Interview by Jonathan Kersting
What happens when two major West Virginia technology conferences join forces and invite Pittsburgh to the party?
TechVibe Radio talks with Melissa McKenna of Trilogy Innovations and Bill Walker of West Virginia University about the October 28 Mountain State Cyber Summit and Tech Yeah conference in Morgantown, an event expected to bring together hundreds of leaders from industry, academia and government.
And this isn’t just another cybersecurity gathering.
The conference stretches across four major areas including secure and intelligent systems, national security and mission innovation, autonomy and advanced manufacturing, and health and cyber biosecurity. Expect conversations touching AI, aerospace, robotics, healthcare, food security, federal missions and the emerging threats surrounding increasingly connected infrastructure.
Walker, a former Chief of Staff at U.S. Cyber Command, explains how WVU has built deep relationships with federal agencies and industry partners to tackle real national security challenges. McKenna details how combining Mountain State Cyber Summit and Tech Yeah! creates new opportunities for companies, entrepreneurs, researchers and students to connect, collaborate and build.
But perhaps the biggest takeaway is geographic.
Pittsburgh and Morgantown are only about 75 miles apart, with complementary strengths across AI, robotics, energy, manufacturing, cybersecurity, research and federal contracting. As Walker puts it, “The state line’s a political boundary. It’s not an innovation boundary.”
Hit play to discover why Pittsburgh companies should be looking south, why West Virginia organizations should be looking north and how one connected technology corridor could create new companies, contracts, investment and jobs across the region.
Transcript:
This is TechVibe Radio and I'm Jonathan Kersting with the Pittsburgh Technology Council. And as we are your front row seat to all things around Pittsburgh's technology and innovation ecosystem. But today, we're expanding our horizons just a wee little bit. Just a little bit. And I think we're gonna blow some minds today about some of the great things that are happening-
to our neighbors right here in West Virginia, going down towards Morgantown. And today, we are talking about a conference that is coming up. That's right. When I, yeah, when I learned about this conference, I was like, "Oh my, how did I not know about this?" ' Cause I am talking about the Mountain State Cyber Summit and the Tech Yeah conference on October the 28th, and I have some key people here to tell me about all the details of this awesome event.
I have Melissa McKenna here, of course, from Trilogy, and I have Bill Walker from West Virginia [00:01:00] University. Guys, welcome to the show today. I am stoked. I'm just gonna say it right now because, I don't know, I've been thinking about this and I can't believe you're gonna have 600 people showing up to this thing.
We're pretty excited. It, we're ... Thank you, first of all, for having us on the show. We are thrilled to have Mountain State Cyber Summit and Tech Yeah coming together for the first time this year for this conference in Morgantown. Both of us had been running conferences in the past- Okay ... and we realized that it was time to join forces and and bring together really the, the focuses that we had that were very much aligned, and to make something even bigger and better.
I love that spirit of bringing things together because all ships rise- Exactly ... when people are rowing in that same direction. I think that's pretty amazing. Bill, what are your thoughts on that? The inaugural summit that we did last year drew had, we had a cap at 640 people. We had more registrations than that, but we just couldn't hold them.
Wow. We did not know that the desire and the need would be this large. It turns out what we did [00:02:00] last year was the largest cyber technology gathering in the history of the state. And this year, by combining Mountain State Cyber Summit and Tech Yeah we're targeting at least a 20% growth here.
And the summit's intentionally broader than traditional cyber or cybersecurity. It's all things cyber, AI, national security, mission innovation. It's aerospace, autonomy, advanced manufacturing, health innovation, so on and so forth. We have participation from DHS and CISA, US Cyber Command, DOD, all parts of the technology and cyber industry.
And we're happy that Palo Alto Networks is again the headlining partner, and a substantial federal participation is already developing as well. Yeah. So this is an opportunity where we're bringing together the best and the brightest in government, that's state and federal in our industry partners, and also in academics to come together for this day for this summit in order to build relationships and find solutions to problems rather than just [00:03:00] talking about them.
Man, oh my goodness, you are talking my language right now, Bill, and I get so excited because at The Tech Council, our bread and butter is doing these types of events. We do over 130 events a year. We do some really big events that draw your types of crowds, 600 people, and we see the power of that in getting people together.
