How Stanford GSB Alumni Are Helping an Appalachian Town Move Beyond Coal

With an economy tethered to a dying industry, Williamson, West Virginia suffers from severe unemployment and some of the worst mortality rates in the U.S.

Over the past five years, Daryn Dodson, MBA ’07, and Jenna Nicholas, MBA ’17, have summoned outside investors, philanthropists, business owners, and scholars to the town to meet with local civic leaders, entrepreneurs, and artists in an attempt to bring the community back to life.

The efforts of their nonprofit, called Impact Experience, have brought into the region more than $8 million in public and private investments. As Nicholas explains in this video, they’ve teamed up with locals “to move things forward in an exponential way.”

— Beth Rimbey