“ The offer to join this high-impact foundation was a great fit,” she says.
Goodwin explains how each public service job built into the next with a focus on people, place and policy. She gives credit to the foundational value of a law degree, which she uses every day, and amazing mentorship within every opportunity. She believes her success has been built by having the chance to learn from smart, passionate people doing incredible work.
Goodwin has served on multiple committees and has a distinct approach to life and work: give back. From courtrooms to board rooms, she believes understanding how place-based policy affects communities has helped her.
“ Rural places have challenges, but the belonging of community helps our kids focus on the here and now,
anchor roots and build resilience,” she says.“ This place also has a grounding authenticity that seems to create a sense of accountability to each other.”
While Goodwin has lived elsewhere, she returned to West Virginia because of the people, nature and closeknit relationships. Because of her public service focus, she supports others through work with the Benedum Foundation and beyond. She serves as an American Bar Foundation fellow, and a trustee at Marietta College. She provides advice to students seeking information about law school and service.
Living in West Virginia has cultivated the helper and leader within her. Goodwin has an innate sense of accountability that she will continue to foster in her career and life here in West Virginia. •
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