A meeting of the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees convened on Friday, April 12, 2019, 9:44 a.m., at Purdue Polytechnic Anderson, 1920 Purdue Parkway, in Anderson, Indiana.
All committee members were present: Don Thompson, chair; Sonny Beck; Vanessa Castagna; and Michael Klipsch. All other trustees were present: Michael Berghoff; JoAnn Brouillette; Malcolm DeKryger; Gary Lehman; Daniel Romary; and Thomas Spurgeon.
Officers and administrators in attendance were: Mitch Daniels, president; Frank Dooley, senior vice provost for teaching and learning; Bill Sullivan, treasurer and chief financial officer; Jim Almond, senior vice president, assistant treasurer, and assistant secretary; Steve Schultz, general counsel; Janice Indrutz, corporate secretary and senior executive assistant to the Board; Ron Elsenbaumer, chancellor of Purdue University Fort Wayne; and Tom Keon; chancellor of Purdue University Northwest.
I. APPROVAL OF CONTRACT IN EXCESS OF $2,000,000
Trustee Thompson provided details about a request received from the Polytechnic Institute to purchase 13 Piper Archer aircraft for the School of Aviation and Transportation Technology. He explained to the Committee that the 13 planes would replace the School’s aging, single-engine trainer fleet at a cost of approximately $4.7 million, funds which the School had in reserves, with delivery of the planes expected in 2020. Trustee Thompson then called upon Mr. Chris Ruhl, senior vice president for strategic initiatives in the Office of the Treasurer, to further review the recommendation and entertain questions from the Committee.
Mr. Ruhl acknowledged Dr. Gary Bertoline, dean of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, whose team, he said, had been great to work with during the process to review various options and scenarios; leasing versus purchase, Cessna versus Piper, etc. Mr. Ruhl informed the Committee that the current planes were purchased in 2010 and suggested that replacing them would avoid significant investments in the aging fleet. He said the new aircraft would provide flight students with a world-class education using a new, technologically advanced fleet, and the recommendation to contract with Piper Aircraft was based on a strong safety record, robust training platform, high level of reliability, and lowest overall cost. Mr. Ruhl and Dean Bertoline then answered several questions from the Committee and other members of the Board.
Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of the contract with Piper Aircraft, Inc. A supporting document was filed with the minutes.
II. APPROVAL OF PURCHASE IN EXCESS OF $2,000,000
Trustee Thompson introduced a request to purchase a Titan Krios electron microscope from ThermoFischer Scientific for $6.9 million, with another $1 million needed to prepare the space for it in Hockmeyer Hall near an existing electron microscope. He called upon Mr. Almond to provide further details about the request. Mr. Almond explained that Dr. Richard Kuhn, the Trent and Judith Anderson Distinguished Professor of Science, had been instrumental in organizing a six-member consortium to share in the acquisition of the microscope and fund its ongoing operation and maintenance; members of the consortium were the IU School of Medicine, IU Bloomington, Indiana Bioscience Research Institute, Eli Lilly and Company, and University of Illinois. Mr. Almond pointed out that Purdue would be responsible for only $2.9 million of the total cost, and he said delivery of the microscope would take 9-12 months. He remarked about Purdue’s historical strength in the area of structural biology and said purchasing the microscope was very important to attracting life sciences faculty to Purdue. Therefore, Mr. Almond recommended the Committee’s approval of the purchase.
In response to a question from Trustee Romary, Dr. Kuhn said the microscope was state-of-the-art technology, and he discussed the revolution in biology from the time when a similar microscope was purchased ten years ago. He also pointed to the university’s savings of $5 million through the consortium, and, in response to a question from Trustee Thompson, he explained that each member institution would be allocated time to use the microscope based on its share of the capital purchase of the microscope, which would be managed much like the ten-member consortium in place for use of the existing microscope.
President Daniels thanked Professor Kuhn for his leadership of the effort to acquire the new microscope and made it known that, a few years ago, Professor Kuhn and a colleague had used the existing microscope to characterize the structure of the Zika virus following a widespread outbreak.
Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval to purchase the Titan Krios electron microscope. A supporting document was filed with the minutes.
III. ADJOURNMENT
By consent, the meeting adjourned at 10:03 a.m.