WOOSTER, Ohio -- Bryan Kinnamon, an executive with more than three decades of experience in marketing and manufacturing technology at global businesses, has joined Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) as Industry Liaison Office Director.
In this capacity, Kinnamon will lead efforts to identify and foster connections with industry for one of Ohio State’s largest and most comprehensive colleges — which includes the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and OSU Extension. He is based on OARDC’s Wooster campus.
Kinnamon’s position is an expansion of the university’s Industry Liaison Office (ILO), aimed at establishing and growing a dedicated presence at OARDC and CFAES. A similar Industry Liaison Office (led by Dan Kramer) was established last year in the College of Engineering.
“We are excited to have Bryan join us as he brings a wealth of talent and business knowledge to our College and to Ohio State University,” OARDC Director Steve Slack said. “Our goal is to create jobs and promote Ohio’s economic future by enhancing our already robust portfolio of industry relationships focused on the agricultural biosciences.”
Among other functions, Kinnamon will be responsible for seeking business and industry participation to form new collaborations and sponsored research projects; helping to move university-generated intellectual property toward commercialization with the private sector; providing information on emerging technology opportunities to potential industry partners; and recognizing new opportunities for research and funding within CFAES as well as with other university, state and federal entities.
From 1981 to 2002, Kinnamon held several positions as general management executive and officer with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. As vice president of the company’s original equipment business team, he was responsible for a $2.5 billion global business with strategic and implementation duties for accounts headquartered in North America. He holds an MBA from the University of Akron and an M.S. degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kinnamon has previous experience with OARDC, having provided consultation, project management and industry-collaborator liaison services for the Program of Excellence in Natural Rubber Alternatives (PENRA) -- a national consortium of university and private companies focused on developing domestic sources of natural rubber for industrial applications.
The largest university agricultural biosciences research center in the nation, OARDC has been credited with a 110 percent increase in grants and industry support since 2001, currently holding a $126 million research portfolio. Its innovations have generated 123 invention reports and 40 patent applications, accounting for more than 30 percent of all royalty income for Ohio State. Additionally, OARDC is involved in collaborations with more than 130 businesses throughout the world.
Ohio State’s Industry Liaison Office was launched in December 2008 to foster economic development opportunities in Ohio and beyond by connecting business and industry to Ohio State discoveries, groundbreaking research and experts in targeted research areas. So far, ILO has brought more than 400 new companies to campus.
Kinnamon can be contacted at 330-263-3733 or kinnamon.13@osu.edu.
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