Kansas Bioscience Authority spent Thursday and Friday huddled behind closed doors, working on strategic planning.

No action was taken when authority members returned to open session during their meetings at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka.

But board members said the fruits of those conversations will be revealed in coming months.

“We are very focused on our mission, which is bioscience,” Chairwoman Sandra Lawrence said.

In 2004, the Kansas Legislature created KBA with the mission of investing $500 million during the next decade in the state’s bioscience industry.

In the past year, KBA has received kudos for its work in helping attract the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility to Manhattan. It also has created four centers of innovation throughout Kansas, focusing on biomaterials, bioenergy, drug discovery, and delivery and crop development.

At this week’s board meetings was former House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, who appointed himself to the KBA board in December. The Kansas Senate has yet to approve Neufeld’s appointment.

Neufeld was not allowed to participate in any of the executive sessions, which Lawrence opened only to confirmed members of the board.

KBA’s nominating committee did agree to recommend appointments for next year’s officers. The slate includes former Kansas Gov. John Carlin as chair and Ray Smilor, the recently retired executive director of the Beyster Institute at the University of California, San Diego, as vice chair.

The entire board will vote on those nominations next month.