Last modified: Tuesday, October 11, 2005
IU President Adam Herbert announces opening of Advancing Indiana office
Economic development office to be headed by Bill Hunt and Kyle Salyers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 11, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University President Adam W. Herbert today (Oct. 11) announced that his "Advancing Indiana" economic development team has opened an office in Indianapolis and is ready to do business.
The office will provide businesses and governmental units throughout Indiana with a central point of contact to help them access the university's wide array of expertise and assets supporting the state's economic development goals.
"The 'Advancing Indiana' initiative further reflects Indiana University's commitment to be responsive to the needs of Indiana communities and businesses," Herbert said. "In addition to establishing a formal point of contact within the university, we also are identifying where a strategic concentration of additional institutional resources will maximize return and support the state's economic development."
The team is headed by Bill Hunt, retired vice chairman and president of ArvinMeritor Inc., a $7 billion global supplier of auto and truck components. Hunt, chairman of Hunt Capital Partners, LLC, a venture capital and consulting firm based in Indianapolis, is serving in a volunteer capacity as IU's chief economic development representative. Hunt also serves on the Boards of the Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation, Clarian and the IU Foundation.
Kyle Salyers will share economic development responsibilities with Hunt in his consulting capacity as special advisor for economic development to the president. Salyers has served in a number of economic development leadership roles which have supported the formation of some of our state's most critical economic development efforts. This includes service with former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith's administration, the Mayor's High Technology Task Force, the Indianapolis Economic Development Corp., Techpoint, Thomas P. Miller & Associates and Rose-Hulman Ventures. Salyers also serves on the Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation Advisory Board, the DePauw University 361 National Advisory Board and the Indiana Venture Center Board.
The Indianapolis office of "Advancing Indiana" is located in the IU Research & Technology Corp. building, 351 W. 10th Street. This building also is home to the IU Emerging Technology Center that houses 22 start-up companies engaged in commercializing technology developed in IU research laboratories.
"Advancing Indiana" is a statewide effort with participation by all IU campuses, including the regional sites in Gary, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Kokomo, Richmond and New Albany. Herbert has asked Hunt and Salyers to undertake the following specific responsibilities:
- Connect and coordinate current economic development efforts within the university community.
- Prioritize current university engagement activities and identify new targets of opportunity.
- Accelerate selected high-impact projects that are already under way.
- Collect and communicate the university's economic development contributions to the state of Indiana.
- Institutionalize economic development within the university by establishing a formal Office of Economic Development.
Creation of this office is part of an economic development plan completed last year by a presidential task force that visited 10 communities across Indiana seeking input on what IU could do to help them become more competitive.
The task force took comments and recommendations from more than 350 community and economic development leaders in the public, private and academic sectors. That input was used to create a comprehensive economic development plan that is now being implemented.
NOTE: The Advancing Indiana Office can be reached at 317-274-8018.