And what I got excited about your event was I want more people from Pittsburgh going down to this event, 'cause I think- There are some amazing connections that people can make. MindShare, that our regions are so close together. Come on down and learn about what's going on in your neck of the woods.
100%. Yeah. And I think that's what was so fascinating to me. I came out of the DC area- Okay ... and moved to Morgantown. And, really saw a lot of potential just in Morgantown, but as I started exploring Pittsburgh more and learning more about what was here- ... really it felt to me like this huge land of opportunity.
Growing up in the DC area, you have all this opportunity by Virginia, DC, and Maryland being next to each other. And it seemed to me like there was [00:04:00] this untapped potential here. Exactly. And whenever Bill and I started talking about what does it look like to bring these two conferences together, it was really this expansion of what we both were doing and thinking about how cyber is really this, this dome that goes over everything we do today.
I'm glad you brought that up 'cause it is literally like a blanket that covers every aspect of what we do, so there's something relevant for so many people, right? A- 100%. And that was why working with Bill has been such a, a, a pleasure and an honor for me because his extreme background in that space, and then a little bit of the different perspective that I was bringing to the table- Yeah
with TechYeah was, I think, is gonna create something that brings in a lot of different audiences. So we're really focusing the conference this year around four pillars. Tell me about those pillars, 'cause I- Yeah ... I always love when we can actually talk about when I get there, what can I explore? Yeah. What can I nerd out on?
I would be very much stepping on my friend's toes if I didn't- Okay. ... let Bill start with the first- Bill ... the first pillar, which is- Tell us ... [00:05:00] secure and intelligent systems. Absolutely. So Bill, if you wanna dive into that a little bit, that'd be great. Yeah, absolutely. I'll first give a little background on why some of the topics are pervasive the way that they are.
Just Melissa I been working in DC for a long time. I was the chief of staff at US Cyber Command and helped to build that command out from the beginning. And so while I was there, we found that we needed more partnerships in industry and academia to help us with that massive mission.
And so we came to West Virginia. We already had a partnership with Carnegie Mellon. We knew what Pittsburgh had to offer. And then, the folks at WVU said, "We will do whatever you need in order to be a part of the solution a-and assist with this, these huge challenging national security problems."
And so with that, they formed something called WVU Cyber. That launched as a university-wide enterprise to connect all things cyber related in education, research, workforce development, operations, and partnerships. And over the course of about four or five [00:06:00] years, that became something in, in developing an ecosystem that, that really runs through, I would say from Charleston all the way through Pittsburgh and certainly into the NCR.
And now we have amazing partnerships with these federal partners, and we focus on national security a lot. That-- the great thing about folks in West Virginia and in Pennsylvania is we are all about supporting our military, our nation's security. Some of the most patriotic people you'll ever meet on the planet, and that really bodes well for the partnerships that we've been building through the national security mission set.
And so with that With the partnerships we have to make sure that when we bring this ecosystem together that we try to assemble all of the best and the brightest industry partners and our students and faculty from all of the institutions from here to Carnegie to Pitt Cyber and so on, in order to come together and work on these problem sets.
And so that's really the nexus of where last year started, was showing the National Capital Region, showing others [00:07:00] beyond Pennsylvania and West Virginia that this corridor is open for business, and we are ready for your biggest and most challenging problems. And therefore, one of the things we have to do is showcase our prowess in national security work.
And there's so much for us to be able to do with that. And so you'll see when our agenda is fully published out that we're really focusing on national security, on intelligence, because as a career intelligence officer, I can tell you everything starts and ends with the threat. It has to. It's the why with which we're doing all of these technology things.
It's the way we keep those things operating and resilient. And so we'll have a lot of focus on that. We'll then move into some of the pieces of the, the mission and innovations there, and the things that we can do again, in partnership with our friends in the Pittsburgh region, universities and businesses, to come together and solve some of these very challenging problems for our federal government which certainly has plenty of opportunities available, and they love to see [00:08:00] collaboration.
So this is a place where we're gathering all of those people together in order to make that case in person. And like I said you saw after the first year, the number of attendees that were there. I can't even count the number of startups that came out of that, the number of contractual relationships that came out of that.
