Appalachia had already caught APEX ’ s attention as an overlooked area with great potential when Frisbee was appointed the president and CEO of the WVU Alumni Association , where he served from 2015 to 2021 . That fortuitous appointment for Frisbee and the Mountain State was the catalyst to draw West Virginia deeper into the defense industry contractor mix .
“ I think that job at the alumni association was key in developing my vision and approach to Vertx because it was there that I became engaged with many different industries ,” Frisbee says . “ WVU has 220,000 alumni spread all over the globe , and they are involved in every industry imaginable . I got to see the technology these alums were developing and often thought , ‘ That technology could solve this problem in the Department of Defense .’ I began making these connections that bring private enterprises into the public sphere .”
Vertx takes a holistic approach to working with tech businesses , helping them put winning plans into place rather than just grooming them to be federal contractors .
“ We ’ re focused on nurturing these businesses just as much as we are educating and guiding them toward the federal contract process ,” says Scott Rotruck , Vertx vice president of external relations . “ I can ’ t think of any effort as comprehensive as this one . We will continue probing all corners of the state and region to foster these networks and generate the snowball effect we ’ re aiming for .”
At Vertx Partners , everyone — from the science team to the marketing team — seeks out technologies to join the network . Frisbee says it is an all-hands-on-deck approach to growing the business of defense contracting . Vertx Partners started in the Mountain State , but today Frisbee is expanding into other parts of Appalachia .
“ Appalachia is a hotbed of unrecognized potential — APEX identified that years ago ,” Frisbee says . “ We just need to get the word out and facilitate that partnership . We anticipate that we can double the number of small businesses supporting the defense industrial base over the next few years . We ’ re already seeing success with companies winning contracts and beginning to gain a foothold in the defense industry , and that will continue to expand . What we ’ ve got going on here is the network effect .” •