OSU Business School Leader, Roger Blackwell, Convicted of Insider Trading

Ohio State University business school professor Roger Blackwell was convicted Monday on 14 counts of insider trading, in addition to being found guilty of conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction. A highly-respected professor who built a reputation as an expert on consumer behavior, Blackwell is active on many corporate boards, and is also an author and consultant. His name should be familiar to many in the automotive aftermarket industry -- Blackwell had been a featured speaker at the Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium, and was also involved in the University of the Aftermarket's Leadership 2010 program, which was hosted at Ohio State University, where Blackwell taught.

by Amy Antenora
Managing Editor, aftermarketNews.com

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Ohio State University business school professor Roger Blackwell was convicted Monday on 14 counts of insider trading, in addition to being found guilty of conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction.

A highly-respected professor who built a reputation as an expert on consumer behavior, Blackwell is active on many corporate boards, and is also an author and consultant. His name should be familiar to many in the automotive aftermarket industry — Blackwell had been a featured speaker at the Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium, and was also involved in the University of the Aftermarket’s Leadership 2010 program, which was hosted at Ohio State University, where Blackwell taught. A hotel adjacent to the Max Fisher College of Business on the university’s campus bears his name.

“Here was a guy who was bright, talented and did a lot of good, philanthropic work and all of that goodwill is erased in wrongdoing,” said Chuck Udell, senior partner at Essential Action Design Group. Udell, former president of the University of the Aftermarket, worked with Blackwell on the Leadership 2010 program.

“To quote Dick Morgan of the Alliance: ‘There is no right way to do a wrong thing.’ Doing 19 wrong things will erase all the good you’ve done. It’s such a waste. I’m saddened by it,” Udell added.

Blackwell, 64, tipped off friends and family about Kellogg Co.’s plans to buy Worthington Foods Inc. before the merger was officially announced in October of ’99. Upon news of the merger, shares in Worthington Foods doubled in value from $12 to $24. Blackwell and his confidants made $880,000 off the deal, according to a report from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Blackwell was released on a $1 million bond. His sentencing is expected to take place in about three months. The Plain Dealer report said Blackwell could face up to ten years in prison and a $1 million fine. Blackwell was immediately retired from his post at Ohio State following the news of his conviction.

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