Just getting together and coming together for the common good created so much, so many business opportunities, so much development and so much partnership to get after those national security and intelligence problems. It's amazing. Wow. Okay, first off, it's like you're blowing my mind here even more, 'cause everything you're talking about is so much of what the Pittsburgh Tech Council is working on directly right now, which just gets me so fired up.
'Cause I'm just thinking of all the possibilities that can come from this. It, it's- Simple as that. Which is great, because you're approaching it from that commercial side- ... which is, really with Tech Yeah, as that started, it was really focused around the commercial side, working with federal partners.
And then Bill takes it from another angle. Exactly. And there's another layer that [00:09:00] he brings to the table- Okay ... that I love. My master's is in higher education administration. Okay. And so I love the responsibility that WVU has to be a, a, as a land-grant college, to be responsible to the other institutions within the state.
And the partnerships that we're building now cross those lines with everything that WVU's doing. We are working with the universities here in Pittsburgh. We're working with our partners within the state, and bringing together this cohesive set of opportunities and skills that is going to build the next generation of workers.
Yeah. And that's really important. And if I can follow up, just- Sure ... on this we'll say Pittsburgh and Morgantown piece. These are not competing ecosystems. We're 75 miles apart. You have Carnegie Mellon and Pitt and WVU Cyber already working together through things like the Re- Resilient Energy Technology and Infrastructure Engine program $360 million program that we'll talk about later.
But Pittsburgh has extraordinary depth in AI, robotics, autonomy, energy, manufacturing, [00:10:00] cyber, venture capital. West Virginia is doing the same, and we also bring energy, federal and national security relationships, a statewide proving ground, and again, a flagship R1 research institution, and a very hungry business and workforce that are looking for opportunities.
So the opportunity is to connect those assets instead of letting a, a state line divide them Yeah. I'm so glad you brought that up. And I love hearing that. It's like we're not competing at all. We are literally in the same boat together. 100%. We just don't know who's in what part of the boat all the time.
And so this is a great way to get us all ... Say we're in the middle of this boat, and we're all talking to each other and making new connections that we're like, "I didn't realize that you were just 75 miles away and are working on this, and I'm working on this," and they go together very nicely to make something even bigger and better.
Oh, 100%, Jonathan. Yeah. I think that the recognition that we're better together- ... is really important here, and that's part of what this does- Okay ... is, bring that together. The ... Bill touched on those first two tracks or [00:11:00] pillars that we're focusing around. Yes. And then the third one he started- Tell me
to talk about- ... which was autonomous vehicles, for example. What are we doing in aerospace? What are we doing with manufacturing? All of those areas are so robust here, right? With the strong robotics, but then there's also a lot going on with aerospace in West Virginia. Yes. And so how are we, how can we better me- merge the aerospace industry that's here with what we're doing in West Virginia and become this powerhouse along 79?
Absolutely. So you'll see some really interesting sessions coming up at the conference around that. And then the fourth pillar that we're getting into is around something that is very near and dear to my heart- ... which is around health and cyber biosecurity. I was so excited to see that because I just, when I see how AI and cyber all plays into health It was r- it's oh my God, this is something that is not always readily apparent, but it's
It can't get more important than that. It is. So keep telling me about this, 'cause I was like, man, I would go just for this track alone, I [00:12:00] think. I, the, I think that you typically hear people talk about the health space, and they're talking about physical infrastructure- ... and which is incredibly important.
Of course. But there's also what's happened with data around health. And I'll tell you, I, I worked for some some very important technology companies, and one of the things that we learned while we were working there was how much other countries want our data around health. Oh, yeah. The data- You better believe it
and owning that is incredibly important and challenging, and we want to protect it. And so when we think about how AI can advance and enhance the way we take care of people, how we diagnose people, how we build the best treatment for people, we need to make sure that we're sharing data in a federated space, and being able to secure that data.
It's a, a safe space. It is a very safe space. Exactly. It's oh. And so you're gonna hear more at the conference about ways that we can do that, and how hospital systems, health systems can come together with their data to improve care for [00:13:00] people everywhere. Yeah. That's just one facet of it.
The Rural Health Transformation Funding that is available right now under the HR1 is an incredible opportunity for people in West Virginia and in other rural areas to get a lot of funding to put this digital infrastructure in place. They have to do it right. They have to do it smart.
