Florida Institute of Technology

MELBOURNE, FLA. — The Florida Tech Board of Trustees elected three members as officers at the Winter 2007 meeting. They are Phillip W. Farmer, chairman; Dale A. Dettmer, vice-chairman; and Jim Thomas, secretary. These positions previously were filled by Dr. Allen S. Henry, Farmer and Dettmer, respectively. The officers will serve a one-year term, effective immediately, and may be re-elected.
Farmer, of Indialantic, has been a member of the board since 1994. He retired as Harris Corp.’s chairman, president and chief executive officer in 2003 after a 21-year career at the firm. Before joining Harris he held several management and technical positions with General Electric during a 20-year span. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Duke University.
Dettmer, of Merritt Island, joined the board in 1999. He is a partner in the law firm of Krasny and Dettmer in Melbourne and is a member of the Florida Bar, the American Bar and the Brevard County Bar associations. He has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Florida Tech and a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University.
Thomas, a Florida Tech graduate with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, joined the board in 2005. Since the early 1990s he has been involved in venture capital-backed companies in two fast-growing industries, electronic entertainment and the Internet. He is a cofounder of MapQuest, which later was sold to yahoo. In 2004 he founded Coastal Dominion Capital, LLC, an early-stage business investment firm. He is a resident of Melbourne.
“The entire Florida Tech community is grateful to Dr. Henry for his leadership for the past four years. We look forward to the success of the new officers under Mr. Farmer’s leadership as we approach our 50th anniversary and our second half-century,” said Florida Tech President Anthony J. Catanese.