New DRI Research Foundation Trustees approved by Board of Regents
The DRI Research Foundation has nine new trustees following approval by the Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada, DRI President Stephen G. Wells announced. The DRI Research Foundation is the fundraising arm of the Desert Research Institute.
Wells said new foundation members include Dr. Nazir Ansari, emeritus UNR professor of management, of Reno; Dr. Farouk El-Baz, research professor and director of Boston University's Center of Remote Sensing; Reno venture capitalist Dr. W. Michael Fagen, of Nevada Ventures; business and political consultant Bob Forbuss, of Strategic Alliances in Las Vegas; Augie Gurrola of Henderson, a Nevada Gaming Commissioner and retired vice senior president of Holmes & Narver; Reno attorney Richard W. Horton of Lionel Sawyer & Collins law firm; Jeanne R. Jones, president and chief executive officer of ALPHA Services of Las Vegas; K. Anne Street, president and chief executive officer of Riverside Consulting Group of Alexandria, Virginia; and James A. Thomson, president and chief executive officer of RAND, in Santa Monica, California.”
"This excellent group of new board members extends the reach and the depth of the Foundation, within Nevada as well as nationally, to help DRI meet its long term development goals," Wells said. The regents also approved the appointment of David Fulstone II of Yerington as the new Foundation chair. Ken Ladd, Nevada president of U.S. Bank, and former Nevada first lady Sandy Miller, are the new vice chairs for the Foundation.
A nonprofit, statewide division of the University and Community College System of Nevada, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale. Nearly 500 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct some 150 research projects at DRI annually. More than 85 percent of DRI's annual $33 million operating budget consists of research grants and contracts obtained by its scientists. The balance is received from the state of Nevada for administrative costs.