Absolutely. And so you'll hear- Yeah ... a lot about that. And then the next part of it is one of those words that sounds like I made up- Okay ... but I didn't. Okay. Throw it on me, man. Yeah. Throw it on me. Yeah. Cyber bio security- Okay ... is a real thing. So funny you say that. When I was reading my notes, when I saw that I said, "Is that a real word?"
I, the first time- But it is a real word, yeah. It is. The first time Bill pulled it out on me, I questioned him. Okay. And it actually is a real word. I give it to you, Bill. It was a real word. But- Thanks, Gail ... but think about, nobody wanted to eat lettuce for a while around recently?
Yeah, kinda. I'm still on the fence. Yeah, I'm still on the fence, too. But it's a really good example of why we have to protect our food infrastructure. Oh, my. So from the beginning of- Yeah ... [00:14:00] when we're growing it- Okay ... right now, I grew up, my family's all from Texas, a farming family.
John Deere Tractor was my grandfather sitting there driving the tractor. Surely. Now they run on AI with GIS, and you don't even necessarily have to sit in your tractor. It'll do its- it does its own thing, yeah. And there are machines that put fertilizer and chemicals and things into the ground.
There are, they water. Those can be hacked. So think about- Sh- you're making me scared now. But this is why we have, this is why we have these conversations. But this is why- Yeah, exactly. Yeah ... food security is incredibly important. That's just, and nobody really thinks about the growing side of it. West Virginia State University is actually taking agriculture and how future agriculture matters- Oh, wow
and why it's important to protect it. Okay. So they have a very unique program that they're gonna be talking about. Okay. Very cool. So it's from the beginning all the way through managing the supply chain. Wow. Yeah. Oh my goodness. It all comes together. Yeah. The cyber biosecurity thing is something that people should you're right, that's probably not a word that most people recognize.
But this is a [00:15:00] big emerging discipline, and it's at the intersection of cybersecurity, cyber physical security, and the life sciences. Yeah. It's focused on protecting biological data, research, infrastructure from digital threats. You're looking at things like DNA data manipulation, biomanufacturing disruption- Wow
genomic data theft. And the impact areas are in our agriculture, our water, our healthcare, the devices in our hospitals, all the way into research and the integrity thereof. So we are so wonderfully blessed here in West Virginia to have a partner that is in, in West Virginia State University that is actually growing an over $50 million program that gets after all of these problems specifically.
'Cause the way we like to work here is there are plenty of problems in cyberspace to go around. We focus on the things we're good at, and we have our other partners take the lead on the things that they are good at. So we're really excited to talk about that piece of this. That is... first off, as you're describing this to me, it just gets my brain stewing.
I'm thinking to myself, "My gosh," down to the [00:16:00] level of making sure that our food sources are safe. Sure. And to know that yeah, West Virginia University's taking care of that for us. They are putting some deep research and effort into doing that. It's just, you don't, can't take anything for granted anymore.
No. And I think, whenever I started out talking about this concept that we came up with- Yeah ... of this cyber dome, and everything being under it- This is part of it, right? And so all of us within our different parts of modern society- ... have a responsibility for protecting our piece- Yes
our part. Whether it's the water supply, whether it's our energy sources, whether it's food or your health data, and or very importantly, our national security, it all, fits under that, that dome. And there's room under the dome for everybody to get involved- Love it ... get invested, and understand why it matters that you pay attention.
And I think, cybersecurity and AI are gonna be forever entwined and interrelated because as AI continues to grow and it gets into more and more of our systems- Yeah ... I feel like [00:17:00] there's even more of a need to have a focus on cybersecurity and an understanding. 100%. So I'm trying... i... As I listen to all this, if anyone out there, they're watching, they're listening, I don't know how they could say, "I don't wanna go to this event" "and check this thing out."
What have we not covered that would let people know that "Here's..." You get another reason why you would wanna come down and make that hour and a half drive. Not very long. Even- I- If you drive fast, it's even quicker. I'll give... If you don't mind I'll give that one a, a crack first here. Sure. Sure.
Like I said, there is no doubt that our Pittsburgh connection is strong here. The state line's a political boundary. It's not an innovation boundary. Yeah. Pittsburgh and Morgantown should behave one connected- Yes ... technology corridor. And, with that, when we started this whole project, we wanna make sure that we're judged partly by companies started, companies grown, outside dollars attracted, and jobs created, not just degrees awarded or even contracts.
