Showcasing the Area

The best of Marshall University, Huntington, and West Virginia

• Marshall University History and Traditions – https://www.marshall.edu/history-and-traditions/
• University President Brad D. Smith – https://www.marshall.edu/president/brad-d-smith/
• Marshall University Quick Facts – https://www.marshall.edu/quick-facts/
• Marshall University Strategic Plan – https://www.marshall.edu/strategicplan/
• Marshall University iCenter – https://www.muicenter.com/
• Marshall Brad D. Smith School of Business – https://www.marshall.edu/cob/
• Marshall Thundering Herd Football – https://herdzone.com/sports/football
• Marshall Herdzone – https://herdzone.com/
• City of Huntington – https://www.cityofhuntington.com/
• Huntington Chamber of Commerce – https://www.huntingtonchamber.org/
• WV Tourism – https://wvtourism.com/
• Wonderful West Virginia – https://wonderfulwv.com/

Panelist Biographies

Biography

As a proud West Virginian with a passion for leadership and philanthropy, Brad D. Smith is focused on helping facilitate change by developing, supporting and investing in people.

His devotion to giving back to his home state runs deep, and he is committed to providing educational and economic development resources to the Appalachian region, where many communities have been disproportionately affected by technological and economic change.

During Brad’s 11-year tenure as CEO of Intuit, he was able to transform the company’s business structure from a North American desktop software company to a global cloud-based platform with a portfolio that included TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mint. The transformation was born from an innovation culture built around data-driven decision-making and rapid experimentation. The drive to innovate across all layers of the company transformed the way Intuit was able to serve its consumers, small businesses and partners. This led to record growth that nearly doubled the company’s revenues and increased its stock price more than 500%, and positioned Intuit as the industry leader.

Under his leadership, the company consistently was recognized as one of the world’s best places to work. Intuit placed on the Fortune Best Companies to Work For list each year during his tenure, ranking #13 in the United States and #1 in India, Singapore and Canada in 2017.

In 2016, Brad was ranked among the top CEOs in the United States by Fortune magazine, coming in at #6 on their list.

Before his time at Intuit, Brad’s career spanned four industries, including stints at PepsiCo, 7-UP, ADVO and ADP, where he led large, global organizations through turn-around, transformation and high-growth environments.

He has served as the executive chairman of the board of Intuit, as chairman of the Nordstrom board and as a board member of Momentive (formerly SurveyMonkey) and Yahoo.  He was recently appointed to the board of directors at Humana and Amazon.

Brad’s Wing 2 Wing Foundation, which he co-founded with his wife Alys, provides increased access and support for education, entrepreneurship mentoring and investment and works to position West Virginia “as a showcase for the nation.” One of the foundation’s signature initiatives is Ascend West Virginia, the nation’s premier remote workforce recruitment program.

Originally from Kenova, Brad earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Marshall University and his master’s degree in management from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Brad and Alys are the parents of two grown daughters, Payton and Devon.

Biography

Michael Graney was appointed to the post of executive director of the West Virginia Development Office by Governor Jim Justice in 2018 under the West Virginia Department of Commerce and extended that title to him in the newly formed West Virginia Department of Economic Development, May 2021.

Graney earned his BA from the University of Virginia and his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business in 1990.

Since then, he has spent much of his professional career in executive or co-founder positions with companies related to the petroleum industry. In those roles, he was responsible for managing different facets of business, including acquisition, construction, finance, administration, retail operations and environmental compliance.

From 1991 to 2015, he was president of One Stop, a chain of convenience stores based in West Virginia.

He has been a member of numerous oil industry professional organizations and a committee member on the Governor’s Natural Gas Vehicle Task Force.

Biography

Toney Stroud is an accomplished attorney with more than 24 years of experience in complex compliance and regulatory issues. Prior to joining Marshall, he was an assistant vice president at Encova Insurance, where he had been an attorney since 2013. In that role, he managed outside counsel in 28 states related to litigation, contracts, administrative regulatory matters and insurance coverage issues. He also provided legal support for the company’s human resources team and advised on legislative and government relations matters. Before joining Encova, he was a member at Steptoe & Johnson PLLC in Charleston and Columbus, Ohio, from 1998-2013.

One of only two College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in West Virginia, he also served for nearly a decade as an adjunct faculty member in Marshall’s College of Engineering and Computer Sciences, teaching an upper-division workers’ compensation course.

Stroud is actively involved in the community, including serving as chairman of the board of the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce, secretary of the Education Alliance and chairman of the advisory board of Marshall’s College of Engineering and Computer Sciences. Additionally, he serves on the boards of the Huntington Area Development Council (HADCO), Huntington Tri-State Airport, Leadership West Virginia, the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of West Virginia, St. Mary’s Medical Center Foundation and River Cities United Way.

The West Virginia Supreme Court appointed Stroud to serve on the Intermediate Court of Appeals Advisory Council and he was selected for the FBI Citizen’s Academy Class of 2022. He is a graduate of Leadership Charleston, Leadership Columbus and Leadership West Virginia, and received Marshall’s Alumni Award of Distinction in 2016.

Stroud earned his law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Marshall.