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Mary Anne Ketelsen
President , West Virginia Potato Chip Company
KRISTEN UPPERCUE
Photo by WVU Parkersburg .
GROWING UP , Mary Anne Ketelsen helped care for her bedridden grandmother , a task that sparked a desire in her to help people . She looked first to the medical field and graduated from WVU Parkersburg with an associate degree in applied science .
She worked for seven years at American Cyanamid in St . Mary ’ s , WV , as one of its first female lab technicians and later as a shift leader in its quality control laboratory . She then landed a job at Union Carbide in Marietta , Ohio , as a lab technician , where she played a key role in the company ’ s first inventory and helped implement the first barcode system used on a finished product .
Sensing she had a knack for business , Ketelsen enrolled at Glenville State College , where she earned a degree in business management before spending 10 years as the second-generation general manager of Welch Oil & Gas Company , the family business .
Her career path came full circle when she retired in 2014 , negotiating the sale of the company . However , with business in her blood , she stepped into her current position as
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE