Joshua joined Shaping Our Appalachian Region in August 2017 as Chief Operating Officer. Born in the southern West Virginia community of Man in Logan County and raised in Martin County in eastern Kentucky, Joshua is a nationally recognized leader in community, workforce, and economic development, program development, fundraising, and grants development.
Prior to coming to SOAR, Joshua served as Director of Strategic Communications at Big Sandy Community and Technical College. In 2010, he became the Founding Director of the Eastern Kentucky Distance Learning initiative (now Teleworks USA). He also served as Director of Public Relations and Marketing at Pikeville Medical Center, as well as Managing Editor of its newspaper, the Medical Leader.
Joshua earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Morehead State University. He will graduate the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute in January. He is a graduate of the Leadership Kentucky program (2010) and was named Young Professional of the Year by the Young Professionals of Eastern Kentucky in 2011. He serves on the following boards: Kentucky Small Business Development Center Advisory Board, Morehead State University Master of Public Administration Advisory Board, Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky Board of Directors, and the East Kentucky Leadership Foundation Board of Directors.