MICHAEL F. COLLEY ELECTED CHAIR OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES

   COLUMBUS -- Michael F. Colley of HILLIARD, a Columbus trial lawyer, was named chair of The Ohio State University Board of Trustees on Friday (5/7). He succeeds Ted Celeste, whose one- year term as chair and nine-year term as trustee ends on May 13. Colley has been a trustee since 1991.

   Gov. Bob Taft has appointed Cincinnati businesswoman Karen Lafferty Hendricks to replace Celeste on the board. He also soon will name a new student trustee to replace Soraya Rofagha, who is completing her two-year term as an undergraduate student trustee.

   As chair, Colley will lead the board of a university with an annual budget exceeding $1.7 billion. Ohio State has about 55,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students, including more than 48,000 on the Columbus campus.

   Colley is past president of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has served as a member of the ABOTA national board of directors since 1991 and was president of the Ohio Chapter from 1991-92. He served as a member of the Ohio Board of Regents from 1982 to 1986 and has been chair of the Franklin County Republican Party since 1978. He graduated from Ohio State's College of Law in 1961.

   George A. Skestos of BEXLEY, a trustee since 1992, was elected vice chair. He is the founder of the Homewood Corp., a building firm that has constructed more than 10,000 multifamily units and more than 12,000 single-family homes. Skestos is on the board of directors for Huntington National Bank, Central Benefits Insurance Co. and Midland Financial Corp. He has degrees in law, business, and an arts and sciences degree from the University of Michigan, and also has taken courses at Ohio State.

   Re-elected were William J. Napier as secretary and James L. Nichols as treasurer.

Contact: Emily Caldwell, University Communications, 292-8309