By Mike Fitts
mfitts@scbiznews.com
Published Jan. 29, 2010

Business executive Don Herriott will join the University of South Carolina to head its economic development efforts, including the beleaguered Innovista project.

Late Thursday, the university confirmed a story that was first reported by the Columbia Regional Business Report earlier in the day that Herriott had been appointed. The appointment is effective Monday.

The longtime president and general manager of Florence-based Roche Carolina will come to Columbia to jump-start USC’s efforts. Herriott has told others that he will have a broad mandate of economic development, rather than just Innovista, and will report directly to USC President Harris Pastides.

“Don’s proven business acumen and his considerable private-sector leadership experience make him an ideal choice to carry Innovista to its next stage of development,” Pastides said in a statement released by the university. “Moreover, he fully understands both the unique character and the vital importance of Innovista to this city and region.”

Herriott, pictured, retired from Roche at the end of October. While at the company, Herriott oversaw much of the pharmaceutical giant’s manufacturing operations, both in Florence and at other sites around the world.

Herriott said his strengths are creating partnerships and developing focus and that he is eager to lead the team that will accelerate the development of the vision for Innovista.

“Innovista is far more than just buildings,” Herriott said. “It represents a new way of thinking and a vision where people live, work and play. By involving leaders and entrepreneurs across the community, we can build partnerships that will develop and commercialize intellectual property and drive economic development in the Midlands and the region.”

Herriott has been a major player in the state’s economic discussions, and his addition could bring added impetus to USC’s efforts. He is a member of the state Board of Economic Advisors, where he has used his fiscal acumen to help set the state’s revenue projections, a key to the annual budget process.

He also is a member of the Palmetto Institute and New Carolina: S.C.’s Council on Competitiveness. At New Carolina, he has served as co-chairman of the education and work development task force.

He formerly served as a member of the USC Research Campus Foundation board.

In September, USC and Innovista severed ties with executive director John Parks, amid criticism of Parks’ employment of developer Kale Roscoe for construction of new public and private research buildings.

The Horizon I building, designed as classroom space for USC professors, has been completed and is slowly being outfitted, in part with grant money. Roscoe struggled to find financing to launch construction of Horizon II, intended to be home to private companies building on the work of USC researchers.

At the time of Parks’ departure, Pastides said a restructuring of Innovista’s oversight might mean there is not an Innovista director going forward.

The departures left Innovista with no director and no private developer for a project envisioned as stretching from the current campus area to the Congaree River and filled with business, research and residential development.

Herriott began his career in the banking industry in San Francisco. In 1981, he joined SYNTEX, an international pharmaceutical company, where he held key management positions in information technology, manufacturing, engineering, global telecommunications and corporate logistics at Palo Alto, Calif., and Boulder, Colo.

After SYNTEX was acquired by Roche in 1994, Herriott took positions with that corporation, eventually becoming international project director for global projects in Europe, North America and the Caribbean Islands.

He came to Florence in 1996 as president and CEO of Roche Carolina. In 2004, he was named head of Roche Global Chemical Manufacturing, responsible for the operations at its pharmaceutical manufacturing sites in South Carolina, Colorado, Switzerland, Ireland, Mexico, Austria and Germany.