Nine new trustees have been appointed to the DRI Research Foundation, the fund raising arm of the Desert Research Institute, DRI President Stephen G. Wells announced. The new board members were approved by the Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada at its December 1 meeting.
The new foundation members include Richard Costello, attorney with Quirk & Tratos in Las Vegas; Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., president and chief executive officer of the American Gaming Association in Washington, D.C.; Harold W. Furman II, chairman and managing director of The Furman Group, Inc., of Las Vegas, La Jolla, Calif., and Washington, D.C.; Fred Gibson of Las Vegas, former chairman, president and CEO of American Pacific Corporation; Rudolf Gunnerman of Reno, chairman of Clean Fuels Technology, Inc., a developer of low emission fuels and combustion processes; Alberto Gutiérrez of Albuquerque, N.M., president and CEO of Geolex, Inc., an environmental consulting firm; Reno and New York investment banker John H. O. La Gatta, founder and president of Catamount Fund, Ltd.; ophthalmologist Kathleen M. Mahon, M.D., F.A.C.S., of Mahon Eye Center in Las Vegas and chief of the Ophthalmology Division, University of Nevada School of Medicine; and Nevada state assemblywoman and Henderson businesswoman Sandra Tiffany. Costello and Tiffany are returning to the board following a mandatory one year separation after serving two previous three-year terms
Wells said Las Vegas health care consultant Terry Van Noy has been elected chairman of the foundation and Elko mining executive Robert L. Chapman was elected vice chair by foundation trustees.
The DRI Research Foundation has been active in providing funds for major laboratory equipment and to furnish new research facilities, as well as seed money to help DRI scientists launch new research initiatives.