James L. Estep was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the WVHTC Foundation at the June 21, 2000, meeting of the WVHTC Foundation Board of Directors. Since his appointment as President and CEO, he has led an extensive reorganization of the WVHTC Foundation, which has included an expansion of the I-79 Technology Park and the creation of departments focused on research & development, commercialization, affiliate services, intellectual property management, technology services and internationalization, and public safety and homeland security.

Estep is very active in several business and technology efforts around the state. He is a board member for the West Virginia Roundtable, the Marion County Chamber of Commerce, Energy Village, and the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, where he acts as chairman of the Technology Committee. He serves on the advisory committee to West Virginia University's (WVU) Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, the WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Visiting Committee, and the WVU Institute of Technology Leonard C. Nelson College of Engineering Visiting Committee. He serves as chair for the New Economy Task Force, which is part of the “Vision Shared” statewide economic development strategy plan. In March 2003, Estep received a gubernatorial appointment to the West Virginia EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Advisory Council for a three-year term. WVEPSCoR is part of a national program created by the National Science Foundation. He is a current board member of the West Virginia NASA Space Grant Program, and he has served as a judge for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Program, the West Virginia Engineering, Science, and Technology Scholarship Program, and the Research Challenge Grant Program. In June 2005, Estep received a Congressional Achievement Award presented by Congressman Alan B. Mollohan, U.S. House of Representatives, First District, West Virginia.

He pursued graduate studies at WVU where, in 1993, he received a master's degree in computer science. He is also a graduate of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech) where, in 1989, he received a bachelor's degree in computer science. While at WVU Tech, Estep was very active in student government and served as student body president from 1988 to 1989. In 1986, he was awarded a military science scholarship from the United States Army and, upon graduation from WVU Tech in 1989, went on active duty with the Army as a commissioned officer. In 1992, he joined Unisys Corporation as a software engineer. While at Unisys, he participated in a variety of engineering areas including research and development of domain specific, architecture-centric software reuse methodologies

A native of Braxton County, he currently resides in Morgantown with his wife, Melissa. They have three children.