Meet the Board Members
Sally
Mason
President, The University of Iowa
Sally Mason became the 20th President of The University of Iowa on August 1, 2007. She holds a full professorship with tenure in the Department of Biological Sciences of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
President Mason served as Provost of Purdue University from 2001-2007, where she was responsible for planning, managing, and reviewing all academic programs at Purdue's West Lafayette campus and four affiliated branch campuses throughout Indiana. Her accomplishments as Provost included increasing diversity, recruiting top faculty, doubling the research program, advancing public engagement, and improving the learning environment for students. During President Mason's tenure as Provost, Purdue hired over 800 new faculty, 300 of which were new positions; 56% of those hires were women and/or minorities. She also formed a diversity leadership group while at Purdue. President Mason was instrumental in the development of Purdue's Discovery Park, an interdisciplinary research incubator focused on such topics as nanotechnology, entrepreneurship, and biosciences.
Jordan
Cohen
Interim Vice President for Research
Jordan L. Cohen assumed the position of Interim Vice President of Research at the University of Iowa after retiring as Dean of the University Of Iowa College Of Pharmacy in October 2007 after serving 8 and one-half years. He had previously served as Dean of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Kentucky from January 1988 to March, 1999. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he received his B.S. in pharmacy in 1965 and Ph.D. in pharmaceutics in 1969 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He served on the faculty at the University of Southern California for almost 18 years and in 1985-86, Dr. Cohen was selected as an American Council on Education Fellow, serving his Fellowship year as Assistant to the Chancellor at the University of California at Irvine. He also completed certificate programs in educational design and management while at USC.
Dr. Cohen's NIH funded research has been in the areas of clinical pharmacology of anticancer and anti-AIDS agents, and disposition of drugs in the elderly. Currently, he has interests in leadership issues in the health professions and the effects of the changes in health care delivery on pharmaceutical education.
He was elected to the United States Pharmacopeial (USP) Board of Trustees In 1990, and served as Chair from 1995-2000. He also served as President of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, was the initial chair of the Executive Committee of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science of APhA and served as a member of the California Bioequivalence Advisory Panel, an advisory body regarding California Medicaid formulary decisions. He currently serves as the USP member of the AMA's adopted drug names council and on the Steering Committee of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' Transforming Health Professional Education program in 2005. Dr. Cohen is an elected Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the American Pharmaceutical Association and has been active in both Kentucky and Iowa in the promotion of economic development with local and regional and state wide economic development agencies seeking linkages that allow successful commercialization of faculty discoveries and capabilities in the fields of drug discovery and development. He was recently selected to receive the 2008 Hugo Schaefer Award by the American Pharmacists Association based on his career-long contributions to Pharmacy, society and the association.
P.
Barry Butler
Dean, College of Engineering
Dr. Barry Butler joined the University in 1984 as a junior faculty member in mechanical engineering. Following progressive appointments to the rank of professor, he served as chairman of mechanical engineering, Associate Dean for academic programs, interim Dean, and Dean. His research is in the area of analysis and modeling of energetic materials, and he has published extensively in the field. He has experience working as a visiting research fellow for the U.S. Navy and Sandia National Laboratories and as a visiting faculty member at Universite de Provence in Marseille, France. Dean Butler earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 1979 and 1981, respectively. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 1984, all from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Douglas
True
Senior Vice President for Finance
Douglas True was appointed Vice President for Finance and University Services in 1991. He has been treasurer of The University of Iowa since May 1988. He was previously Director of business and finance for the State Board of Regents, providing leadership in the areas of budgeting and debt financing for Iowa’s five Regents institutions since 1985. Previous to this, True held management positions in State natural resources and environmental organizations. During the last twenty years he has authored a number of publications on furniture and decorative arts of the mid-nineteenth century, and coauthored "The Furniture of J.H. Belter and Rococo Revival". True received a BS in Chemistry from The University of Iowa in 1971 and an MBA from Drake University in 1976.
Jean
Robillard
Vice President for Medical Affairs
Dr. Jean Robillard is originally from Montreal, where he earned bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Montreal. Following receipt of his medical degree, Dr. Robillard did an internship at the Hotel Dieu Hospital and a residency in pediatrics at Ste. Justine Hospital in Montreal.
Dr. Robillard began his tenure as Dean of the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine on February 1, 2003. Dr. Robillard has a long history at Iowa, having arrived here in 1973 as a pediatric nephrology fellow after beginning his fellowship at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles. He joined the faculty at The University of Iowa in 1974 as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Professor in 1982 and appointed as Vice Chair of the Department of Pediatrics in 1987 while he was also Director of the Pediatric Nephrology Division. As a pediatric nephrologist, he was an integral member of the UI Hospitals and Clinics transplant team. In 1996, Dr. Robillard moved to Ann Arbor to become Chair and Professor of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School and physician-in-chief at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, where he served until his return to Iowa in 2003.
Mark
Janis
Professor, Law
Mark Janis is a Professor of Law and H. Blair & Joan V. White Intellectual Property Law Scholar at The University of Iowa College of Law in Iowa City. Professor Janis teaches and writes in the fields of patents, trademarks/unfair competition, and intellectual property/antitrust. He has a particular interest in intellectual property rights in plants and plant biotechnology. He has published numerous law review articles and is co-author of a two-volume treatise, IP and Antitrust, as well as a casebook, Trademarks & Unfair Competition: Law and Policy. He is a 2000-2001 recipient of The University of Iowa Collegiate Teaching Award. He has been named a University of Iowa Faculty Scholar for 2002-2005 to conduct research on intellectual property rights in plant biotechnology.
He earned his JD summa cum laude in 1989 from Indiana University School of Law, and his BS with distinction in 1986 in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University. He is a registered patent attorney. Prior to joining the Iowa law faculty in 1995, Professor Janis practiced patent law with Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Matthew
Kinley
Equity Dynamics Inc.
Matthew Kinley served since 1995 as Senior Vice President of Equity Dynamics, Inc., a financial consulting firm, and Pappajohn Capital Resources, a venture capital firm, both owned by John Pappajohn. Since April 2005, Mr. Kinley has served as President of Healthcare Acquisition Corp., a public company. Mr. Kinley has been involved in the financing and development of more than 20 early stage companies in the past ten years. From 1990 through 1995, Mr. Kinley was manager and held various positions at KPMG Peat Marwick, working on tax, audit, and merger and acquisition issues. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Healthcare Acquisition Corp., LightEdge Solutions, Inc., and Palisade Systems, Inc. Mr. Kinley also serves on the College of Business Executive Advisory Board and the Entrepreneurial Center Advisory Board at the University of Northern Iowa. Mr. Kinley received his BA in Business, with highest honors, from the University of Northern Iowa in May 1990.
David
W. Miles
President, BOR
The bulk of Mr. Miles’ career has been spent in the asset management business. In 1987 he joined Investors Management Group, Ltd., a Des Moines-based investment advisory firm, and acquired controlling interest of the firm in 1991. During his tenure as president the firm’s assets grew to $1.84 billion. In 1998 he negotiated the acquisition of IMG by AMCORE Financial, Inc., a financial services holding company located outside Chicago.
Mr. Miles worked for AMCORE for 5 years, successively adding responsibility for asset management, trust, private banking, and retail banking to his portfolio.
After taking a few months off to travel - including summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro with his wife Loree in October 2004 - his family returned to Des Moines. From January 2005 to September 2006 Mr. Miles was Executive Vice President of the Principal Mutual Funds, where his primary focus was development and implementation of an accelerated growth strategy for the Funds. While at Principal he helped to lead the successful acquisition of the $20.8 billion WM Group of Funds from Washington Mutual.
From September 2006 through October 2007 Mr. Miles served as CFO and then CEO of Countryside Renewable Energy, Inc., a venture company funded by John Pappajohn for the purpose of consolidating independent ethanol plants into a larger, more sustainable organization. Due to unfavorable market conditions, the company ceased operations last October.
Mr. Miles presently serves as Managing Director of The Miles Group, LLC, a company engaged in private equity investing.
Mr. Miles received his Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and his Masters of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1983, and received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Administration from Drake University in 1979.
Mr. Miles has been an active member of the community for many years. He is past-chair of the Arthritis Foundation Iowa Chapter, Leadership Iowa and the Drake National Alumni Association, as well as past-vice chair of Rockford Health Systems. In 1996, he received the Young Alumni Achievement Award from the Drake National Alumni Association. He also served for eleven years on the Drake University Board of Trustees, including three years as chair.
