The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Officials search for new RFID center model

Center CEO had not been paid for 20 months, board member says

Kodak to lay off 66 by April 19
2:49 p.m.
Ohio home sales started year with gains
2:07 p.m.
Great Wolf Resorts reports narrower loss
11:37 a.m.
DP&L ranks below average for business customer satisfaction
11:31 a.m.
CareSource receives training award
10:08 a.m.
> More headlines

By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer Updated 1:39 PM Friday, January 27, 2012

DAYTON — Revenue for the Dayton Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Convergence Center has been lower than expected, resulting in no pay for the center’s chief executive for 20 months and, now, a search for a new business model, public officials said Friday.

The center will remain open while Dayton city government with its development arm, CityWide Development, tries to build a sustainable business model, officials said in a press conference at Dayton city hall.

The center’s executive director and chief executive, Brad Proctor, will no longer have those titles or a day-to-day management role, but he pledged to help with what he and others called a “transition” to a sustainable model. Also, two associates of Proctor’s at the center have been laid off.

“I didn’t do this to get a paycheck,” Proctor said.

The center’s original model was first developed in 2005, during a very different economy, Proctor said in the conference with Shelley Dickstein, assistant Dayton city manager, and Steve Nutt, CityWide director of strategic development.

Since then, the economy has fallen into the worst recession since the Great Depression, and grant money for the center’s member businesses — usually start-ups seeking new commercial uses for RFID technology — has “dried up,” Proctor said. The center’s business model depends on royalties shared from member companies who rely on the center as an incubator.

“The revenue at the center is not supporting or sustaining the current management team,” Dickstein said.

The city invested $1.4 million into the center and the building that housed it at the Tech Town business park for technologically oriented businesses, Dickstein said.

Asked what message it sends that the center’s CEO had not been paid for 20 months, Proctor emphasized that he is committed to seeing the center succeed and added, “We’re a start-up, too.”

“We needed a longer runway,” Nutt said.

Before the press conference, Robert Zielinski, director of commercial marketing for CDO Technologies and a board member for the center, said Proctor would be moving on to new opportunities.

Proctor acknowledged that he would no longer be CEO, even though he will assist with movement toward a new business model.

“I probably haven’t discussed with Robert my future,” Proctor said.

Zielinski said the center’s first phase or its “incubation” period is complete, and Proctor and his team have done their jobs well. The center and its tenants will continue to operate, he said. If they need assistance, they may turn to CityWide, he added.

“I wish we could have stayed on the honeymoon longer,” Zielinski said.

He emphasized that the center itself is not closing, and that the tenants there continue to pursue their business goals.

“The incubator (the center) is nearly full,” Zielinski said. “They (center tenants) are innovating products, they’re selling products, all the things they’re supposed to do.”

The center opened in 2009 to acclaim from local officials and RFID-associated firms. RFID is a technology that lets objects or people be identified and tracked wirelessly via radio waves.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Share this article