Vice President, Marketing & Development
WVU Medicine University Healthcare
Facebook: Teresa Ring McCabe
LinkedIn: Teresa McCabe
Photo by Joe Stevenson.
By Blair Dowler
Born and raised in Jefferson County, WV, in the small town of Middleway, Teresa McCabe, vice president of marketing and development for WVU Medicine University Healthcare, once dreamed of leaving the Eastern Panhandle for big-city life as a journalist for a newspaper or major television network. Life had different plans for this dreamer, though.
McCabe’s career began just after she earned her undergraduate degree at Shepherd University. She was hired as an admissions counselor for the college, traveling throughout West Virginia and the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area to recruit high school students and arrange and conduct campus tours. “I traveled most days of the week, so I got very comfortable traveling alone,” she says of the job. “To this day, I still enjoy exploring new places.”
This adventurer eventually made the leap into health care marketing, serving as the director of public relations for Jefferson Memorial Hospital and director of marketing and development at City Hospital before joining WVU Medicine University Healthcare.
“Despite the fact that I always thought I would move away from this area, I am proud I have been able to have such a successful career right here in the Eastern Panhandle,” she says. “I love my job and very much appreciate the senior level position I now hold within the organization. I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenges and knowledge I have gained over the past 30 years.”
Experience and support are two things to which McCabe attributes her triumphs in her professional and personal life. Writing for her school newspapers in high school and college and working in advertising sales provided her valuable experience for a career in public relations and marketing, but it was the relationships and the people that had an even greater impact on who she is today.
“I’ve worked with many great professionals here in the Eastern Panhandle whom I consider to be my peers and friends,” she says. “We have grown in our respective careers together.”
When she thinks of the mentors and individuals who influenced her life the most, she thinks of her mother and father, whom she lost in 1981 and 2004 respectively. “They were my role models, and the values they preached and practiced remain with me,” she says.
For McCabe, her hard work is not merely about a flourishing career. She has always made a point to give back to the community. She has a long history of involvement with several community organizations, including the Shepherdstown and Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary Clubs and the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle. She also sits on the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle and is a founding member of Women Investing in Shepherd. Each of these organizations has a direct impact on the community where McCabe was born, raised, lives and works today, making the decision to give her time, talent and treasure to them an easy one.
She also plays an important role in helping the community through her career. “As part of my job, I am very involved in the community and assist with conducting our community health needs assessments for Berkeley and Jefferson counties,” she says. “I hear and see first-hand what folks are exposed to and where gaps exist. Even though we live in one of the most prosperous parts of West Virginia, there are still basic needs that are going unmet. Anything I can do to help makes a difference and is important to someone.”
And make a difference, she has—right in the very place she once dreamed of leaving. McCabe couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out. “If I could chat with my 18-year-old self now, I would say, ‘Teresa, don’t be so determined to move away. Focus more on what you enjoy doing and the career you want to pursue. Staying here in the Eastern Panhandle may not turn out so bad for you after all.’”
1979 Graduated from Shepherd University
1986 Began a health care marketing career at City Hospital in Martinsburg
1996 Served as president of the Shepherdstown Rotary Club and was named a Paul Harris Fellow
1999 Helped establish the Jefferson Healthcare Foundation at Jefferson Memorial Hospital
2005 Named vice president of marketing and development at WVU Hospitals-East
2006 Served as founding president of United Way of the Eastern Panhandle
2008 Named to the Girl Scouts’ Women of Distinction
