Difference Makers: Arria Hines finds success across the nation with drive for innovation centered in West Virginia

Hines, the company's owner and a Lewis County native, said that she co-founded AST after learning the ins and outs of government contracting when she worked for SAIC and another company, and she was determined to take that knowledge and start her own business.

"It's a complex, unique type of business," Hines said. "Really, I started AST because I felt like, with my background at SAIC, accounting and in project management, I could do it better and do it in West Virginia. ... I wanted to do it in West Virginia because I had built great relationships with the NASA (Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility), and building a business starts on your reputation and your skills. I was very lucky to be able to build those relationships."

While the company has had regional and satellite offices across the country - with offices currently in Idaho and Maryland - the headquarters has always been in Bridgeport.

She said AST is working on more than a dozen contracts right now, and while the number of employees at the company varies depending on the contract work, it currently has around 120.

Hines received her bachelor's degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College and her master's degree from West Virginia University, and has lived in The Mountain State for nearly her entire life. Hines added that she doesn't believe in "abandoning the state", and her love for West Virginia also spurred her to start AST on her home turf. 

"It was important for me to stay here and build a business here because I wanted to create good-paying, sustainable, long-term jobs here in West Virginia," Hines said. "I also believe in the ripple effect. If you are able to provide good jobs to people, then that creates other businesses because people are here and need other things. It creates a more sustainable future for everybody to stay here. If you do one thing, that thing can have multiple impacts. If you can provide good, stable jobs, people will raise their families here and won't leave the state."

She said that while she knows AST is a "drop in the bucket" in terms of the state's business community, she noted that enough drops will fill the entire bucket.

Further, she added that to truly be a difference maker, one must take on the risk, and must not get discouraged or quit when faced with a setback or failure.

"Businesses have ups and downs like anything else in life," Hines said. "There are periods where you're not growing and other periods where you're growing very quickly. It's the normal flux of life, but growing up in West Virginia, we're a people who have grown up in a mountain state with, a lot of times, limited resources. ... You become resourceful, and I think that's a key ingredient in becoming a business owner."

Hines said that her love for the state that raised her has made continuing her work in West Virginia "very important" to her, and she wants to be able to make a difference in any way she can.

She said that her vision - and something she believes has helped Allegheny Science and Technology grow over the last 15 years - is to constantly look for new, innovative solutions to problems. Because technology is always evolving, Hines noted, there must, too, be that drive to evolve along with it throughout the state.

"If it's all based around technology advancing, then we have to adapt and change," Hines said. "West Virginia is sitting on a really pivotal point right now. AST works a lot on advanced energy sectors like nuclear, wind, solar, hydro and hydrogen by supporting the government in developing those technologies. (Look at) the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub. My entire team and I have worked very hard to get that awarded and get those projects based here in West Virginia."

ARCH2, a multi-state initiative backed by more than $925 million in federal funds, recently opened its office in Morgantown and has begun a four-phrase development plan.

"That can have a major ripple effect on the future and the technologies that get driven here in West Virginia. With the advancement of our broadband, we can get people here to West Virginia, and that opens our doors even wider."

Hines said that one of AST's consistent successes is that innovation and commitment to thinking outside the box, which she believes has helped the company grow and sustain for a decade and a half even if a new method or way of thinking doesn't always pan out.

Looking at the past 15 years, Hines believes her biggest accomplishment is being able to not only keep her business running for that long, but be able to grow and expand AST's reach across the country.

"When you start with yourself and one other employee, you don't have a long-term vision," Hines said. "A lot of entrepreneurs start because they know there's a need and they know they can fill it. Being able to sustain and grow a business for 15 years in North Central West Virginia is, I think, a huge accomplishment."

She added that another achievement she's proud of is that 22% of her staff and over 40% of her corporate executive team have been with AST for at least a decade.

"I think part of why we've been successful is that we have people committed to AST's vision, to my vision," Hines said. "It's a huge accomplishment, being surrounded by very talented people who have been willing to stick it out in the trenches through the good and the bad times." 

Hines said that she's also proud of the family she's raised in West Virginia, having welcomed four grandchildren into the world in 2022 alone. When she's not helming AST, she loves spending time with her growing family, as well as travelling and boating with her husband, Michael.

"When you own a company, it's kind of your life, and everything you do kind of surrounds that piece of it, but there are fun things in life," Hines said.

Hines said that the future for Allegheny Science and Technology is very bright, with the company having recently won several contracts. She said that she doesn't like to think more than three years or so in the future due to the ever-changing landscape of technology, but she does have a list of goals and plans in mind.

"What I see AST's future in is driving a new hydrogen market here in West Virginia," Hines said. "The ARCH2 (hydrogen hub) is a 10-year span project with multiple phases, and I see us being a key driver in that and a key driver in the hydrogen market economy going forward. I'm really focusing AST on those emerging technologies, especially in the energy sector."

Another plan, she said, is to dive deeper into the "information technology development" field such as IT operations and cybersecurity, as well as continue to build out and grow the company so it can transition into bidding on larger government contracts.

"In the next three-to-five years, (AST) is really taking on that next big trajectory in the technology market," Hines said.