Ossi V. Lindqvist (Chair) was elected chairman of the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council from 2000 to 2003 and again for a second term from 2004 to 2007. Until his retirement in May 2004, Dr. Lindqvist served as professor and director at the Institute of Applied Biotechnology at the University of Kuopio, Finland, where he had also served as rector from 1990 to 1998. He was chairman of the Finnish University Rectors' Council from 1993 to 1997, member of the National Council for Science and Technology Policy from 1996 to 1999, and is a lifetime foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. He was professor at the University of Dayton, Ohio, USA, from 1970 to 1972. Dr. Lindqvist holds a Ph.D. from the University of Turku, Finland. He has participated in several of the Salzburg Seminar's Universities Project and Russian Higher Education Project symposia and several consultant visits of the Salzburg Seminar's Visiting Advisors Program teams to Central and East Europe and the Russian Federation.