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Plenty at stake for biz community when Holbrook successor selected
Executives say Ohio State President Karen Holbrook rarely got the credit she deserved for programs
By Jeff Bell
Business First of Columbus
Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET June 18, 2006
Dan Slane thinks Central Ohio business owners and executives are missing the point if they are disinterested in who will succeed Karen Holbrook as president of Ohio State University.
"They should be concerned because Ohio State is the driving force behind economic development in Central Ohio and the state in its entirety," said the past OSU trustees chairman and co-owner of Columbus-based Slane Cos., whose ventures include commercial real estate, waste treatment facilities, telecommunications and synthetic coal manufacturing.
"The key (for OSU) is research and development capability," he said, "especially on the medical side. I would want to see (Holbrook's successor) put a high priority on driving the research component of this university and region." Holbrook has done that, Slane said days after she told trustees she will retire at the end of her five-year term next June. The 63-year-old, first-time college president said she is stepping aside to spend more time with her husband, Jim, a retired oceanographer.
Holbrook arrived at Ohio State in October 2002 after serving as provost for four years at the University of Georgia. She succeeded William Kirwan, who left OSU to become chancellor of the University of Maryland system. Like most OSU presidents, Holbrook has had her share of critics in the business community and public at large, especially over her crackdown on drinking at football tailgate parties on campus.
But her biggest shortcoming is her inability "to blow her own horn," said Slane, whose nine-year term as an OSU trustee ended in May.
"That has really hurt her," he said, "because she has done so many good things. She has done a great job for Ohio State."
Two examples, he said, were her leadership in getting OSU's medical park in Dublin off the ground and the partnership she forged to create the Metro High School. Scheduled to open this fall, the science- and math-based school is an effort between the university, Battelle Memorial Institute and Educational Council of Franklin County.
"Other people were major factors," Slane said of the projects, "but it was her idea. She got no credit for it."
Battelle CEO Carl Kohrt acknowledges Holbrook for strengthening the ties between the research institution and university. Such collaboration has led to joint projects such as the Metro High School, efforts to add research and art components to the redeveloped Lazarus building in downtown Columbus and more collaborations on research projects.
"She's done a wonderful job of making it legitimate for (OSU) staff and faculty to feel it's OK and valued to work with other institutions, including Battelle," he said
Kohrt also praised Holbrook for advancing the amount and quality of research at the university.
"Generally, it's a harbinger of economic opportunity," Kohrt said. "Research leads to good ideas that solve problems, and people can make money from that."
What they want
Columbus' business owners and executives will be interested in the presidential search, Kohrt thinks, given OSU's economic muscle and because its president is the "voice and spear point" in the university's interactions with businesses.
"It's an extremely difficult job," Kohrt said. "You have to connect with so many different constituencies. You have to be the strategist and leader for your organization and be able to communicate and interact in a positive way with the business community."
The ability to interact is something every search committee looks for in university president candidates, said Joseph Alutto, dean of OSU's Fisher College of Business.
"Here in particular it's critical," he said. "A lot of what we're doing as an institution is advancing our colleges and (academic) units and that much depends on the level of support and interaction we have outside the university. It doesn't work unless a president is able to articulate common goals and a common direction.
"The general sense," he said, "is President Holbrook has done a fine job. The question now is really focused on the future."
Technology company startup specialist Adel Mikhail of Columbus hopes the future includes a president who is as well-versed in research and biotechnology as Holbrook, a biologist by training. He has helped launch biotech companies such as Rescenrtis, Phylogeny and SensIrOx that started at OSU's Business Technology Center.
"The president really sets the temperament and attitude toward entrepreneurism," said Mikhail, who praised the job Holbrook has done in that regard. "It really plays a critical role."
"Now what they need to do," he said, "is get a culture where there is innovation to create commercialization of the technology at OSU. That is their biggest challenge."
Link with business
The challenges facing the new OSU president will extend to myriad areas, prompting the need for a "broad dynamic leader," said Ty Marsh, CEO of the Columbus Chamber.
"To succeed," he said, "you have to have stamina, a thick hide and passion for the university and its mission."
Marsh gave Holbrook high marks for her work in promoting research and encouraging collaborations between businesses and the university. He also said there is a growing appreciation for the direction she has mapped for Ohio State after what many saw as her early struggles in the job.
"Some of the recognition was slow in coming," Marsh said, "but people continue to see the leadership she has provided at Ohio State and what that has done not only for the university but our region and state. She's done an excellent job."
© 2006 Business First of Columbus
