Ta Enos

Founder & Chief Executive Officer · PA Wilds Center
Northcentral PA

Tataboline “Ta” Enos is the Founder and CEO of the PA Wilds Center, a nonprofit revitalizing a 13-county rural region through place-based tourism and outdoor recreation development. Over two decades, her work has helped grow the Pennsylvania Wilds region into a $2 billion tourism economy supporting hundreds of small businesses and makers. Ta is the author of Proudly Made (Catamount Press, 2025), chronicling the region’s reinvention through grit, creativity, and community — earning honors including a Governor’s Keystone Award and a Foreword INDIES Honorable Mention.She believes in helping communities and entrepreneurs connect their work to larger systems to thrive, honoring tradition and innovation.

Abbi Peters

Founding Chief Operating Officer · PA Wilds Center
Northcentral PA

Abbi Peters is the Founding Chief Operating Officer of the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, where she co-founded the PA Wilds Cooperative and Conservation Shop and helped scale the organization from a staff of 2 to 22. Before joining PA Wilds, she served as Executive Director of the Elk County Council on the Arts for eight years. A Fellow of the Appalachian Leadership Institute, Abbi lives her placemaking values at home — she and her husband have spent nearly two decades restoring a 1909 schoolhouse into their residence and arts studio.

Adam Kenney

Chief Programs Officer · Bridgeway Capital
Western PA

As Chief Programs Officer, Adam leads Bridgeway’s programs team in providing guidance and resources to a wide range of clients. He works with the programs team to design and deliver one-on-one and cohort-based experiences that support small businesses, real estate projects, nonprofit organizations, and creative entrepreneurs. Whether he is helping clients with capital readiness or capacity building, Adam finds it rewarding to provide catalytic support that unleashes Bridgeway clients’ potential for success.

Amy Camp

Consultant · Cycle Forward
Western PA

Amy Camp is the owner of Cycle Forward, supporting local leaders and communities in Trail Town development, heritage tourism, and outdoor recreation economy building. She helped launch the nationally recognized Trail Town Program® in 2007 and is the author of Deciding on Trails, which chronicles the Trail Town movement and offers best practices for trail communities. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s MPA program and a 2024 Fellow of the Appalachian Leadership Institute, Amy is based in Pittsburgh, PA.

Carly McCoy

Director of Communications · Bridgeway Capital
Western PA

Carly McCoy leads communications at Bridgeway Capital, overseeing strategies that strengthen the organization’s visibility, amplify client successes, and advance its mission. She brings extensive nonprofit and cultural sector experience from regional organizations including Rivers of Steel, Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting, Gateway to the Arts, and The Frick Pittsburgh. Carly holds an MBA in Sports, Arts & Education Management from Point Park University and a BA in History from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dawn Seckler

Chief Strategy & Development Officer · Bridgeway Capital
Western PA

As Chief Strategy and Development Officer, Dawn aligns Bridgeway’s fundraising activities to its strategic initiatives and oversees impact measurement to ensure granted funds produce meaningful outcomes. Working with government, corporate, and philanthropic funders, she ensures Bridgeway has the right capital at the right time to launch new products, expand programs, and grow its capacity to deliver on its mission.

Eric Ashby

Director of Programs · Indiana Arts Commission
Central IN

Eric Ashby serves as Director of Programs for the Indiana Arts Commission, ensuring programs and services provide demonstrable public benefit to Indiana’s people and communities. His career is at the intersection of rural development, creative economy, and public policy — including work at the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement and with Bridgeway Capital. Eric is also a drummer and has been since the age of three.

Jamie Karolich

Craft Your Commerce Program Director · Mountain BizWorks
Western NC

Jamie Karolich is a printmaker, educator, and community builder based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. As Program Director of Craft Your Commerce at Mountain BizWorks, she supports artists and creative entrepreneurs across 26 counties, designing programs that bridge artistic practice with business strategy through education, financial literacy, and peer connection. With a background in printmaking and small business ownership, Jamie brings a hands-on understanding of the creative economy.

