Joe Howard

Background

About Joe Howard

Joseph Howard is the Founder & CEO of the West Virginia Forest Products Cooperative, Inc, and is on a mission to increase access to living wage jobs for entrepreneurs and their workers, empowering Appalachians to start and grow value-added forest product businesses. The West Virginia Forest Products Cooperative (WVFPC), a 2018 recipient of a $2 million Appalachian Regional Commission Power grant, provides workforce development, business coaching, advanced wood manufacturing makerspace, and marketing assistance to the secondary forest products industry. The WVFPC is changing the culture of how value-added forest products businesses launch. Joseph has played an active leadership role in the forest products and startup ecosystems for more than two decades. He has lectured at Virginia Tech, Ohio University, the University of Kentucky, and WVU Tech. He has designed, fabricated and installed large timber structures all over the eastern United States. Joseph Has a BS in Electrical Engineering from The University of Kentucky, a MS in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech, and is currently writing his dissertation on “Steel Beams with Timber Webs” at the University of Kentucky.