Mister Bee Potato Chips – the only potato chip made in West Virginia – is a proud sponsor of Mountaineer Media Podcast. The company’s leadership and extended family tips its hat to Cooper Simmerman, Mason Jack, and C.J. Harvey for growing the podcast, blog, merchandise, and website to reach more West Virginians, those who from the Mountain State, as well as those who wish they were.

Mister Bee’s CEO Mary Anne Ketelsen was an early guest on Episode #9 of the podcast.

The Queen Bee, who was named a Distinguished West Virginian by the Governor and selected as a Wonder Woman by West Virginia Living magazine, enjoyed telling her story and how gratifying it is to be a woman-owned manufacturing business in West Virginia. While her leadership and smart marketing of salty snacks grows the business and employs more West Virginians, she is always looking to give back to the community.

In the summer of 2019, Mary Anne asked our agency if we could design a new chip bag that would pay tribute to Veterans and military personnel. She wanted the sales of each bag to benefit a non-profit organization (In this case, the USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore) that supports our U.S. military, Veterans, and their families. Thus far, Mister Bee Potato Chips and the Ketelsen family has contributed $100,000 to the USO-Metro and counting. In January, she was asked by USO-Metro if she would donate chips to help sustain the National Guard troops (500 Guard troops were from W.Va.) in the nation’s capital. She responded by shipping 1,000 bags of chips within days of the request.

Mary Anne also supports education at all levels. When she learned her alma mater, WVU at Parkersburg, was planting potatoes among other crops on a 20-acre farm to create a course in agricultural entrepreneurship, the Queen Bee provided funding for a new tractor and other supplies needed to jump start the program. The potatoes harvested in the Fall of 2020 were shipped only a few miles away to the Mister Bee plant and turned into delicious homegrown potato chips.

With a deadline of March 1, the Mary Anne Ketelsen STEM Scholarship program administered by TechConnect West Virginia is accepting scholarship applications to help women pursuing educational opportunities for careers in the oil and gas industry. The scholarship gift of $25,000 is in memory of her late mother, Mary “Mickey” Welch, who was a pioneer in the state’s oil and gas industry.

Mary Anne is but one of many outstanding West Virginians Cooper, Mason and C.J. will profile in the podcast or feature in their communications. Keep up the good work and enjoy Mister Bee snacks!