On May 1, 2007, David Miles began a six-year term on the Board of Regents, State of Iowa. He was elected president effective January 1, 2008.
Mr. Miles and his wife, Loree, live in West Des Moines. He has two stepsons, Erik Raker and Michael Raker. His special interests are his two granddaughters, current affairs, education, sustain- ability, hiking and running.
Curtis
Nelson
President, Entrepreneurial Development Center, Inc.
In 2003, Curtis Nelson opened the Entrepreneurial Development Center, Inc. and currently serves as its President & CEO. During the previous seven years, Mr. Nelson was President and partner of Crystal Group Inc., a leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of server infrastructure and systems integration services for communication service providers. Under his leadership the company earned three consecutive revenue growth awards from Inc. magazine’s Fastest Growing Private Company’s program.
During his career, Mr. Nelson has directed the development and successful launching of seven new business models and more than 150 new products for the communications, military, transportation, medical, and health industries. He serves as a director on several boards, including the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. He received a BBA degree in Marketing from The University of Iowa in 1974. He has been an active alumnus, most recently as Chairman of the Marketing Advisory Council for the Tippie School of Business and board member of the U of I Research Foudation.
Tom
Sharpe
AVPR Economic Development
Thomas R. Sharpe is Associate Vice President for Research at The University of Iowa. He leads the University’s IOWA Centers for Enterprise. Prior to joining The University of Iowa in July 2006, Dr. Sharpe served for seven years as Executive Director of the Office of Technology & Special Projects (OTSP) for the University of Missouri. The OTSP was the technology transfer and entrepreneurial development office of the four-campus (Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla, St. Louis) University of Missouri System.
For 25 years, Dr. Sharpe served in various capacities at the University of Mississippi, including assistant, associate and acting director of the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director of the Office of Technology Transfer and Business Development. Dr. Sharpe has also been heavily involved in technology business incubator development at Mississippi, Missouri and Iowa. He chaired the Missouri Seed Capital Investment Board, which led the efforts to foster the establishment of a seed capital investment fund, in part using Missouri tax credits.
Dr. Sharpe received a BS degree in Pharmacy from the University of Illinois at the Medical Center, Chicago, and MS and PhD degrees in Health Care Administration from the University of Mississippi.
Lynette
Marshall
President, University of Iowa Foundation
Lynette Marshall was named President of The University of Iowa Foundation in the summer of 2006. She had been serving as the Vice President of the University of Illinois Foundation since early 2006.
Ms. Marshall, a native of Speer, Ill., holds a BS degree in Agricultural Science and a master's degree in Educational Policy Studies, both from the University of Illinois. She has spent her entire fund-raising career at Illinois, beginning as a development officer in the university's College of Agriculture in 1983. She was then named assistant chancellor for corporate and foundation relations and, in 2004, became the university's associate chancellor for development and subsequently Vice President of the University of Illinois Foundation.
Her career highlights include directing the $1.5 billion endowment component of the University of Illinois's upcoming $2 billion comprehensive campaign; cultivating and soliciting numerous seven- and eight-figure gifts; leadership of multiple unit campaigns for new facilities and other university priorities; and managing all aspects of a comprehensive development program. She earned her Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) designation from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 1992 and is a member of several national fund-raising organizations.
Dr.
Paul Rothman
Dean, Carver College of Medicine
Dr. Rothman came to The University of Iowa in 2004 from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, N.Y., where he was the Richard J. Stock Professor of Medicine (Immunology) and Microbiology and chief of the pulmonary, allergy and critical care division. He also directed the division's Laboratory of Allergy and Inflammatory Disease, and he served as Vice Chairman for Research in the college's Department of Medicine.
Dr. Rothman earned his medical degree at the Yale University School of Medicine in 1984. He completed his medical residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, N.Y. in 1986. Dr. Rothman has spent his professional career at Columbia, beginning with his appointment as an instructor in clinical medicine in 1986. He was named Chief of the Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine division in 1997. His professional affiliations include the American Association of Immunologists, the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology, the American Society of Microbiology, the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Pharmacia Allergy Research Foundation.
