A recent $75,000 gift from WesBanco on WVU Day of Giving 2025 with provide foundational financial support for Data Driven West Virginia at the Chambers College of Business and Economics.
Since 2019, Data Driven West Virginia has provided students in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University with experiential learning opportunities that produce data-driven solutions to real-world problems.
Over the last six years, DDWV has continued to grow as undergraduate and graduate students work with various partners and businesses throughout the Mountain State and beyond to provide mutually beneficial outcomes for the students and companies alike.
An organization that has been a foundational partner since the beginning is WesBanco, the Wheeling-based financial institution, which provided the seed money to make Data Driven West Virginia a reality. On WVU Day of Giving 2025, WesBanco provided further investment in the future of DDWV through a $75,000 gift designed to help continue moving the program forward.
“WesBanco’s vision is that every community we serve becomes a better place for people and businesses to thrive,” WesBanco Senior Vice President and Chief Data Analytics Officer Brennan Comfort said. “Supporting Data Driven WV is one way we’re bringing our vision to life. By providing local businesses with data-driven solutions to real-world problems while offering experiential learning opportunities for students, we’re empowering the community and enabling growth.”
The funding provided by WesBanco is critical to DDWV program operations. Together, they partner on a variety of graduate and undergraduate projects, while the WesBanco funds help to finance supplies, travel, personnel and more.
“What WesBanco gives us is stability,” Data Driven WV Director Joshua Meadows said. “I like to call them our cornerstone partner. They’ve been with us since the beginning, and a lot of our program is built on their partnership. We can always count on WesBanco to do a meaningful project with us every semester.”
Since its initial investment in 2019, WesBanco’s role as a key partner with DDWV has also grown. WesBanco works with students on extracurricular volunteer and independent study projects as well as graduate capstone projects. These projects initially took place exclusively within the data analytics program and have recently expanded to include the cybersecurity program, as well.
As this relationship has grown and flourished over the years, Comfort and WesBanco have seen new opportunities arise. More students continue to take advantage of the experiential program, with other businesses throughout the region getting involved.
“In just five years, the program has grown exponentially,” Comfort said. “By the numbers, the program has taken on additional partners and businesses that now encompass the entire state. And we’ve watched the students grow, too. We see the light bulb moments happening, students making meaningful connections, and it makes us so proud to be a supporter.”
Beyond the financial stability WesBanco has provided DDWV, the financial institution has worked directly with the students on various projects throughout each semester, while providing valuable industry knowledge and insights.
“I think something they bring to the table that’s unique is that they have their chief data officer and their chief cybersecurity officer in the meetings with the students, mentoring them,” Meadows explained. “I try to drive home to the students how valuable that is. There’s no other place that I know of where you’re getting weekly mentorship from executives that high in an organization that large.”
Mentorship paired with a real-world approach is what makes the program successful.
“We take a vested interest in giving the students real-world examples of what it’s like to work in data and analytics at a regional financial institution,” Comfort said. “We particularly enjoy dedicating additional time to mentoring students one-on-one or joining them in the classroom for speaking engagements. We've worked with the students on a variety of projects, like interactive dashboards, that have enabled optimization predictability models. The students are highly engaged and committed to the successful completion of each project.”
As a valuable corporate partner, mentor and supporter of DDWV, the Chambers College and WVU, Comfort and WesBanco are proud of the relationship they’ve built with the University and its students and are happy to contribute to WVU’s land-grant mission.
DDWV has become a model for experiential learning programs throughout the University. “As the program grows, it continues to provide students and businesses with meaningful experiences that enable our communities to develop and thrive,” Comfort said.
WesBanco’s gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.