When the Delaware small business community thinks “master networker,” it can look to Jayne Armstrong, director of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in the state.
“I do a lot of public speaking,” Jayne says. “I regularly meet with small business owners, bankers and elected officials, such as the Congressional delegation and governor, to coordinate economic development initiatives. We wear so many hats at the SBA.”
The SBA office specializes in helping small businesses take off by providing them with counseling and training resources as well as finding them financial assistance. Delaware was the last state to have an SBA office, and Jayne started it from the ground up.
“I fell in love with this job,” Jayne admits. “We are very hands on in the business community. We are where the rubber meets the road in economic development.”
After receiving her bachelor’s of science in journalism and advertising in ’87 and earning her master’s degree in public administration and higher education administration at West Virginia University, Jayne started her career at a high-end advertising agency in North Carolina.
“They were very focused on billing the customers and obviously trying to make money,” Jayne explains. “I felt a real connection to the agency’s business clients and wanted to find a way to save them money.”
During the early ’90s Sen. Robert C. Byrd was developing the Software Valley initiative, and this offered Jayne an economic development gig to work on marketing and advertising. She has also worked as the assistant director in corporate foundation relations for the WVU Foundation during its first major capital campaign. In ’94 Jayne was appointed to a U.S. Small Business Administration position in the Clinton Administration, where she organized the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business.
“Throughout my career I was often one of the youngest in my position,” Jayne says. “This opened the door to senior management positions at a young age. I love what I do and can’t imagine leaving. I know I will face some challenges to stay driven in the next 20 years, but as long as it is fulfilling and meaningful, I’ve found my niche in life.”
The ability to network carries over to Jayne’s work with WVU’s National Alumni Recruiting Network (NARN), a program she’s been involved with for more than eight years in Delaware. Jayne serves on the Delaware Alumni Chapter’s Board of Directors where she spearheads the recruiting initiatives for alumni and volunteers, and it’s no surprise why. WVU was seeing an extremely low influx of Delaware high school graduates being accepted as WVU freshmen. Jayne, working with the Office of Undergraduate Recruitment, turned that low of 16 to a soaring 200 students.
“We truly are a Mountaineer nation,” Jayne adds. “When we say Mountaineer nation, we aren’t kidding. We have the alumni network and structure in place. The University can’t do all of the recruiting because of budgetary constraints. So, why not leverage the University’s outreach through the Alumni Association’s network?”
While working with NARN and the Delaware Alumni Chapter are the most visible ways to see her passion for WVU, Jayne has devoted her time and heart to WVU in other ways. She began the Women’s Leadership Program and recently switched the resources to the Academic Enrichment Fund in WVU’s Eberly College of Arts & Sciences, a program that provides financial support for tuition, fees and academic related travel expenses.
However, Jayne expresses the importance of students who receive aid to always “pay it forward.”
“I’ve always been a firm believer in giving back to the University because of the doors it opened for me,” Jayne adds.
During her final undergraduate year at WVU, Jayne served as student body president with the first African American vice president, Alan Richardson. The year before, a racially motivated fight occurred on campus.
“We spent a lot of time addressing and improving race relations on campus,” Jayne says. “The experience had a huge impact on my career and core values.”
As well as changing the campus atmosphere through her tenure as student body president, Jayne pushed the idea for the Scholar’s Lounge on the second floor of the Mountainlair, which displays Rhodes Scholars, Truman Scholars and other prestigious awards students from WVU have received. Jayne says the idea stemmed from the need to showcase WVU’s academic achievements to potential students and parents when they toured the Lair.
“Now that I’m really involved with recruiting through Delaware’s alumni chapter, I go back to WVU a few times a year for a campus tour, just to stay on top of everything,” Jayne explains. “When we go through the Scholar’s Lounge, it really hits home. Twenty-four years ago that’s what we were trying to accomplish, and it’s still making a difference.
“WVU very much changed my life. I feel very strongly about that.”