H. Darrel Darby
H. Darrel Darby, DPM, FACFAS, opened his podiatric practice in 1956, which later became Huntington Podiatry Associates in Huntington, West Virginia. While practicing, Darby received input from patients that led him to develop a post-operative shoe. He received a patent on the shoe and formed Darco International to manufacture and distribute the shoes and other medical products. Since its inception, Darco has become the leading manufacturer of post-operative shoes in the United States and is the world leader in the manufacturing and distribution of surgical shoes. Darco also manufactures a full line of generic orthopedic braces.
Following high school graduation, Darby was employed as a coalminer. With the encouragement of his wife, Darby returned to school and graduated in 1956 from the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine.
Darby served as president of the West Virginia Podiatric Medical Association, the Mid-Atlantic Podiatric Medical Association and became the only West Virginian to ever serve as president of the American Podiatric Medical Association, He was one of the founders of the Podiatry Insurance Company of America and served as its chairman from 1982 to 1993} Darby also ventured into other areas of business, building his first motel in the late1960’s. He later added 34 additional rooms to that property and today has four motels in the Beckley-Princeton area with a total of 430 rooms. Laurel Lodge Enterprises is the family-owned3- business that operates the motels and develops new properties. Darby and his wife, Laura, have six children and 13 grandchildren.
Steven J. Day
Steven J. Day is President and CEO of City National Bank and City Holding Company in Charleston, West Virginia. Under his leadership, City has grown since 1982 from one bank of less than$100 million in assets to a $1.5 billion bank holding company operating 47 offices with 900 employees in West Virginia and six offices located in southern California employing 275 people.
Day earned a B.B.A. degree in Marketing from Marshall University in 1975. His career started at Valley National Bank where he eventually headed up the bank’s operations and data processing.
He temporarily left the banking business in 1980 and he and two partners began a custom framing business, still operating as Gallery Two in Huntington.
Day is currently the director of the West Virginia Bankers Association, Big Green Foundation, West Virginia Consumer Credit Counseling Association, The Revolving Loan Fund for Persons with Disabilities and a member of the West Virginia Roundtable and the Marshall University Alumni Association. He has served as vice chairman of the Boy Scouts and was former president of the Kanawha Association of Business People.
He is a former director of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, thanks a Million Foundation, Salvation Army, Charleston Renaissance Corporation, the Business Industrial Development Corporation, Charleston East Community Development Corporation and the West Virginia Literacy Council He has been recognized by Bankers Monthly as one of the youngest CEO’S in the country. Day and his wife, Debbie Williams, reside in Teays Valley with their 15-year old son.
Nancy Francis
Nancy Francis has been a lifelong volunteer in many organizations. During her childhood she did such things as collecting food for the less fortunate and raising funds to help worthy programs. When she was 13, she developed a “fun” program for underprivileged children to teach them “how to play,” using simple tools such as rocks, chalk, clothesline and imagination. Francis received her BA. degree in 1944 from Stephens College and has lived in West Virginia since 1945.
Francis looks at volunteerism as a duty and a joy. During World War II, when school was not in session, Francis worked as a trained nurse’s aide in three different hospitals; eight hours a day; six days a week. On Sunday afternoons she manned a telephone at an officer’s club, locating housing, baby cribs, and giving directions to places in the area.
Francis was selected as Sustainer of the Year by the Junior League of Huntington, Person of the Year by the Cabell County Medical Auxiliary, Wall of Fame by the City of Huntington Foundation, Volunteer Fund Raiser of the Year by the West Virginia Chapter of National Society of Fund Raisers, Graduating Class named “Francis Class” by the Society of Yeager Scholars Program, and Citizen of the Year by the Herald Dispatch in 1992. Francis. has served as president on many community boards and organizations such as: The Marshall University Foundation, Yeager Scholars Program, Hospice of Huntington, Huntington Museum of Art and United Way of the River Cities. Nancy has three children and two grandsons.
Earl W Heiner, Jr.
Earl W- Heiner, Jr. is the President of Heiner’s Bakery in Huntington, West Virginia He began Working at the bakery at the age of 14. After serving in the military he became the assistant manager of the bakery until he was named president in 1982. Heiner is the third generation to work at the bakery, which has been in business since 1905.
In 1996, Heiner’s Bakery was sold to Earthgrains, Inc. of St. Louis, one of the top three bakeries in the United States. Heiner graduated from Kentucky Military Institute in 1953 and from Marshall University with a B.A. degree in 1958 where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He spent two years’ in the infantry as a first lieutenant in the Receiving and Processing Company and Executive Officer of Head Quarter Company in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Heiner is a member and trustee of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church where he has taught Sunday School for seven years.
Heiner has been active in the following charities: Cammack Children’s Center, Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and the YMCA. He has been president of the West Virginia Bakers Association, president of the Tri-State Bakers Association, Huntington Clinical Foundation, Marshall Business Advisory Board, member of the Marshall University Foundation, Board of Directors for Commerce Bank of Huntington, Board of Trustees for Alderson-Broaddus College, and Gideon’s. Heiner and his wife, Nancy Lee Eddy, have two sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren. Heiner’s two sons now make the fourth generation to work at the bakery.
Harvey P. White
Harvey P. White is the president and director of Qualcomm Inc. based in San Diego, CA. In 1985 White and six others co-founded Qualcomm, which has grown to more than $2 billion in sales with some 10,000 employees. Qualcomm is a wireless communications company and is a leading manufacturer of CDMA phones, infrastructure and Components with distribution throughout the world. White was educated in West Virginia, attending West Virginia Wesleyan for two years and later transferring to Marshall University, where he graduated with a B.A. in Economics in1955.
A member of the Board of Trustees of West Virginia Wesleyan College, he is also involved with ScrippsHealth (Hospitals), Solana Technology Corporation and the Greater San Diego Y.M.C.A. He co-founded the San Diego Telecom CEO Council and serves on committees for the mayor of San Diego, Port Commission of San Diego and the San Diego County Board of Education on issues such as airport plans and technology for the city and school system. White is also vice Chairman of the San Diego Economic Development corporation and has served on other civic, arts and community service boards. He was named by San Diego Magazine in its annual selection of “Who’s Who in San Diego” for 1994’White and his wife, Frances Hamilton, have three children and three grandchildren. Through their foundation, they have funded scholarships and supported library expansion in West Virginia and Southern Ohio in honor of their parents.