And with that since we started this initiative, our Office of Innovation and Commercialization has had a 60% [00:18:00] expansion in our IP licensing portfolio. And that's just over an 18-month period. 60%. 38 new invention disclosures in 2025 alone 15 patents. We want Pittsburgh investors and companies to see WVU, to see West Virginia, to see Tech Yeah as a source of deal flow- Love it
of talent- Absolutely ... technology and mission access, not simply a place to recruit graduates. And we have The relationships here that connect businesses and students and faculty, of course again, to the DOD, US Cyber Command, NSA DHS NASA IV and V is just a few minutes from Morgantown, as is the FBI's CJIS Center and many other mission partners as well.
The operating philosophy is simple. We start with our customer's real requirement, and we assemble our teams around that from the private sector, academia, and otherwise. We do research. We gather students, faculty, private sector businesses like Trilogy. We get into the [00:19:00] engineering, but also the policy.
We do exercises, testing, and technology transition as well. What part of this partnership would not be attractive for all of us in making sure that- Exactly ... this corridor- Yeah ... really establishes itself and stays strong? And I think, Bill a, a little nuance to what you said that I think is so important I want graduates from all of these institutions here to feel like there's a place and a reason for them- Oh, my goodness
to stay here. Exactly right. And that is incredibly important. So I feel like students coming to this have a lot of opportunity to see what companies care about this region and s- and then also the companies- It's a great point ... can come here and see the talent that- Yeah ... is being grown. And I think there's gonna be a lot of opportunities in the way that we have formatted the conference for people to interact and see each other.
So there'll be main stage events with w- a lot of our, super highlighted speakers- ... that we're going to be announcing over the next couple of weeks. There will also be breakout sessions where you can really get down and get granular into [00:20:00] these four pillars that we've put together. And there'll be, of course, an exhibit hall with all of our great sponsors who want to be there to be able to talk more about what they're doing, in addition to meals and receptions- Yeah ... for people to really interact and network. I love the idea that you're trying to create these opportunities for interaction and- Yes
happy accidents and things like that. Yes. It's just amazing to me. I know at the Tech Council here, we're gonna be reaching out to everybody we know to encourage them to get down there. We're ... The Tech Council's bringing a caravan of our folks there. Good. Board members, other businesses that we know are gonna have direct interest in some of what's going on there, so we're very excited to be there and make some connections and let people know that we're here.
We wanna help connect and to try to make things better because this is one big region here. It's not the state ... I love that, Bill. I'm gonna steal it from you. The state line, it's not a state, it's a state line, it's not an innovation line. That to me is the mantra that I'm going with- Absolutely ... moving forward on all of this, 'cause I think that sums it up absolutely [00:21:00] perfectly.
So I'm gonna encourage everybody, we got the links here, to go register, check it out. It is worth the drive. It's a wonderful drive down to West Virginia. It's, it- You get down there, the air is so nice and clean, the mountains, everything. It's a great place to be. Co- come visit us in Morgantown in fall.
It's a beautiful time in the state of West Virginia. Yes. So check us out. There's plenty to, to see and do in the state. But more importantly, Tech Yeah and the Mountain State Cyber Summit, can't wait to have everybody come get together and really explore the concepts, make connections and build great things in our region because it's ours for the taking.
We have- I love it ... a total opportunity here to be innovators, job creators and help innovation continue to thrive. Fantastic. Can't thank you enough for hanging out with us. I am completely pumped. I got my ticket ready to go. Oh, I I literally, I cannot wait for this to happen. And just remind everybody, if you want more content like this, keep coming in.
In fact, very soon we have another episode coming up to learn more about what's happening in West Virginia. You're gonna learn [00:22:00] some things about what's happening down there in more detail if you tune into the next episode of Tech Pod that I cannot wait to nerd out on. So we are going to- Absolutely
have Melissa McKenna and Bill Walker back- Thank you ... very shortly. Guys, thank you for hanging out with me here in the Huntington Bank Studios. So much fun. Cannot wait to see everybody here on the next one. It's been Jonathan Kersting with the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Thank you.