Jasmin DeForrest

Managing Director, Arts & Culture · The Heinz Endowments
Western PA

Jasmin DeForrest leads arts and culture strategy at The Heinz Endowments, working with artists, cultural organizations, and community partners to strengthen southwestern Pennsylvania’s creative infrastructure, expand cultural participation, and create pathways to economic opportunity through the arts. Before joining The Heinz Endowments, she developed and led arts and culture initiatives in Detroit focused on cross-sector partnerships, neighborhood investment, and community-centered creative strategies.

Noah Wilson

Director of Sector Development · Mountain BizWorks
Western NC

Noah Wilson serves as Director of Sector Development at Mountain BizWorks, leading initiatives to expand entrepreneurship and economic opportunity across 26 counties in Western North Carolina through industry cluster and place-based development strategies. He specializes in collective impact — helping communities and organizations build shared infrastructure to achieve goals larger than any one organization could tackle alone. His work has leveraged over $50M in private investment and supported 500+ jobs created and 4,000+ retained.

Ty Stratton

Founder · Wesley’s Project
Central IN

Ty Stratton is the founder of Wesley’s Project, a data platform that maps and interprets the creative economy at the county level. Rooted in hands-on experience — including work with PATTERN, a creative economy organization in Indianapolis — Ty built Wesley’s Project as a love letter to creative workers and small businesses. Now a Business Intelligence & Systems Analyst at Van Ausdall & Farrar, he uses AI-powered data tools to turn complex datasets into clear, decision-ready insights for arts and economic development organizations.

GROUP 1 — ATTRACTING ENTREPRENEURS

Barbara Pierce

Program Coordinator · ARTS Oil City
Northwestern PA

Barbara Pierce works to further the legacy of arts revitalization in Oil City through her role as Program Coordinator for ARTS Oil City, bringing a background in design, arts, and marketing to support creative professionals with the business side of their practice. She and her husband CJ Hurley relocated from Portland, Oregon in 2016 and co-own Century Arts Design and Fine Art Studio, where they work from 2nd floor studios in the historic National Transit Building overlooking Oil Creek and the Allegheny River.

GROUP 2 — MARKETING COMMUNITIES

Christopher Lantinen

Director · PennWest Edinboro Beehive
Northwestern PA

Chris Lantinen is the director for the PennWest Edinboro Beehive, along with leading the region’s NWPAMade initiative. His passion for locally made products and start-up entrepreneurship is coupled with expertise in SEO, GEO, social media and digital marketing. He started his career as a journalist and podcaster, eventually working with Atlantic Records on their first major podcasting initiative.

GROUP 3 — COACHING RURAL SMALL BUSINESSES

Blake Fleegle

Entrepreneur Coach · JARI
Western PA

Blake Fleegle is an Entrepreneur Coach with JARI and the owner of two movie theatres in western Pennsylvania — the Westwood Plaza Theatre & Café in Johnstown and the Latrobe 30 Theatre & Café — both acquired and grown from the ground up. He channels that firsthand experience into helping local entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality.

GROUP 4 — MEASURING RURAL REVITALIZATION

Megan Zeigler

Chief Executive Officer · Community Project Hub
Western PA

Megan Zeigler is CEO of the Community Project Hub (CoHub), drawing on experience across academia, local government, nonprofit, and small business sectors to anchor the organization in strategic vision and pragmatic solutions. Her work spans workforce development, clean energy, and sustainable community development. When she’s not at work, Megan is learning to build furniture and exploring Pittsburgh on her e-bike.

GROUP 5 — FUNDING RURAL REVITALIZATION

Ray Daffer

Principal · Strategic Advisory and Investment Services
Southwestern VA

Ray Daffer works at the intersection of policy and practice, leading programs and investments addressing rural economic development. He spearheaded the formation of Appalachian Community Capital (ACC), whose 35+ members hold more than $2 billion in assets, and through ACC’s Opportunity Appalachia program has helped more than 85 businesses raise over $160 million for community development.