Gayle Conelly Manchin

Gayle Conelly Manchin (née Conelly; born June 20, 1947) is an American educator and government official who was the First Lady of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010 and has served as the Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission since 2021. Manchin previously served as the president of the West Virginia Board of Education from 2013 to 2014 and West Virginia Secretary of Education and the Arts from 2017 until her termination in March 2018. She is married to former governor and former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Early life and education Manchin was raised in Beckley, West Virginia, and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. She received both her Bachelor of Arts in language arts and education, and a Master of Arts in reading (now known as the masters in literacy education), from West Virginia University. In 1999, she received a second master's degree in educational technology leadership from Salem International University.

Career

Manchin has worked as a teacher in the Marion County Public School district and a faculty member at Fairmont State University, where she established the university's inaugural Community Service Learning Program.

She has also served as Director of the AmeriCorps Promise Fellow Program in West Virginia.

In 2016, Manchin was the subject of some controversy when USA Today, a national newspaper, published an article noting that Manchin, upon becoming Board of Education president in 2012, spearheaded a campaign for states to require schools to purchase EpiPens and other medical supplies. Eleven states created laws to require schools to stock EpiPens, made by Mylan pharmaceuticals, leading to a "near monopoly" of Mylan's epinephrine autoinjector in the school health sector. Manchin also offered to resign and "remove any political cloud," though days later, she was removed from office by Justice, leaving the office of Department Secretary vacant.

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom On April 19, 2018, Manchin was appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). As Vice Chair, she has spoken out on behalf of Iranian prisoner, Mohammad Ali Taheri. After the January 27, 2019, bombing of the Jolo Cathedral in the Philippines, in an interview on EWTN News Nightly, she expressed disapproval of President Rodrigo Duterte's prior "angry, violent language" against Church leaders. In March 2021, Gayle, who had moved to the role of Chair, was sanctioned by the Chinese government over the USCIRF recommendation that the United States government and its partners sanction Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses committed on the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang. Manchin said that she was "flattered" by the sanctions.

Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Appointed by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate, Gayle Conelly Manchin was sworn in as the thirteenth federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) in May 2021. She is the first co-chair from West Virginia. The Commission's mission “is to innovate, partner and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia”. This region spreads across 13 states, 12 partially and all of West Virginia. Manchin works directly with the 13 governors concerned by the development of an economically depressed region. Upon taking office, Manchin stated that her top priorities are " to support the creation of economic opportunities in the Appalachian Region, improve broadband access and critical infrastructure in Appalachian communities, and address the region’s opioid crisis".

Personal life In 1967, Gayle Conelly married Joe Manchin, with whom she had three children, Heather, Joseph IV, and Brooke, and settled in Fairmont, West Virginia.