Dustin Bayn
President
Provides executive leadership, advances the Institute’s mission, coordinates development, and oversees organizational formation and early operations.
Leadership & Governance
Strong institutions require clear authority and real accountability.
The JR Institute is being structured around responsible board oversight, defined executive duties, ethical research, transparent stewardship, and separation between nonprofit and commercial activity.
Governance Philosophy
Mission first. Authority documented. Decisions reviewable.
Governance should protect the Institute’s purpose while allowing leadership to operate effectively and respond to changing needs.
Institutional Structure
Oversight and management serve different functions.
The board protects the mission, approves major policy, and oversees institutional stewardship. Executive leadership manages daily operations, programs, people, assets, and implementation.
Clear separation between governance and management helps prevent confusion, protects accountability, and allows the Institute to make disciplined decisions as it grows.
Initial Officers
Foundational leadership for the organizing phase.
Zach Ryckman
Secretary
Supports corporate records, meeting documentation, notices, resolutions, governance records, and organizational compliance.
Caiti O’Meara
Treasurer
Supports financial oversight, reporting, budgeting, controls, stewardship, and the development of responsible financial systems.
Lori Henderson-Bayn
Board Member
Brings advanced education and decades of classroom experience to the board. She holds a master’s degree and is a retired teacher from Tawas Area Schools, contributing expertise in education, public service, youth development, and community institutions.
Core Responsibilities
Governance must be more than a list of titles.
Protect mission and institutional integrity
Approve major policies, budgets, leadership appointments, transactions, strategic priorities, and high-impact institutional decisions.
Operate the institution responsibly
Manage staff, facilities, programs, partnerships, communications, finances, projects, and implementation within board-approved authority.
Protect assets and document decisions
Maintain budgets, internal controls, appropriate approvals, restricted-fund accounting, reporting, and careful review of asset activity.
Protect ethics and independence
Establish standards for conflicts, human subjects, data, publication, confidentiality, partnerships, and responsible innovation.
Governance Standards
The principles behind institutional trust.
01
Duty of Care
Leaders should make informed decisions with appropriate attention, review, and documentation.
02
Duty of Loyalty
Personal or commercial interests should not override the Institute’s mission or create undisclosed conflicts.
03
Duty of Obedience
The organization should follow its governing documents, lawful purpose, policies, and applicable requirements.
04
Transparency
Important decisions, relationships, limitations, and uses of institutional resources should be documented clearly.
Nonprofit & Commercial Separation
The Institute and Dennco must remain legally and operationally distinct.
Collaboration may occur, but transactions should be documented, fair, mission-aligned, independently reviewed when necessary, and free from improper private benefit.
- Separate legal entities and bank accounts
- Separate accounting and financial records
- Written agreements for shared services or assets
- Conflict-of-interest disclosure and recusal
- Fair-market review where applicable
- Board approval for related-party transactions
Public Documents
Governance records that should become publicly accessible.
Articles & Bylaws
Organizing documents defining the Institute’s purpose, powers, officers, board structure, and core rules.
Request organizational documents →Policies & Standards
Conflict, ethics, gifts, records, whistleblower, financial, research, and institutional operating policies.
Request policy information →Reports & Disclosures
Annual reports, financial information, major disclosures, leadership information, and public accountability materials.
View Institute publications →Governance Inquiries
Ask about leadership, policies, records, or institutional structure.
Contact the Institute for governance information, board matters, public records, policy questions, or organizational documentation.