Governor Morrisey announces appointments to state boards and commissions

Governor Patrick Morrisey announced new appointments to several state boards and commissions, including the Parkways Authority, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College Board, West Virginia State Athletic Commission, and Special Reclamation Fund Advisory Council.

News Release
July 23, 2025

Governor Patrick Morrisey recently announced a number of appointments, including members of the Parkways Authority, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College Board of Governors, West Virginia State Athletic Commission and Special Reclamation Fund Advisory Council.

Parkways Authority:

Louis “Wade” Linger is the President and CEO of TMC Technologies of West Virginia located in Fairmont, West Virginia in Marion County. After serving as a computer programmer in the Air Force, Linger began working as a defense contractor for ManTech International Corp., where he wrote and maintained U.S. Navy software that tracks aircraft maintenance and parts and pilot flight hours.

In 1992, Linger established ManTech’s West Virginia operations in Fairmont. He has spent much of his professional career in the fields of technology and research, including a stint as the first vice president of research for the West Virginia High Technology Consortium. He later established TMC Technologies, Inc. an information technology company which had grown to over 80 employees when it was acquired in 2005. In 2010 Linger re-formed TMC Technologies. Linger holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business from St. Leo College, Florida.

Arthur “Art” Thomm II is a managing member of Thomm Partners, a government relations and public affairs firm based in Charleston, West Virginia, where he resides with his family. He previously served on the Berkeley County Republican Executive Committee and founded one of the largest grassroots organizations in West Virginia. Thomm serves on the Board of Governors for Shriners Children’s Hospital in Lexington, KY, where he helps support life-changing care for children and families.

Nick Fantasia operates a residential real estate rental and redevelopment company. He is President of the Marion Regional Development Corporation, and President of Fantasia Broadcasting Corporation. Fantasia graduated from Fairmont State University and later earned his MBA from Waynesburg University. He was elected to Fairmont City Council for 5 terms and served as Mayor of Fairmont for 10 years. Fantasia presently serves as President of the Fairmont State Alumni Association, Serves on the Mon General Foundation, among several other community boards.

Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College Board of Governors:

Anna L. Adkins is a former student of West Virginia Community Technical College where she began her college education. She is a 2015 graduate of West Virginia State University and a 2019 graduate of Appalachian School of Law and is a practicing attorney and owner of Adkins Law Firm, PLLC in Charleston, WV. Adkins has spent the last 13 years in the legal field as a paralegal, secretary-clerk for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in Mingo County Family Court, a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children in the 29th Judicial District in Buchanan County, Virginia, and now as a practicing attorney for the last 6 years. She previously resided in Logan County for 28 years and has been a volunteer with the City of Logan since 2009 for city events, most notably as a co-organizer for the West Virginia Freedom Festival, and has also served as special counsel for the City of Logan for certain projects. She currently resides in South Charleston, WV with her husband, Justin, and two daughters, Ella and Lyla.

West Virginia State Athletic Commission:

Paul Conley, D.O. is the son of a West Virginia coal miner in Nicholas County, West Virginia. His lifelong desire was to care for the people of West Virginia. Dr. Conley attended West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and graduated in 1997. He conducted his residency at St. Luke’s Health Network in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Dr. Conley has been a member of the Diplomate American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy since 2003. He practices at CAMC Plateau Medical Center.

Special Reclamation Fund Advisory Council:

John A. Deskins, PhD serves as Director of the Bureau of Business & Economic Research and as Associate Professor of Economics in the College of Business & Economics at West Virginia University. He leads the Bureau’s efforts to serve the state by providing rigorous economic analysis and macroeconomic forecasting to business leaders and policymakers across the state. Deskins received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Tennessee. His academic research has focused on economic development, small business economics, and government tax and expenditure policy, primarily at the US state level. Deskins’ work has appeared in outlets such as Contemporary Economic Policy, Public Finance Review, Economic Development Quarterly, Small Business Economics, Public Budgeting and Finance, Regional Studies, Annals of Regional Science, Tax Notes, and State Tax Notes, as well as in books published by Cambridge University Press and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Deskins has testified before the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and the West Virginia Legislature. He has delivered more than 300 speeches to business, government, and community groups and his quotes have appeared in numerous media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, CNBC, National Public Radio, and PBS. Deskins has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than $2 million in funded research.