Salary set at $230,000 for West Virginia First Foundation executive director

Jonathan Board, the newly appointed executive director for the West Virginia First Foundation, speaks to reporters during a news briefing on Thursday, March 14, 2024, in the state attorney general’s office in Charleston, W.Va. (Screenshot from attorney general’s livestream)

With a $230,000 annual salary secured, Jonathan Board on Thursday attended the West Virginia First Foundation’s monthly meeting for the first time as the organization’s executive director.

Board previously held a seat on the organization’s board but in March suspended a run for state Senate to accept the position as the foundation’s executive director. 

Matt Harvey, who chairs the foundation’s board, said Board accepted his $230,000 salary offer with little negotiation. According to Harvey, the state Attorney General’s Office previously posted a listing for the position with a $230,000 to $300,000 salary range.

“[We were] looking at some comparisons for other executive directors in this field with a foundation this large — which were rather high, quite frankly — and we negotiated [Board’s] salary to start on the lower end of the scale, at [$230,000], and he accepted,” Harvey said.

Upon request, Harvey, as well as counsel for the First Foundation, said Board’s employment contract will likely not be released to the public due to personnel provisions within it.

As of April 30, according to board treasurer Jeff Sandy, the First Foundation holds more than $222.3 million in the bank from opioid settlements. Since November, the organization has collected about $4.8 in interest on those funds alone. Expenses for the board over that time — which have largely been for investment, banking and legal services — have totaled about $198,000, Sandy said.

The foundation has yet to release any funds for projects or programming to confront the state’s ongoing drug and overdose epidemic. With Board now working full time as the executive director, organization leaders said Thursday they believed processes would start moving quickly to get the foundation in a better position to distribute funds.

Through a slideshow, Board presented board members with his 30- 60- and 90-day goals for the organization. Eventually, according to the presentation, he envisions potentially hiring more full-time executive staff to run the organization, but plans — and a personnel budget — to do so have not been finalized.

While it was Board’s first meeting as executive director, it was also his successor’s first meeting as a board member. Jon Dower, an addiction specialist and counselor who serves as executive director for nonprofit West Virginia Sober Living, was elected to the board last week by regional representatives from North Central West Virginia to fill the seat vacated by Board.

Dower, who is in long-term recovery from opioid use disorder, said he felt like he was “meant to be” on the First Foundation’s board.

“This kind of board is special to my heart, with a little over a dozen years in recovery,” Dower said.

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