The town of Montgomery wants Greg Ingram to guide it through the departure of West Virginia University Institute of Technology.
The town elected Ingram, the former town recorder, as mayor with about 69 percent of the vote.
Ingram will replace James Higgins Jr., who served as mayor for more than 20 non-consecutive years.
"We're going to be different," Ingram said. "I don't think anyone really knows what it's going to look like when Tech leaves."
Last year, West Virginia University announced that it will be closing the Montgomery campus of WVU Tech and moving the school to Beckley.
The departure of the university - which spurs the economy in the town - is expected to cast a significant blow.
Ingram said that the struggling coal industry doesn't help either.
"I think we need to walk the path and find our new identity," he said.
Ingram said that he didn't want to make any false promises about what the future would look like for Montgomery, but said that some businesses were interested in moving into the campus buildings.
"We're entertaining meetings with the West Virginia University collaboration group," Ingram said. "We're going to be working with them to find out what our new direction and what our new vision will be," Ingram said.
WVU created a team of economic development specialists and community leaders to guide the town through the loss of WVU Tech.
Ingram's term will begin on July 1, and will last until 2020. WVU Tech's move from Montgomery will be completed in 2017.
Ingram's town recorder will be David White, a former town councilman who edged out Les Thomas, another former councilman.
The race for city council comes down to a tie between John Frisby and Roger Landers. The two both received 118 votes. The city still has some provisional ballots to count, so Angela Tackett said the town hopes to know who won after the canvass.
Montgomery has five town council members. Fred Lockard, who received the most votes in the town council race, will be the only returning town councilman.
"It's all going to be a challenge," Ingram said. "And I think the city council - the ones I know - they're great people."
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.