Koegler Taking Over as Grow Ohio Valley Executive Director | News, Sports, Jobs

photo by: Photo by Derek Redd

Incoming Grow Ohio Valley Executive Director Jason Koegler talks about the future of several Grow OV projects, including Edible Mountain.

WHEELING – Jason Koegler came back to Wheeling 15 years ago to start his career with West Liberty University. In that return, he saw his hometown as a city brimming with potential. Through the years, one of those points of potential for him was Grow Ohio Valley.

He appreciated the nonprofit’s mission – to build an integrated, locally-owned food system in the region. Now he’ll be the one guiding GrowOV in that mission.

Koegler was introduced Tuesday morning as GrowOV’s new executive director, stepping in for Danny Swan who will now focus his time on fundraising efforts. Koegler leaves WLU after serving as its vice president of external affairs.

“I want to say as best I can how grateful and how honored I am to have this opportunity to serve such an incredible treasure of my hometown and of our local and greater community,” he said Tuesday in front of the group assembled at Public Market. “It’s the thrill of a lifetime.”

Koegler hasn’t just admired GrowOV from afar. His wife Sarah worked with the organization for three years as a consultant, and there had been times that Koegler has listened into meetings and thought of ways to help the nonprofit.

During his tenure at WLU, Koegler helped support the university’s growth in several ways, including fundraising, marketing, community engagement and government relations. He also has spent time on the boards of Wheeling Heritage, Youth Services System, Inc., and

the Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and was a co-founder of Weelunk.com, which now is part of Wheeling Heritage.

That varied background is what attracted GrowOV’s board of directors to Koegler.

“He is so knowledgeable of this community, having grown up in it,” said GrowOV board chair Susan Hogan, “having worked at (WLU) through thick and thin. And there’s his expertise in community engagement and marketing and his business acumen and fundraising. Those are the qualities we need, and when you can find someone who is part of the community and knows everyone, it’s a huge help.”

A Wheeling Park graduate, Koegler grew up on the grounds of Oglebay Park, where his father Bill worked for more than 40 years.

Among Koegler’s first initiatives as GrowOV’s executive director is to create an organized leadership team, similar to the president’s cabinet he sat on for years at WLU. He also wants to fortify areas like human resources and retirement plans, now that the organization has grown to 20 employees and 20 AmeriCorps workers. He’s impressed by the versatility of the staff there now. He met one employee who works as a cashier, social media coordinator and editor.

“You don’t want to lose that spirit,” he said. “But you want to create more structure and create more equity in the payscale. We want to have an eye on retaining employees.”

GrowOV has been a part of the region since 2014, and Koegler wants to help the nonprofit take its next steps in its evolution. During his introduction Tuesday, he not only touted current initiatives like urban farms, the Public Market and the Big Wheeling Agrarian Center. He also promoted growing movements like the Wheeling Food Hub, which will help small farmers and food businesses with the equipment, resources, and guidance they need to grow, and Edible Mountain, which wants to eliminate the health disparities experienced by Wheeling’s urban youth.

“We want to be here where, in 10 years, it’s written that Wheeling’s growth in the last 30 years has been amazing,” he said. “And when they list the top 10 contributors as engines, we want Grow Ohio Valley to be on that list.”