Four new members were recently elected to the Franklin College Board of Trustees. The new trustees will join the board in establishing policy and guiding strategic efforts to ensure a prosperous future for the institution.
Franklin College President Kerry N. Prather said, “I look forward to partnering with this dynamic group of new trustees, and I am excited to see all the ways their professional expertise and passion for education can help advance the Franklin College mission and serve our students.”
More about the four trustees follows:
Ronald Bowsher, Ph.D., FAAPS, is a partner and chief science officer at B2S LifeSciences, a biotherapeutic enablement company. B2S provides a range of laboratory, data analytic and consultative services to global clients, including pharma, biotech, CROs/CMOs and diagnostic companies to help ensure successful regulatory submissions of modern biotherapeutic drugs. Prior to launching B2S, Bowsher was senior adviser at AIT Bioscience (Indianapolis), chief scientist at LINCO/Millipore (St. Charles, Mo) and a senior research scientist at Lilly Research Labs. Bowsher is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has 250 scientific publications, is a recipient of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis School of Science Distinguished Alumni Award and has served on science career panels at Franklin College. B2S is a host site for Franklin College student internships.
Kevin D. Crowe is in his 28th year with State Farm Insurance, where he is a business lines underwriting team manager. In this role, he primarily conducts risk assessment and product services for businesses including retail, contractors, trades and specialized professions. Crowe brings broad industry experience to his current role, having begun as a claims representative and advanced to leadership positions within claims, worker’s compensation, estimatics and auto underwriting. Crowe is a 1990 Franklin College graduate.
Billie Dragoo is the founder and CEO of RepuCare, a proven workforce solutions provider to Fortune 500 clients and managed healthcare providers. RepuCare has been ranked one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States. Dragoo, named by Fortune magazine as one of the top 10 women entrepreneurs in the United States, also was one of 720 entrepreneurs from throughout the world invited by the President of the United States to attend the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit at Stanford in California. Ranked by the Indianapolis Business Journal as the No. 3 Women-Owned Business and long recognized for her entrepreneurial impact in the state of Indiana, Dragoo was named the 2014 Central Indiana Business Hall of Fame Laureate, which honors outstanding men and women who epitomize success in the business world. She is the co-founder of the Indiana Conference for Women, now in its 11th year and the largest one-day professional conference for women in the Midwest. Dragoo remains highly engaged in a wide variety of community, civic and professional organizations and is nationally recognized for her mentoring, leadership and philanthropy efforts. Franklin College awarded her an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 2021 when she was the commencement speaker.
David Wantz, Ed.D., has more than 40 years of experience in private higher education. In June 2022, he retired after five years as president and CEO of the Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI). His role at ICI, the association of Indiana’s 30 private colleges and universities, included advocacy work on behalf of member colleges. Prior to ICI, Wantz worked 35 years at the University of Indianapolis, where he retired as executive vice president and provost. He is a professor emeritus of psychology and served at various times as dean of students and special assistant to the president for community and government relations. He has twice been named a Sagamore of the Wabash. Ind. Gov. Eric Holcomb re-appointed Wantz to the Law Enforcement Training Board in September 2022. Wantz holds a Doctor of Education in counseling psychology from Indiana University and a doctor of humane letters from Holy Cross College.
