The Alumni Association held its election of new officers to the Board for 2022. Pictured from left are Pam Wilkinson, reelected president; Larry Gray, elected vice president; Andrew “Drew” Salisbury, reelected secretary; and John Wilkinson, reelected treasurer.
The following alumni were elected as the West Virginia University Potomac State
College Alumni Association Officers for 2022. They will serve a one-year term with
the possibility of reelection for another one-year term.
Pamela Wilkinson, reelected president:
Pam graduated from the College in 1979 with a major in agriculture. She went on to receive a Bachelor of Science in agricultural education from WVU, and a master’s degree in safety sciences from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
After nearly 30 years of experience in workplace and system safety design engineering, including designing safety features into military vehicles; satellite systems; and undersea warfare control systems; Pam retired in 2018.
She enjoys spending some of her time consulting on system safety projects the she finds especially challenging.
Pam is also an accomplished jewelry artist, producing beautiful pieces of jewelry from repurposed and recycled materials. She is looking forward to soon being able to travel and sell her unique jewelry at upscale craft shows again with her husband, John.
Larry Gray, vice president
Larry attended Potomac State from 1976-1978, majoring in forestry. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Resources at WVU in Morgantown, graduating in 1980.
After working in the construction and medical fields for several years, he went to work for the US Department of Defense as a technical analyst. During his career, he held positions as an analyst, branch manager, project leader, strategist, staff officer, senior watch officer, and director of operations.
He earned a Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence degree from the National Intelligence University. He recently retired after more than 35 years of service.
Larry lives in Maryland with his high-school sweetheart and wife of 40 years, Carol. They have two adult daughters and six demanding cats. He enjoys acquiring valuable lumber, reducing it to sawdust and hoping something usable is left over. He plays a game resembling golf called “Whackdammit,” and he makes sounds come out of a guitar that should not be permitted in a civilized society. When all else fails, he takes a nap.
Andrew Salisbury, reelected secretary
Born in North Carolina but raised in West Virginia, Andrew “Drew” Salisbury attended Potomac State College from 1976-78. He continued his education at West Liberty State University, graduating in 1980 with a degree in business.
Drew began working at United Bank in 1980 and has been employed there for the past 40 years, currently serving as a senior systems application specialist. He worked on more than 30 bank acquisitions as a deposit system conversion coordinator as the company increased in size from $250 million to over $26 billion.
Drew has lived and worked at various United Bank locations in West Virginia, including Fairmont, Wheeling, Parkersburg, Vienna, and Huntington. He currently resides in Cross Lanes, W.Va. just outside of Charleston.
Drew enjoys traveling with his family, donating blood to the Red Cross and he earned a third-degree black belt in karate. He is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charleston. He has two children, two stepchildren and one granddaughter.
John Wilkinson, reelected treasurer
John was elected to serve a third term as treasurer.
John is a 1978 graduate of PSC. He continued his education in the College of Agriculture and Forestry at WVU, receiving his bachelor’s degree in agricultural education in 1982 and his master’s degree in education in 1986.
John began his career in federal service in August 1982 with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. From there he worked for the U.S. Customs Service and then with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security until his retirement in January 2014. John ended his career serving as a director and program manager in the Office of Information and Technology.
He directed the operation of the Technology Training and Support Program Branch which provided enforcement and information technology training support to more than 60,000 personnel world-wide.
He was certified as a Level III acquisition professional program manager, supporting acquisition activities with annual costs greater than $100 million and life cycle costs greater than $200 million. He also managed an annual budget that varied each year but was generally in the $10 million to $25 million range with a staff of up to 325 federal/contract employees.
Since retirement, John enjoys volunteering as a board member with the WVU PSC Alumni Association and with The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Archaeology Lab.