Mark Scott
Chairman, WVRA

Mark Scott is a business owner from Randolph County, W.Va. He received a Graduate of Theology degree from Tabernacle Christian College in Greenville, S.C. in 1989. He has served as chairman of the Randolph County Republican Executive Committee for the past six years. During his presidency, the committee saw the first Republican State Senator in the district elected in 128 years, and in 2008, they came within 400 votes of voting in the first Republican delegate in 140 years.

Additionally, Scott serves as the W.Va. Republican Party State Committee Chair and Faith and Values Coalition Chairman for a 2008 presidential candidate. In the summers of 2005 and 2006, he ran for State Chairman of the Republican Party, coming in second to men who had run for governor.

Scott has owned a branch of Allstate Insurance in Elkins for 10 years. During that time, he has won various awards, and his office has consistently ranked in the top 2 percent nationally. He has received a professional designation in the insurance business as a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and a Life Underwriting Training Council Fellow (LUTF).

As a result of his successes, he was awarded an honorary degree in business administration from Alneada College in Boca Raton, Fla. in 2004.

Scott is also the owner of First Priority Real Estate Company, which builds and provides housing for middle-income families in Randolph County. He has been involved in the business for the past two years.

Scott and his wife Tracey have been married for 28 years. They have two children Stephanie age 15 and Catherine age 14. He and his wife have been members of Landmark Baptist Church, where he served as youth pastor, since 1997. The youth group, which he has been leading for the past eight years, began as a group of eight has grown to about 50. Many of the youth graduating out of the group have been honored with a Who’s Who Among American High School Students status.

Scott served his country in the U.S. Marine Corp. from 1986 to 1990.

He is also a licensed pilot.

Thomas Moran is a research consultant from Buckhannon, W.Va. He is a 2006 graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College with two Bachelor of Arts degrees in history and political science.

Moran began his political career while still a student at Wesleyan when he took on an internship with Sen. Clark Barnes (R-15th). After graduation, he continued to work for Barnes and currently serves as the senator’s research director.

In his time as research director, he has conducted a statistical analysis of the 2006 House of Delegates races and developed a strategy for the 2008 House of Delegates races. He assisted former professor and mentor Dr. Robert Rupp and his W.Va. Politics class with initiating the first statistical analysis and research study for the Kanawha County Table Games vote.

In 2006, Moran took on the task of managing and strategizing for three political campaigns — two for the House of Delegates race in the 37th district and Mark Scott’s bid in the state chairman race for the Republican Party — all before the age of 25.

While in college, he participated in the Mid-Atlantic Research Conference in 2005 and 2006. He conducted independent research projects, such as Religious Voices within Upshur County, which focused on specific religious denominations’ attitudes toward homosexuality, and Musical Politics: The Relationship between Lyrical Complexity and Involved Citizenry.

During his senior year, he was appointed as an in-class teacher’s assistant for Social Science Research Methodology.

Currently, Moran is working with State Chairman Dr. Doug McKinney on the 2008 W.Va. elections and is actively canvassing the state to develop, educate and inspire county executive committees.

Moran resides with his fiancé, Katrina, and their five-year-old son Trenton.