He's not racing to keep the pace his predecessor set.

• Position: Research Triangle Institute chairman Earl Johnson Jr.

Some people might expect Earl Johnson Jr. -- who runs, swims and bikes to train for triathlons -- to match his predecessor's track record at Research Triangle Institute. But the Raleigh contractor says he won't even try.

In November, when Johnson was elected chairman of RTI's board of governors, he replaced George Watts Hill, who died in January at age 91. The son of CCB Financial Corp.'s founder, Hill was chairman of RTI from its formation in 1958 until he retired last year.

"Earl Johnson is far too smart to say he could fill Mr. Hill's shoes," RTI President Tom Wooten says. Both Johnson and Wooten give Hill much of the credit for making RTI what it is today: a 1,600-employee contract research organization founded by and closely linked to Duke, N.C. State and UNC. Revenues last year topped $117 million.

"I'm just sitting on the board now, watching the institute run down the tracks," Johnson, 61, says. "Mr. Hill spent hours and hours |at the institute~, but all they need from me is some practical common-sense input from outside their world of government contracts and university involvement." Not that Johnson is a newcomer to RTI. He has been on the board since 1973.

In 1956, after getting a degree in political science from UNC and serving two years in the Navy, Johnson went to work in Raleigh for his...