Corey Lilly

Corey Lilly is the Outdoor Community Development Manager at the Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative, where he uses his robust experience to help West Virginia communities leverage their outdoor assets to celebrate cultural heritage, attract and retain talent, serve visiting tourists, and drive traffic to small businesses. Corey is a 10th-generation West Virginian whose family operated the Lilly-Brooke Coal Company. After completing his Bachelor of Geology at WVU, he returned to the New River Gorge area as Executive Director of Piney Creek Watershed Association. He later worked with his hometown of Beckley, centered among the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, to develop the outdoor sector of the economy as Director of the Beckley Office of Outdoor Economic Development.

In addition to his outdoor development work, Corey is widely recognized as one of the top professional adventure athletes in West Virginia. Lilly has led whitewater expeditions across the globe, toured as a professional skier, and is a competent climber, mountain biker, and outdoorsman. Before turning 18, Lilly received his first international sponsorship for adventure athletics from Elan Skis. After touring the USA as a professional skier, Lilly switched his focus to whitewater, becoming a recognized professional kayaker for his multiple first descents in North America. Lilly received the President's Award from the American Canoe Association for his heroic efforts in the "Midnight Miracle Rescue" at Kanawha Falls in 2020— dubbed "The Most Miraculous Whitewater Rescue in the past 50 years of Swiftwater."