ERIM Names Four New Trustees
9 November 2000
ERIM Names Four New Trustees
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 9 The Environmental Research
Institute of Michigan (ERIM) today announced the addition of four new members
to its Board of Trustees.
Joining the ERIM board are:
* Prof. Fawwaz T. Ulaby, University of Michigan Vice President for
Research and the R. Jamison and Betty Williams Professor of Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science.
* Philip Fazio, ERIM Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and
Treasurer.
* Richard D. Snyder, President of Ardesta, Chairman of the Michigan
Economic Development Corporation and former President and Chief Operating
Officer of Gateway, Inc.
* Trevor O. Jones, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BIOMEC Inc.
"We are delighted to add these accomplished and distinguished members to
our Board of Trustees," said ERIM Board Chairman Doug Van Houweling. "ERIM
has set an exciting and aggressive course for growth and these new trustees,
with their technical, financial and business acumen, are going to help us get
there. We could not be happier about their arrival," he said.
ERIM is a not-for-profit, collaboration community with more than 50 years
experience in developing, demonstrating an deploying advanced information
technologies that are improving the quality of life and business around the
globe. In August of this year, the ERIM Board of Trustees approved a
strategic business design that has the research and development not-for-profit
focused in three core business areas: e-business; advanced transportation and
environmental/disaster information management. In September, ERIM and the
University of Michigan concluded a strategic collaboration agreement that is
speeding the deployment of research technologies at the University into the
public and commercial sectors.
The trustees named today bring several critical credentials to the Board
of Trustees.
A member of the U-M faculty since 1984, Fawwaz Ulaby was recently named an
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. His 1997 undergraduate textbook on "Applied
Electromagnetics" has been adopted by 65 universities throughout the United
States.
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and serves on many
national scientific boards and commissions. During his 30-year academic
career, Ulaby has supervised more than 100 MS and Ph.D. graduate students. He
has authored eight books and published more than 600 scientific papers and
reports. As Vice President of Research for the University of Michigan, Ulaby
has valuable and practical experience in transitioning research technologies
into the commercial market.
Phil Fazio joined ERIM in July of this year as Chief Financial Officer and
has responsibility for all financial matters including strategic planning,
budgeting, financial accounting, contract administration and purchasing.
Prior to his appointment at ERIM, Fazio served as Chief Financial Officer for
ERIM International, a former, wholly owned subsidiary of ERIM, which was sold
to Veridian in 1999.
From 1993 to 1998, Fazio served as Vice President of Finance and
Information Technology for the Philips Display Components Division of Philips
Electronics North America Corporation.
From 1990 to 1993, Fazio served as Corporate Controller for Philips
Display Components.
Rick Snyder founded Avalon Investments in 1997 after serving since 1991 as
Executive Vice President and then President and Chief Operating Officer of
computer manufacturer Gateway Inc.
During Snyder's tenure, Gateway grew from a privately-held $500 million
company to a New York Stock Exchange-traded company with annual revenues
exceeding $6 billion. Snyder still serves on the Gateway Board of Directors.
He holds three U-M degrees including a Masters in Business Administration
and a Juris Doctor. He is a member of the Michigan Bar Association and serves
on the Board of Directors of Gateway, Inc., Launch Media Inc., and on the
boards of a number of other privately held companies. He also serves on the
U-M's College of Engineering National Advisory Committee and is Chairman of
the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Trevor Jones is the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
BIOMEC, Inc., an entrepreneurial company engaged in the development and
commercialization of biomedical engineered devices and products. He is also
Chairman of BIOMEC subsidiaries BIOMEC Cardiovascular Inc., and FRANTZ-BIOMEC
LLC.
Mr. Jones is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Life
Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. For the past
seven years Mr. Jones has been Chairman of the National Research Council's
Peer Review Committee for the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles
(PNGV) -- the so-called "80 mile-per-gallon super car."
Until 1998, Jones served for seven years on the Board of Directors for
Echlin Inc. as Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer. From
1978 to 1987, he was an officer of TRW Inc. after joining TRW in 1978 as Vice
President, Engineering, Automotive Worldwide Sector. In 1985, he was named
TRW's Group Vice President, Strategic Programs, Automotive Worldwide Sector.
He was appointed Chairman of the Board of Libby-Owens-Ford in 1987 prior
to assuming the positions of President and Chief Executive Officer in 1993.
For 19 years, from 1959 to 1978, Jones was with General Motors Corp., where
his final position was Director of the General Motors Proving Grounds.
"While we make the announcement of these appointments with great pride and
excitement," Van Houweling said, "we also need to take a moment to reflect
upon those Board members who have gone before us and who have brought us to
this wonderful point in our history. Last week, we lost one of our most
cherished Trustees, Dr. Russell O'Neal. Russ's death leaves a big whole in
our organization and in our hearts. His vision, his commitment to this
organization and its future and his basic decency as a human being were
without equal. We are going to miss him sorely."
As a tribute to O'Neal, ERIM President Ken Baker and the Board have
expressed to the University their desire to name the recently announced, and
ERIM-funded, professorship at the University of Michigan School of Engineering
the "ERIM-Dr. Russell D. O'Neal Professorship."
"Russ instinctively saw how technology, even it is most nascent form,
could change lives and make societies safer and more productive," said Baker.
"We like to think that the part of Russ that was always looking to the future
with hope is going to live on in this endowed professorship and in the way
technical innovation improves the way we live our lives every day."