a misconception that our most successful children only have opportunities outside of the state,” she says. “I disagree, which is why this campaign is important to me. West Virginia is a state like no other and living here is a privilege. I want to help encourage others to see that.”
Condaras says her biggest challenge has always been finding balance, something she sought when moving back to West Virginia and something she could never achieve without the support of her husband, Steve. While she hopes that several years from now she can say her children are her greatest success, her greatest success to date is making the decisions she made along the way to get where she is today.
“Since joining Spilman, I have learned that establishing balance is about establishing your own boundaries,” she says. “There are a lot of things I need to do: spend time with my children, serve my clients and engage in the organizations for which I volunteer. There’s no exact science to it, but I try to stay ahead of what is on my plate and prioritize. Needless to say, the support of my husband is a critical part of that.”
Photography by Tracy Toler on location at Adventures On the Gorge
