Officials from West Virginia University and the WVU Health System, commonly branded as WVU Medicine, announced Friday that Stacey Armstrong was named president of the WVU Innovation Corp.
“Stacey has a proven track record as an impactful and successful leader, and that is why I believe she is the perfect fit for this role,” Albert L. Wright Jr., president and CEO of the WVU Health System, said. “We’re embarking on a new adventure with the WVU Innovation Corp., and as a result, we need a visionary who can help it reach its full potential. I have no doubt that the Innovation Corp. will have a long and bright future under Stacey’s leadership.”
Armstrong comes to Morgantown from OhioHealth, where she currently serves as chief operating officer of Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. During her time at OhioHealth, she has also served as chief operating officer and president of Grant Medical Center in Columbus, and as vice president of specialty services for OhioHealth Physicians Group.
Prior to that, Armstrong spent more than five years at UPMC in Pittsburgh, where she served as vice president of operations for UPMC Passavant, vice president of ambulatory care for UPMC Presbyterian-Shadyside, and executive director of laboratories at UPMC Presbyterian-Shadyside.
She received her undergraduate degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine and her Master of Business Administration degree from Franklin University in Columbus.
“West Virginia University has been committed to being part of making our community the best it can be since Viatris first announced plans to close its former Mylan Chestnut Ridge facility,” WVU President Gordon Gee said. “Stacey Armstrong brings experience and expertise to this endeavor and is an important next step in this exciting new chapter.”
The announcement of Armstrong’s appointment comes a week after the WVUIC formally took ownership of the former pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Morgantown. It will be transformed into a hub of private business activity that will harness research, create jobs and lead to the development of goods and services that will benefit the people of West Virginia. Discussions with potential tenants to lease space within the 1.1 million-square-foot facility are ongoing.
“We are optimistic about the interest already being expressed, and now under Stacey’s leadership, WVUIC will be positioned to accelerate that work, including with federal, local and state officials, to create public and private sector jobs,” WVU Vice President for Strategic Initiatives Rob Alsop, who also serves as the current WVUIC president and executive director, said.
Armstrong will take over the day-to-day management and oversight of the facility when she officially begins May 9.
“I am incredibly excited to serve the Morgantown community and the state of West Virginia in a new and creative way by creating jobs and manufacturing goods that the people of the Mountain State need,” she said. “This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build-out the new innovation center, and I’m very grateful to have received it.”
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