by Manuelita Beck
Daily Lobo
The Board of Regents refused to approve three nominees to the board of UNM's technology commercialization company on Tuesday, citing concerns about the corporation's bylaws and fiscal health.
The Science and Technology Corp., a nonprofit owned by UNM, was created to protect and commercialize faculty inventions.
Since 1997, UNM spent nearly $11.4 million on the company. In the same time period, it generated $1.4 million in licensing revenue.
Regent Mel Eaves called into question the amount of support UNM provides, saying the company was created to be financially self-sufficient.
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"It's obvious STC wouldn't be able to operate without these large transfers of funds from the University," he said during the meeting.
However, the company's President and CEO Lisa Kuuttila said it is not unusual for technology transfer companies to take years before reaching profitability.
"It takes about 15 years or so before you reach a substantive level of income," she said.
She said STC, though formed in 1996, was not really operational until the next year, making it the youngest technology transfer program among UNM's peer institutions.
Kuuttila also said the company didn't focus on commercialization until 2000, but managed real estate.
"The focus of STC in its early years was really on the development of the Science and Technology Park," she said, referring to the UNM-owned business space on University Boulevard across from TVI.
Regents also questioned the company's willingness to update its bylaws.
According to a letter to Regent President Jamie Koch from STC Chairman Edward Cantrall, the latest drafts of the memorandum of agreement and the bylaws were pulled from a July 27 board meeting's agenda.
The letter states Cantrall wanted the regents to review the documents before they were submitted to the STC Board.
Cantrall was one of the nominees the regents rejected on Tuesday. Robert Fisher and Julie Weaks Guiterrez were also rejected.
The current bylaws are outdated, Kuuttila said, and reflect STC's former function in real estate management.
David Harris, UNM vice president for business and finance, said the regents asked the company to refrain from making appointments to its board until its bylaws and the memorandum of understanding with the University are revised.
Harris is also an STC board member and a member of its executive committee.
Kuuttila said the company submitted board nominations because of timing issues. The terms of two of the nominees, who were reappointments, expired on June 30.
At the meeting, Eaves said the only ways the regents can influence STC's performance are by reducing or eliminating funding, an option he called premature, or have more control over STC board appointments.
