His story: William Lee McCollam, an Elkins native, graduated from Centre College in Danville, Ky., with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1992 and completed a master’s degree in public administration at West Virginia University in 2002.

He was pursuing a doctorate at Penn State University when he received word of a need for a Youthbuild director at the Randolph County Housing Authority. McCollam was an avid youth program volunteer. He took the job back home rather than complete the degree and has been at Youthbuild for five years.

“To see a young person who has never had a success in his life, after a couple years, hold a full-time job and have a steady home life, or go to college — those are the successes in my job that you hang on to,” McCollam said. “Your pride comes from the people you service and what they accomplish.”

McCollam is the chairman of the local Workforce Center and Management Partner Consortium. He is a member of the director’s council and chairman of the technology committee of Youthbuild USA’s affiliated network. He is a member of America’s Promise Coalition and the board of directors for the local Old Brick Playhouse. He was chairperson of the growing the economy roundtable for Elkins’ Vision 2010 project.

McCollam and his wife, Missy Armentrout McCollam, have one son — Max, 2.

On his first paying job:

“I was a stock boy and clerk at The Colony Shop in Elkins when I was in high school.”