MORGANTOWN -- Imagine West Virginia, the new public policy research arm of Vision Shared, has developed a short list of policy areas that it will research for future policy recommendations.

"What we've done is get from a 30,000-foot view down several thousand feet into key issue areas that excite the board," said Executive Director Rick Remish.

A St. Marys native and at one time a member of West Virginia Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller's Washington, D.C., staff, Remish came on as the group's first executive director in December.

He hosted his governing board in Morgantown for its first meeting in April.

"The meeting here was really focused on our first project," Remish said, "an analysis, if you will, of some of the more prominent assets that West Virginia has."

The board considered a long list of West Virginia's best features, he said, including the state's natural beauty, its quality of life and its proximity to 60 percent of the U.S. population.

They settled on a short list of three assets to research for possible policy improvements, with travel and tourism among them.

"They'd like to look at the ways that West Virginia is marketed and what opportunities it presents and how it sells itself -- see if there are different aspects of policy that might be able to be improved," Remish explained.

Homeland security is another.

"The Mountain State's got a lot of security, low crime and there's a quality of life that really feeds into that aspect of security and it actually could become a very valuable marketing tool," Remish said.

"This appeals not only to the federal government but to corporations," he added. "When you look at how business is conducted, it's really no longer a bricks and mortar but a clicks and mortar approach -- you can do e-commerce anywhere. Under homeland security as a very broad topic ... you could not only attract more government but also more business into the state."

Policy affecting energy and the environment is the third area for research.

"As West Virginia is looking at ways to harness energy more efficiently, to promote alternative energy research and use resources more responsibly, we're seeing that energy development and the environment are not mutually exclusive," Remish said.

"There is some potential for West Virginia to maybe set the example in pursuing things like mine reforestation or using abandoned coal mines for aquaculture," he said. "There may be ways where West Virginia's expertise in mining technologies and R&D might be used to benefit a very rapidly growing Chinese economy."

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Imagine West Virginia's board has secured as its chair Admiral T. Joseph Lopez, former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and of the Allied Forces in Southern Europe, now president of Information Manufacturing Corp. in Fairfax, Va.

Its remaining 16 members bring broad experience in education, law, medicine, banking, the media, economic development, information technology and heavy industry.

All are West Virginia natives, Remish said -- counting Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation President William "Pat" Getty as an honorary West Virginian.

And it's no accident that the board includes a number of West Virginians serving in prominent roles outside the state, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology immediate past President Charles M. Vest.

"It certainly helps to avoid a very insular, very one-sided perspective," Remish said.

"It's not just West Virginians within the state thinking that they can solve issues themselves, but looking beyond the borders and embracing West Virginians that have an outside view," he added. "So it was calculated and deliberate to have that strategy and the diversity of the board."

Remish said he always intended to return to West Virginia. He kept abreast of West Virginia policy issues through six years in Sen. Rockefeller's office and three years on Vice President Al Gore's staff.

"I was able in those positions to ensure that West Virginians' voices were heard as much as possible," he said.

He cultivated an interest in economic development and community revitalization through those years and while subsequently earning an MBA from George Washington University, he said, before accepting this position.

"When this opportunity came up, I was ecstatic to throw my hat into the ring," he said. "I've always thought that my future was here in West Virginia, to get back to a place that was so genuine, that has so many unique advantages."

Although Imagine West Virginia's operating method is yet to be determined, Remish said he expects the board to produce reports that will be useful both for Vision Shared internally and for citizens of the state in general.

The board prides itself on an independent, apolitical approach to public policy, he said.