WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., March 29, 2017 — West Liberty University’s Board of Governors welcomed new members recently.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice appointed Teresa Toriseva to serve on West Liberty University’s Board of Governors on March 2, 2017. Toriseva replaced Christine Carder who resigned.
Attorney Teresa C. Toriseva is a litigator who spearheads national mass torts. She is admitted to practice law in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and is admitted to the following courts: U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit; Federal Court of Claims; U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia; U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
In 2007, Toriseva served as the president of the West Virginia Association for Justice, a statewide trade association representing more than 500 attorneys in private practice and public service throughout West Virginia and surrounding states.
Toriseva earned a bachelor’s in biology at Wheeling Jesuit University and her Juris Doctor Degree from West Virginia University College of Law.
She was distinguished as one of the Generation Next “Top 40 under 40” business leader in West Virginia in 2009. Toriseva also is well known as a talk radio show host on The Watchdog AM 1600 WKKX, with a radio show that covers law and politics, known as Tee Time.
She also is a member of the Wheeling Country Day School Board of Directors and Member of Hoorah 2 Heroes Law Enforcement. She resides in Wheeling.
Also appointed to the board recently was attorney Lucinda “Cindy” Fluharty. Fluharty succeeded longtime Board of Governor Richard Carter.
She is an attorney and Member of Jackson Kelly firm of Wheeling. Her practice is focused on the representation of employers in the areas of workers’ compensation and employment issues. She represents a range of large and small manufacturing companies and has experience defending a wide range of occupational disease claims.
She also represents coal companies in the defense of claims filed under the Federal Black Lung Benefits Act.
Fluharty is licensed to practice law in the states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia and is admitted to practice in the Northern and Southern U.S. District Courts in West Virginia and the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
She attended Marshall University and received her associate degree in legal assistant studies in 1984 and her Bachelor of Arts in legal studies in 1986. She then received her Juris Doctor Degree from West Virginia University in 1989.
Upon graduation from law school, she served as a law clerk from 1989 to 1990 for the Honorable Margaret Workman, Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. She then joined Jackson Kelly in August 1990 and became a member in 1998.
In addition to her law practice, Fluharty is past president of the Wheeling Rotary Club. She resides in Wheeling.
Other new members joining the board include two former members of the West Liberty University Foundation Board, Richard Lucas and Kristina Williams. Lucas replaced Brian Joseph who resigned.
Lucas is a native of Wellsburg and resident of Wheeling. He graduated from West Liberty with a Bachelor of Science degree specializing in accounting. He earned the Certified Public Accounting credential in 1990. He is currently president and chief executive officer of Main Street Bank, positions he has held since 2000.
Lucas also is a founding director and officer of Main Street Bank, the first new Bank started in Ohio County since 1964. Lucas also serves on the boards of the Wheeling Chapter of CPAs, the Centre Market Commission of the City of Wheeling, the Ohio Valley Industrial Business Development Corporation and the Seeing Hand Association.
Williams was born and raised in Wheeling, spending much time at West Liberty where her father, Roland E. “Rollie” Williams taught for 37 years. She lives in Pittsburgh.
She is the chief operating officer for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh (FHLBank Pittsburgh), one of 12 banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System.
Williams joined FHLBank Pittsburgh in December 2004 as chief accounting officer and has held a number of executive positions, including chief financial officer, executive vice president with additional responsibility for technology and operating services and human resources, and chief operating officer.
Prior to joining FHLBank Pittsburgh, she served as chief financial officer of wholesale banking for PNC Financial Services Group.
Williams graduated magna cum laude from WLU and received her Masters in Professional Accountancy degree from West Virginia University. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
These members join a board comprised of 12 which also includes: Jack Adams, McMurray, Pa.; D. Reid Boden (student government representative); Joseph Carey, New York; Chairman Les DeFelice, Wheeling; Vice Chairman Patrick Ford, Weirton; James Haizlett (WLU faculty representative); Secretary James Stultz, Moundsville and Rhonda Tysk, (WLU staff representative).
For more information visit westliberty.edu/bog.