Lindsey Kerr Piersol

Lindsey Kerr Piersol stepped into the role of executive director of the Parkersburg-Wood County Area Development Corporation just two days after her 26th birthday and immediately faced the biggest challenge of her career: starting an executive leadership role as a young woman.

“The job asked for someone with 10 years of experience. I would have been 16, but I got the job because I was willing to put in the time and work,” she says. “I want any person, regardless of age or gender, to know that they can do things if they put their mind to it and surround themselves with people smarter than they are.”

Piersol worked hard to earn the respect of her peers and community—showing up when it was hard, working on projects that were difficult and not giving up until they were completed.

As executive director, she works to market Wood County to new employers and works with current employers on any business, retention and expansion efforts. She says her role is best summed up as a business concierge—whatever local businesses need in Wood County, Piersol puts in the work to make their lives easier and, ultimately, their businesses more successful.

“West Virginia is full of kind, caring, compassionate and driven individuals who could go anywhere but choose to fight to make West Virginia a better place to live,” she says. “I get to witness that every day, and it makes my job and my life more purposeful.”

Piersol’s biggest motivators are her family and a deep passion to make Wood County a better place for people—especially her son, Sidney—to call home.

“I want my son to have opportunities to return to West Virginia after he attends college someday and make a living doing something he loves,” she says. “When I see my son and my friends’ children, I am motivated to work harder and to make this area better than I found it.”

For Piersol, the urge to give back is simple. She firmly believes that everyone can make their community better with their time, money or by simply sharing the positive things occurring in their community.

Working with local nonprofit leaders, Piersol has witnessed first-hand how hard these individuals work to make West Virginia better, so she gives her time and money to organizations that work tirelessly to change that trajectory.

Piersol has served on various boards, including as current chair of the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Council, whose goal is to maximize opportunities for local communities and public service agencies to secure federal assistance for economic development, water and sewer system construction and expansion, public facility improvements and more.

She is also the vice chair of the Workforce Development Board of the Mid-Ohio Valley, which works to advance the economic development of the region. Piersol is a current board member of the Polymer Alliance Zone and advisor to the WWW Interstate Planning Commission’s Transportation Commission.

Piersol and her husband are transplant West Virginians, both growing up in Ohio and moving to West Virginia almost eight years ago. Today, she says she can’t imagine not living in West Virginia.

“I choose to live and work in West Virginia because it’s almost heaven,” she says. “Wood County has bigger city amenities in a rural setting. I’ve met some of my greatest friends in West Virginia, and it will always be my home.”