Freeman takes detour on way to Innosphere

FORT COLLINS — A funny thing happened to Mike Freeman on the
way to his new job as CEO of the Rocky Mountain Innosphere.

Freeman’s last day as CFO of the city of Fort Collins will
be Sept. 2. But the board of directors of the nonprofit Innosphere formally
agreed on Thursday to delay his start date as the head of the organization
until next March. At his request.

The Innosphere had announced Freeman would become its CEO
back in June. But then a slight problem arose.

As the city’s CFO, Freeman was instrumental in putting
together the complicated series of financing deals that made the new Innosphere
building on East Vine Drive in Fort Collins a reality.

“It’s incredibly complex,” explained Ryan Spier, COO of the
Innosphere who has been acting as CEO since February. “There are 120 different
legal documents that all lean on each other, and they wouldn’t have come
together without Mike Freeman.”

Under Colorado ethics law, any official of local government
who has been substantially involved in financial negotiations with a private
sector entity must wait six months before becoming employed by that entity.
(State elected officials are bound by a two-year “cooling off” period.)

Such issues don’t come up very often, according to Freeman,
and the process was fairly far along before the Fort Collins City Attorney
brought up the possibility of a conflict.

“When we announced my new position at the Innosphere, it
never occurred to anyone that there might be a conflict of interest,” Freeman
told the Business Report Daily. “I never intended to put either the city or the
Innosphere in any sort of conflict, either real or perceived, so waiting the
six months seems like the right thing to do.”

Freeman said he appreciated the Innosphere board’s
flexibility. “It’s nice to have this issue resolved, because I am really
committed to helping the Innosphere get to the next level,” he said.

Freeman added that he is exploring the possibility of
working with the Colorado State University Research Foundation on a contractual
basis for the next six months, but “nothing is a done deal yet.”

Todd Headley, executive director of the technology transfer
office of CSURF, confirmed that he has had conversations with Freeman about
ways to use his skills, but that anything beyond the talking stage has not yet
materialized.

“Someone of Mike’s caliber is certainly of interest to us,
and we have been exploring opportunities to work together,” Headley told the
Business Report Daily. “Over the next few weeks we’ll come to a decision, but
nothing has been hammered out at this point.”

Mike Beckstead stepped into the role of CFO for the city on
Aug. 22.