Jo Boggess Phillips was born and raised in Ripley, WV, where she currently resides with her family. She and her husband Mike have four boys, Solomon, Bennett, Garrison and Anderson. The family also includes two dogs, Kennedy & Lincoln.
She and her family are members of Calvary United Methodist Church, where she is a Sunday School teacher for 1st & 2nd graders.
Jo is the second child of Frank & Zelma (Landis) Boggess of Ripley. Her brother Pat works for Alcan Rolled Products. He and his wife Leslie, and children Chelsey, Lindsey & Nathan operate Boggess Farms in Given, WV. Jo's twin sister Beth is an FBI Agent stationed in Denver, Colorado.
Her maternal grandparents are Eurada and the late Kemp Landis of Kenna, WV. Her paternal grandparents are the late Jimmy & Gertrude Boggess of Millwood.
Biography
Jo Boggess Phillips, a resident of Jackson County, has developed a diverse background in education and government.
Jo has had a lifelong interest in government, education and writing. She is a graduate of Ripley High School where she served on Student Council, as class president, in the National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta. She was Assistant Editor of The Viking Press and wrote a regular column for The Jackson Herald titled “The Teen Scene.” After high school, she began her work in local government with a summer job in the Jackson County Sheriff's Tax Department.
She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Marietta College where she was active in the Chi Omega Fraternity and was a member of Phi Alpha Theta history honorary. During her summers in college, she was awarded internships with the offices of U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller and then U.S. Congressman Bob Wise.
Jo went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Political Science (with a concentration in Public Administration) from Marshall University. During that time, she was awarded an internship with the West Virginia State Legislature, serving the Senate Education committee. At the end of her internship, she was offered a full-time job with the Legislature serving as a public information officer for Legislative Reference and Information.
While a staff person for the West Virginia Legislature, Jo became a legislative analyst for Legislative Services. She worked specifically to staff interim committees and coordinated the Graduate Internship Program.
Jo also worked as a research analyst for the Performance Evaluation and Research Division of the West Virginia Legislature. Her primary focus during this time was the performance audits of state boards.
She went on to complete her second Master’s degree at West Virginia University with a concentration on public policy. While at WVU, she published a historical monograph on the history of women in the West Virginia Legislature for the WVU Institute for Public Affairs. She also published several articles on women in the legislature with The West Virginia Public Affairs Reporter and Goldenseal.
While completing all coursework for the doctoral program at WVU, Jo worked as an intern with the West Virginia University Extension Service, Office of Community and Economic Development. Her work included an assessment of local government needs in West Virginia, as well as a report of West Virginia County Government and West Virginia Public School Finance.
After completing her graduate work, Jo was hired as an Adjunct Professor to teach Sociology and Political Science courses at various colleges including West Virginia State University and Glenville State College. She is currently an adjunct professor at West Virginia University at Parkersburg teaching online courses in Political Science.
In 2002, Jo was elected to the Jackson County Board of Education. She was reelected in 2006 and served as President from 2004 to 2007.
Jo went on to earn a teaching certification in school library media from Fairmont State. This allowed her to take a full-time job as a school librarian at Mineral Wells Elementary in Wood County.
In 2007, she made the difficult decision to resign from the school board in order to apply for teaching jobs in Jackson County (as she could not serve on the board and have a job in the county). She was hired to work at Ravenswood Middle School as a teacher of 8th grade West Virginia History and Government. Currently, Jo works as a social studies teacher at Ripley High School.
During the 2008 election season, Jo was the Democratic nominee the West Virginia House of Delegates, 12th District. She narrowly lost the election to an 8-year incumbent. She maintains an active role with the Jackson County Democratic Executive Committee and as a member of the Jackson County Democratic Women’s Club.
