McAleer, now part of the University of Utah's Technology Venture Development office, helped craft recommendations for lawmakers who created USTAR.

"I'm extremely excited to be asked to take this position," McAleer said.

USTAR offers quality funding opportunities to help the U. and Utah State University spur economic development, he said.

McAleer will be paid $106,000 a year in the USTAR position. In 2005, McAleer was chief operating officer of Teleoptic Digital Imaging, a Salt Lake City firm involved in digital X-ray imaging technology.

The USTAR board met last Thursday to discuss appointment of a director, among other issues, and ended the meeting in a closed session. At the end of that closed session, board members refused to answer questions from a Tribune reporter about whether a director had been appointed or if any votes had been taken on the matter.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s spokesman, Mike Mower, acknowledged the board made a mistake last week when it went into closed session without following procedures contained in the state's Open and Public Meetings Act.

"They should have stated the reason they went into closed session and voted on it," Mower said. "We acknowledge that."

Dinesh Patel, chairman of the board, said he closed last week's meeting to discuss personnel issues.

Mower defended closing the meeting, saying the law clearly allows for private discussion of the character and professional competence of personnel. And he also said the process ended in the selection of a "stellar" person with impeccable credentials.

State law says a public body may close its meeting only if the reason is announced and a public vote is taken and approved by a two-thirds margin. Every matter discussed in the closed meeting must fall under the defined exceptions to the open-meeting law.

If a director had been hired in a closed session, it might have been in violation of the state's open meeting laws.

Board members reviewed 19 applicants, selecting four finalists. The entire board interviewed the two top candidates, Patel said.

Legislators earlier this year allotted $65 million for USTAR's operations and approved $110 million in bonds for building research facilities. Much of the money will go to the University of Utah and Utah State University to hire research teams with experience in developing innovations that can be turned into businesses.

glavine@sltrib.com

---

ä DAN HARRIE contributed to this story.