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Byrd Institute Names CEO

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By MARILYN BROWN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 19, 2008

TAMPA - Expressing hope for a new beginning, a board linking the University of South Florida with the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer Center & Research Institute named a new chief executive officer for the institute Friday.

Stephen K. Klasko, the University of South Florida's vice president for health sciences and USF Health dean, will take that position in August once he is confirmed by the institute's board of directors. He will replace CEO Huntington Potter.

"The great thing about it is, it's the first time we're going to have an integrated Alzheimer's effort in Tampa," Klasko said Friday. "It was frustrating to watch the separateness and think about what could be done."

Potter, a tenured USF professor and Alzheimer's expert, said Friday that his future "is totally unclear."

Klasko, 54, is an ob/gyn with an MBA who will add the new role as CEO of the Byrd Institute to his oversight of all of USF's health sciences division, a position he has held since 2004.

"I'm absolutely not a researcher," he said. "I'm going to need to hire one. The goal would be to talk to Dr. Potter and see what his goals are. We'll do some kind of search to see who's out there."

Klasko has been part of the plan to try to end a power struggle over operation of the center. Although on USF's campus, the institute has been run pretty much as an independent entity with a $15 million annual budget from the state.

This year the institute gave up that funding in an attempt to remain autonomous. It has about $15 million to get it through about two years, said Johnnie Byrd, the former state lawmaker whose legislation founded the center in his father's honor.

Byrd sits on both the institute's 16-member board of directors and the new "affiliation" board named this week to tie the institute to USF and its resources.

The institute's current bank account will be leveraged to partner with companies to create a recurring source of revenue through investments in medical resources, Klasko said. Partnerships with other statewide institutions and research entities, particularly bioeconomic development with private resources, will be needed to build the institute, he said.

The institute's original board of directors will continue to serve in an advisory and advocacy role.

The new board of seven members will oversee and develop the new partnership. It is made up of Pamela Vergara, chairwoman of the Byrd Alzheimer's Institute board of directors, and two members appointed by her, as well as four members appointed by Rhea Law, chairwoman of the USF Board of Trustees.

The new affiliation board named its chairwoman Friday: Sherrill M. Tomasino, president of Sherwood Forest of Temple Terrace Inc. and a member of the USF Board of Trustees. Other board members from the Byrd Institute are Byrd and vice chairwoman Kathy Harris. Other members from USF are Wayne Goodman, director of the Division of Adult Translational Research and Treatment Development at the National Institute of Mental Health; Karen Holbrook, vice president for research and innovation at USF; and Frank Morsani, a philanthropist and member of the USF Foundation board.

It approved an "affiliation agreement" between USF and the institute that outlines the new structure, specifically naming Klasko as CEO.

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 or mbrown@tampatrib.com.

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