Three new trustees attend OSU board meeting

COLUMBUS – Three new members of The Ohio State University Board of Trustees attended their first meeting today (2/1) at the university. The three – G. Gilbert Cloyd, John D. Ong and Leslie H. Wexner – were appointed university trustees by Gov. Bob Taft on Dec. 30, 2005.

“These are three highly respected Ohio leaders with longstanding ties to the university,” said University President Karen A. Holbrook. “We expect they will add considerable expertise to the board and help share the workload involved in governing a large and complex university.”

G. Gilbert Cloyd of Cincinnati is chief technology officer of Procter & Gamble, where he has overall functional responsibility for P&G's global research and development organization, including some 9,000 employees in 28 technical centers around the globe. Cloyd earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1969 at The Ohio State University. He joined Procter & Gamble's Miami Valley Innovation Center in 1974 and moved into general management in 1989. In 1991, he was appointed vice president, assuming overall responsibility for their global pharmaceuticals business. In 1997, Cloyd was named vice president for research and development in Asia for P&G. He returned to Cincinnati in 2000 and assumed his current position. Cloyd is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and is on the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Research and Education Committee.

Cloyd's term as trustee ends on May 13, 2009. He has been appointed to serve on the board's Academic and Student Affairs Committee and Medical Center Affairs Committee.

John D. Ong of Hudson is chairman emeritus of the BFGoodrich Company. He retired as chairman of the Board of Directors in 1997 after more than 36 years of service to the company. Ong was elected chairman and chief executive officer in 1979 and was elected president in 1975. He held a variety of positions during his tenure at BFGoodrich, including vice president and president of International BFGoodrich. Appointed by President George W. Bush, he served as the United States Ambassador to Norway from 2001 to November 2005. Ong received both his undergraduate and master's degrees from The Ohio State University and his law degree from Harvard University. He is a former chairman of the national Business Roundtable, the National Alliance of Business, and the Ohio Business Roundtable and is a trustee of the Musical Arts Association of Cleveland.

Ong, whose term as trustee ends on May 13, 2010, will serve on the Academic and Student Affairs Committee and the Investments Committee.

Leslie H. Wexner of Columbus is founder, chairman and CEO of Limited Brands. He received his bachelor of science degree in business administration from The Ohio State University in 1959. Four years later, he founded The Limited with one women's apparel store in Columbus. Today, Limited Brands has grown into more than 3,600 stores and seven retail brands. Wexner was a founding member and first chair of The Ohio State University Foundation. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of The Ohio State University from 1988 to 1997 and served as its chairman 1996-1997. Wexner is a member of the Visiting Committee of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, trustee of the Columbus Jewish Federation and Foundation and chairman of The Columbus Partnership.

Wexner's term as trustee will end on May 13, 2011. He will serve on the board's Fiscal Affairs Committee.