Hi Thomas and Barry,
I agree with Thomas in that you can set the owner trough the site settings but only from that specific list not the manage users list but the bottom option in site-settings.
When i read the question it thought easy just go to Central Administration, but when i checked i couldn't find the option, Thomas are you sure its there? am i looking in the wrong place? Or did you assume it was there like i did?
Greetings!
Paul