CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Secretary of Commerce Matt Herridge is encouraged with West Virginia’s current economic state, but he has an eye for the near future.

Herridge spoke before the Joint Committee on Government and Finance during legislative interim meetings earlier in the month.

Herridge, the former state GOP chair, gave lawmakers a look at the state’s improvements with license reciprocity, which allows some professionals to come over to the Mountain State without obtaining another license to work.

“In the month September 2023, there were 69 new contractor licenses approved. In 2024 September, there were 89. In 2025, we’ve had 101 contractors’ licenses approved. It’s a continuing trend — a very big trend — from last year,” Herridge said.

Herridge also noted that the state’s small business development center, which is led by Will Miller, has had a good 2025.

“Over calendar year 2025, we’ve had 73 business starts that we’ve worked with. We’ve served 1,217 clients, created 252 jobs within that small business development center

After giving some statistics, Herridge focused his opening statement to lawmakers towards the future. Like Governor Patrick Morrisey who appointed Herridge to the role of secretary of commerce, Herridge believes that West Virginia is on the verge of being a national leader in energy production.

“I see West Virginians economic development direction as building on our strengths and that is energy, and we are a desirable place to live and to work,” he said.

He says the Mountain State has the resources.

“If we were to draw a 90-mile radius around the city of Wheeling, about 25 percent of the natural gas reserves in the country sit right there,” Herridge said. “As these AI initiatives go forward, as data center investments go forward and the need for that energy, West Virginia stands primed to be a target for those companies and those investments. I’m very excited about that opportunity.”

Herridge says that there’s a big thirst for energy as is, but he sees it only growing.

“The reality is that the future of energy is exponential. Even if we see these data centers and these AI hubs start to become more efficient, what’s going to happen is we’re still going to have more need for energy than what is available right now, so we see West Virginia being in that perfect position to fulfill that need.

During his presentation, Herridge did admit that there are some hurdles, but he’s confident West Virginia can face them head on and become that energy hub.

“We also have our challenges in front of us and that includes housing, making sure that we have a workforce that is trained and ready for those energy jobs, for those engineering jobs, for those welding jobs, and for those skilled labor jobs that are sure to come,” he said

“I truly believe that the future is going to be in West Virginia because of our energy reserves and what we want to do is take those energy reserves, turn those right into those advanced manufacturing right around the site where that energy is coming out of the ground. We want to let companies know that it is just simply wise to not only get your energy here, but to build here and manufacture here,” he continued.