The UNM Board of Regents approved four nominees to the Science & Technology Corp. Board of Directors on Wednesday.
STC is a nonprofit corporation owned and created by UNM to promote and commercialize faculty inventions.
There was no discussion about any of the nominees, a contrast from the last regents meeting, where debate ensued about three other nominees for over an hour.
There are 22 people on STC's board, with a total of four women.
Regents President Jamie Koch said when he looked at the list and noticed President and CEO Lisa Kuuttila was the only woman, he went out in search of prominent businesswomen.
He found Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, and Carolyn Monroe, president of LandAmerica Albuquerque Title.
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In a letter addressed to Koch July 28, Edward Cantrall, former STC chairman, suggested the regents work together to produce a list of candidates.
But Koch took things into his own hands and made two nominations to the 11-year-old board. He said the state Constitution is very clear on the regents' authority to make sure all boards are well structured.
"I wanted to make sure (of) the quality of people going on the board," he said. "We're very, very lucky that Terri Cole and Carolyn Monroe consented."
The regents received rÇsumÇs of the STC nominees, Suellyn Scarnecchia, dean of the law school and Vice-President Emeritus Albert Westwood early on. Koch said the two had already gone through the rÇsumÇ process, which is why they were approved.
Scarnecchia said she is interested in developing an economic program she hopes will aid STC in raising revenue.
"I expect that finding ways to connect the STC to economic development efforts in New Mexico will help the revenue stream," she said. "But it will take all the board members and staff to make the STC a financially healthy organization over the long run."
Since its inception, UNM has funded STC with nearly $11.4 million. STC's licensing revenue has totaled about $1.4 million in the same time period.
Kuutila said she was very impressed with the quality of the STC board.
"I think they bring a lot of different strengths from the business community, scientific community and legal community," she said. "These appointments represent the perfect mix of skills."
The board vacancies were a result of term expirations and resignations.
At the last regents meeting, regents expressed concern about the financial health of STC. Koch said he would not consider filling vacancies until the STC board met to discuss bylaws and a conflict of interest statement.
"I didn't want to put these appointments on until they reorganized," he said.
An STC committee met Tuesday, and Koch said it was good the conflicts were not allowed to go any further.
