By John Byczkowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A retired Procter & Gamble Co. executive has been named interim director of CincyTech USA, the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce said Thursday.

The appointment of Rich Kiley temporarily fills a leadership void created at the high-tech growth group by last month's resignations of executive director Johnathan Holifield and John Fonner, its director of technology adoption.

Chamber president Michael Fisher said Kiley will be involved in helping the region land some of Ohio's $103 million in Third Frontier high-tech grants, in addition to helping develop a long-term strategy for the organization.

Kiley was involved in the formation of CincyTech in 2001 He has been a consultant on high-tech matters with the Ohio Business Roundtable, and worked to pass legislation in Ohio to help raise venture capital.

Kiley will report directly to Fisher. He said he plans to work in the job for five to nine months, and has no desire to become CincyTech's full-time director.

That frees him to speak his mind on CincyTech's long-term direction. "They didn't make the safe choice," he said.

Fisher said he expects to hire a full-time director later this year.

E-mail johnb@enquirer.com