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Sebelius names biodefense task force
By Editorial Staff
Kansas City Business Journal
1/26/07
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on Friday issued an executive order forming the Kansas National Bio- and Agro-defense Facility Task Force to lead an effort to bring the planned research laboratory to Kansas and named the task force's leaders and members.
Two sites in Kansas are under consideration for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's planned $451 million, 500,000-square-foot lab, and an additional 13 states are in the running to get the lab. The lab is projected to have an economic impact of $3.5 billion during the next 20 years.
Construction of the facility is projected to employ 1,000 workers.
In her State of the State address Jan. 10, Sebelius said that she would ask the Kansas Bioscience Authority to convene a special task force to work on the issue.
In a release Friday, Sebelius named the task force's leaders:
- Honorary chairman: U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
- Co-chairman: Dan Glickman, president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Co-Chairman: Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson
- Vice chairman: John Carlin, visiting professor and executive-in-residence, Kansas State University, and former Kansas governor
- Vice chairman: David Franz, vice president and chief biological scientist, Midwest Research Institute
- Vice chairman: Joerg Ohle, president and general manager, Bayer HealthCare LLC's Animal Health Division
The task force's members includes representatives from industry, research institutions, public officials and others.
A partial list of members follows:
- Ronald S. Brakke, president and CEO, Brakke Consulting
- Paul Casady, area director for the Americas, Intervet International
- E. Thomas Corcoran, president, Fort Dodge Animal Health
- Greg Graves, president and CEO, Burns & McDonnnell
- George Heidgerken, president and COO, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc.
- Landon Rowland, chairman, president and CEO, Everglades Financial
- Don Marvin, president and CEO, IdentiGEN North America Inc.
- Dan Richardson, director of research, Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc.
- Justin Skala, president, Hills Pet Nutrition Inc.
- Warren Staley, chairman and CEO, Cargill Inc.
- Robert Hemenway, chancellor, the University of Kansas
- Bill Neaves, president and CEO, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
- Robert W. Rubin, president and CEO, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute
- Jim Spigarelli, president and CEO, Midwest Research Institute
- Jon Wefald, president, Kansas State University
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