BOWLING GREEN, O.—Four northwest Ohio businessmen and a southeast Michigan banker have been appointed directors of the new Bowling Green State University Research Institute.

The five directors will serve staggered terms on the board of the institute, a nonprofit corporation separate from BGSU. It is designed to help Bowling Green faculty, staff and students develop their research or creative ideas into marketable products, and to help find outside support to patent and license those products.

Appointed for three years was Charles (Jim) Bayer of Holland, Ohio. One of four BGSU alumni among the new directors, Bayer received a bachelor of arts degree from the University in 1969. He is former co-owner and president of Fremont-based Crescent Manufacturing, which makes disposable precision blades used in the medical and food processing fields.

Serving two-year terms will be George Baty of Weston and Charles Stocking of Perrysburg. Baty, who graduated from BGSU in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, is president of Cresset Chemical Co., a family-run business that sells to the concrete construction industry. Stocking is president and CEO of Principle Business Enterprises Inc., a Dunbridge company that makes disposable patient-care products for hospitals and long-term care facilities, and for people with serious physical disabilities.

Rounding out the board of directors are Daniel Keller of Huron and Bruce Nyberg of Detroit, Mich., each of whom was appointed to a one-year term. Keller is president of KELLCO Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments. He received his bachelor's degree in 1972 and a master of business administration degree in 1978, both from BGSU. He is a member of the BGSU Foundation Board of Directors, as is Nyberg, the regional president of Huntington National Bank—East Michigan. Nyberg is a 1968 Bowling Green graduate with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

In addition, Milton Baker and Drs. Ronald Scherer and Sheila Roberts were appointed to the board for two-year terms as ex-officio directors. Baker is executive in residence and director of BGSU's Dallas-Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Scherer is a professor of communication disorders at the University, while Roberts is an associate professor and chair of the geology department.

Dr. John Folkins, chief executive officer of the research institute, said he sought input on and off campus in his search for potential directors with extensive business, and especially entrepreneurial, experience.

Once the board meets and elects a chair, an affiliation agreement between the chair and the University will launch the institute, he said.

The BGSU Board of Trustees recommended creation of a research institute in 2005 and approved it last year. The institute's first goal, organizers have said, is to raise awareness among faculty and staff about possible commercialization of their intellectual property and to make connections with the business and industrial community.

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(Posted April 06, 2007)