Howard
Bremer
Emeritus Patent Council Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
After receiving his BS in Chemical Engineering and his LLB degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1949, Howard Bremer worked as a patent attorney for Proctor & Gamble for 11 years, working to protect and expand intellectual property ownership of the chemical makeup of various P & G consumer products. This experience served him ably as he transitioned into a role as patent counsel for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation in 1960. As patent counsel, Howard was largely responsible for taking inventions from UW research, assessing them for patentability, and then licensing the IP to the private sector.
Mr. Bremer was a key member of a group that moved to actively expand IP ownership rights for federally funded universities. Prior to agreements brokered by Mr. Bremer and his associates with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation in 1968 and 1973, the government maintained ownership of federally funded inventions. This resulted in fewer than 5% of available patents in this category being licensed or transferred into the private sector. Mr. Bremer and his colleagues sought to retain ownership of these innovations within the university to better enable this transfer of technology. In 1980, groundbreaking legislation called the Bayh-Dole Act codified these changes into law after Mr. Bremer and others testified before Congress and negotiated with various governmental agencies, heralding the era of modern technology transfer.
Following this landmark litigation, Mr. Bremer was instrumental in helping to found the tech transfer field’s largest organization, the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). AUTM has grown dramatically since its inception in 1974 and today its global members represent more than 350 universities, research institutions, teaching hospitals, and government agencies, to which it provides professional development and networking opportunities to tech transfer related individuals around the world. Mr. Bremer served as AUTM’s president from 1978-1980, as a trustee multiple times, and today AUTM has an annual scholarship in his name given to individuals in order that they may attend the annual meeting of the organization.
Howard Bremer retired from full-time work with WARF in 1988, but still actively consults with the organization and others as his time permits.
Michael
Kienzle
Professor, Internal Medicine
Michael G. Kienzle, MD, is Professor of Medicine, Special Assistant to the Dean, UI Carver College of Medicine and Director, Office of Economic and Business Development. His current responsibilities include technology transfer, business development, technology planning and strategy, continuing medical education and provider credentialing.
Dr. Kienzle received his medical degree from the University of Iowa and residency and fellowship training at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, in internal medicine, cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology. Since his arrival at the University of Iowa in 1984, he has held a number of positions, including Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Assistant Director for Clinical Programs, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Biomedical Communications and Associate Director (Chief Technology Officer), University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
Kienzle has served on the Telemedicine Subcommittee of the Federal Communications Commission and chaired the Ad Hoc Task Force on Telemedicine of the American College of Cardiology. He has directed the National Laboratory for the Study of Rural Telemedicine, an NLM-funded research and development program. He was a founding board member of the AAMC Group on Information Resources (GIR) and recently served as the Chair of GIR. He has served on the IAIMS: The Next Generation task force, a group providing long term strategic planning for the National Library of Medicine. Dr. Kienzle serves on the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology.
Mark
Arnold
Professor - Department of Chemistry
Mark A. Arnold is the Edwin B. Green Chair Professor in Laser Chemistry and the Director of the Optical Science and Technology Center at the University of Iowa. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis and his doctorate degree in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Delaware. He joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry as an Assistant Professor in 1982. Recent honors include a Collegiate Fellow Award from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. In 2005, Professor Arnold co-founded ASL Analytical, Inc. - a spinoff company located within the BioVentures Center at the University of Iowa Research Park.
Professor Arnold’s research interests center on the development of unique chemical sensing technology with applications in biosciences, biotechnology, and clinical medicine. This chemical sensing technology is designed for in situ, real-time analytical measurements for optimization and control of critical processes. Current research efforts focus on the development of sensing technology to enhance: 1) the management of diabetes, 2) hemodialysis treatments for people with end-stage renal failure, 3) treatment of pediatric and adult patients in hospital intensive care units, 4) the control of bioreactor systems for cell expansion and protein expression, 5) the detection of toxic substances released into the atmosphere, and 6) monitoring the chemical steps in the production of biofuels from non-food cellulosic feedstock. Translational research is underway through interdisciplinary efforts involving academic programs within the Optical Science and Technology Center, commercialization efforts by ASL Analytical, and real-world evaluations within the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics as well as within R&D laboratories of biopharmaceutical industrial partners.