Travis Staton is the President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of Southwest Virginia.
Over the past decade, he has worked to reposition the organization to a new model United Way by developing an initiative-based cradle-to-career approach creating sustainable solutions to better prepare the next generation for the workforce of tomorrow.
In addition to this change in focus, he has brought his efforts to scale by guiding the organization through eight different mergers and acquisitions to now overseeing geographic operations of 17 counties and 4 cities, nearly 20% of the Commonwealth.
His work has received recognition and support from national organizations including the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and, in 2017, the organization became one of the inaugural recipients of the Virginia Governor’s Award for Excellence and Innovation in Education. In 2018, he was appointed by Governor Ralph Northam to serve on the Virginia Board of Workforce Development. That same year Charity Navigator, the nation’s largest independent charity evaluator, ranked his organization among the 10 best United Way Chapters of more than 1,200 nationwide.
Recently named by Virginia Business Magazine’s top 100 people to meet in 2020, he is serving with Ballad Health as one of the Lead Support Organizations to establish the region’s STRONG ACC, which is aimed at improving the economic, educational, and health outcomes of citizens living in 21 counties in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
In addition to his work with Ballad Health, he serves on the Region One Council for GO Virginia, a Virginia Initiative for Growth and Opportunity to foster private-sector growth and job creation through state incentives for regional collaboration;
Partnering for a Healthy Virginia Advisory Committee, a partnership between the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association aimed at improving Virginia’s performance on population health;
Partnering for a Healthy Virginia E-Referral Committee, developing a statewide electronic referral system between hospital systems and community partners utilizing a standardized social determinants of health screening tool;
Partnering for a Healthy Virginia Community Engagement Committee, advising on the inclusion of local health system providers and end-users in the planning, design, development and implementation of health care services in an effort to eliminate health disparities and improve long-term health and wellness for all Virginians;
Virginia Department of Health’s Virginia State Health Assessment/State Health Improvement Plan Advisory Council, assisting with the State Health Assessment (SHA) to examine the health status of Virginia and then providing guidance and oversight to the development of the State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) to address the state’s most urgent concerns while ensuring health equity for all Virginians;
United Southeast Federal Credit Union’s Supervisory Committee, overseeing the annual audit and assuring that the assets of members are protected as required by the Federal Credit Union Act;
Southwestern Virginia Rural AHEC Center Advisory Board, developing pipeline programs for all health profession institutions to recruit students from rural and medically underserved populations in Southwest Virginia, instituting rural and small community based training, sponsoring inter-professional educational opportunities and Continuing Medical Education programs, and fostering health policy collaboration engagement programs for rural hospitals;
Virginia Early Childhood Foundation’s Data System Stakeholders, a team of key leaders assisting with the creation of a statewide early childhood integrated data system to better inform services provided to young children and families;
Virginia Department of Education School Readiness Committee Impact Workgroup, working to advise the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, Virginia Department of Education, and the University of Virginia in the research, planning and evaluation of a federal Preschool Development Grant (PDG);
Virginia Department of Education State Perkins V Core Stakeholders Team, providing input on key areas as part of the Virginia Perkins V four-year State Plan for strengthening career and technical education.