Jessi Troyan is the Director of Policy & Research for the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy and was raised in Pinch, WV. She graduated from West Virginia University in 2011 with a Bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in Spanish. She received both her Master’s & PhD in economics from George Mason University.

In 2022, Jessi pitched a Cardinal Institute project in Atlas Network’s Think Tank Shark Tank competition in New York City. She is a guest host of the Forgotten America podcast and her writing can be found in the National Review and the Charleston Gazette-Mail.