Jim Adair
Jim Adair is Associate Director of Business Development at Genentech, Inc. Jim
has been with Genentech since 2001. In addition to his primary responsibility
in licensing and strategic alliances, Jim also
manages Genentech's internal private equity fund. Prior to
Genentech, he was with The Aurora Funds, an early-stage venture firm based in
Research Triangle Park, NC. At Aurora, Jim focused on biotechnology and
medical device investments. Jim's background before Aurora included several
positions in the healthcare information technology sector.
Michael Albert
Michael Albert is a shareholder at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C. in
Boston. He chairs the firm’s Litigation and Internet Groups and is
a member of the Trademark and Copyright Group. His practice is focused on
the areas of trademark, copyright, patent, and trade secret litigation. His
clients include high-tech companies in the software, Internet, biotechnology
and engineering industries, as well as consumer and retail businesses.
Michael serves as an arbitrator for Internet domain name disputes through the
World Intellectual Property Association and the National Arbitration Forum. He
also has trial experience before state and federal courts and appellate experience
before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First Circuit and Federal Circuit and
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Michael teaches, speaks and writes frequently on trademark and Internet
law, and has been named in Boston Magazine as one of Massachusetts' "Super
Lawyers" in the field of patent litigation.
Andrew Allemann
Andrew Allemann is Managing Director of Fluid Innovation
Group, Inc., a software commercialization firm based in Austin, TX.
Prior to founding Fluid Innovation Group Andrew gained intellectual property
experience at SBC Knowledge Ventures, the technology commercialization subsidiary
of leading telecom provider SBC Communications, Inc (now AT&T). At SBC
Andrew was responsible for generating multi-million dollar licensing agreements
of SBC's software intellectual property portfolio. Prior to SBC he worked
for Trilogy Inc., an enterprise software company.
Andrew graduated from the University of Texas Business Honors Program with
a degree in finance. He currently serves as Chairman of the Business Honors
Program Alumni Board, where he is responsible for alumni involvement and
fundraising.
Samuel F. Baldwin, Ph.D.
Sam Baldwin is a PhD. Physicist and currently serves as the Chief Technology
Officer and Member of the Board of Directors for the Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. In previous positions
he has served with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy,
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Congressional Office of Technology
Assessment, Princeton University, the U.S. Senate, and elsewhere. He
is the author or coauthor of 9 books and monographs, and more than 30 papers
and technical reports on physics, energy technology and policy, and other
issues.
Dr. Andrew Barron
Prof. Barron is the Charles W. Duncan, Jr. - Welch Chair of Chemistry, a Professor of Materials Science, and the Associate Dean for Industry Interactions and Technology Transfer at Rice University. Research in the Barron Group is currently aimed at the development of rational molecular design approach to materials synthesis, with an emphasis on the leap from synthesis to application of nano-based materials focusing on fullerenes and single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Areas being investigated include: biological applications and interactions, catalysis and materials applications. Research from Prof. Barron's research group is the core to several start-up companies. Prof. Barron created the first educational programs at Rice to span the Schools of Science, Engineering and Management. He is also the co-director of the Rice Alliance for Technology Entrepreneurship.
Abigail A. Barrow, Ph.D. Dr. Abigail Barrow is the Director of the Massachusetts Technology
Transfer Center (MTTC), a state funded program which supports technology
transfer activities from public and private research institutions to companies
in Massachusetts.
Prior to joining the MTTC, Dr. Barrow served as managing director of William
J. von Liebig Center at the University of California San Diego
(UCSD). The von Liebig Center was created in 2001 to support the commercialization
of research being performed in the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering. From
1990 to 2001 Dr. Barrow worked in several roles at UCSD
CONNECT. CONNECT’s programs focused on supporting early stage
high-tech and biotech companies, helping them raise funding from venture capitalists
and corporate partners. Dr. Barrow also worked with other regions where
the CONNECT program has been replicated.
Dr. Barrow received her Ph.D. from the Science Studies Unit and a B.Sc.
in Mechanical Engineering, both at the University of Edinburgh.
Senator Birch E. Bayh
Birch Bayh is a former member of
the United States Senate, where he was privileged to serve his home state
of Indiana, and to be a part of historic legislation affecting the American
presidency and the individual rights of women, minorities and youth. Senator
Bayh co-authored the Bayh-Dole Act, which revitalized the nation’s patent system and helped create
the biotechnology industry by spawning a whole generation of scientist-entrepreneurs.
Currently, Senator Bayh is a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of
Venable LLP. As a member of the Government Division’s Legislative
and Regulatory Group, he counsels corporate interests with business before
all three branches of government, helping them to affect pending law, build
coalitions, advance their causes, and to ensure that their voices and interests
are considered in the public dialogue. Senator Bayh also continues to work
on behalf of his long-held passions of education, citizen rights,and the
fight against bias, bigotry and racism in America.
Michael Bednarek
Michael Bednarek is a patent trial lawyer,
registered patent attorney and strategic counselor to international clientele
ranging from Fortune 50 companies to start up ventures. Mr. Bednarek is a
also leader of the firm's Financial Institutions Intellectual Property Practice
Team. Euromoney Publications and the Legal Media Group have both recognized
Mr. Bednarek as one of the "World's Leading Patent Law Experts" and
Euromoney also named him one of the "World's Leading Trademark Law Practitioners." In
2006, Mr. Bednarek named a “Virginia Super Lawyer” was
also named one of the best lawyers in the Commonwealth of Virginia, based
on a poll of Virginia Bar Association members.
Mr. Bednarek also serves as managing partner of the firm’s Taipei
office and in 2006 Asian Legal Business named Mr. Bednarek to its Hot
100 Lawyers list for Asia for his work in Greater China.
Matt Bell, PhD
Matt combines a rare background in science, drug discovery, and pharmaceutical
business. He graduated with a First Class degree in Natural Sciences from
Cambridge University, England and completed his post-graduate studies in
the Drug Discovery laboratories of Parke Davis Neuroscience (a division of
Warner Lambert, now Pfizer). He then worked for Cambridge Pharma Consultancy,
the strategic consulting division of IMS Health. At Cambridge, Matt
lead successful strategic engagements for senior R&D clients including
Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline.
In his current role Matt is Senior Director of Discovery Research Strategy
at Wyeth Research and member of the Discovery Executive Committee. In this
role he works closely with senior R&D colleagues to develop and implement
strategies for sustainable R&D success, which have included novel outsourcing
and partnering strategies. He is currently leading a major project to implement
a new model of clinical development in Wyeth. This approach will replace
the traditional phased approach with a flexible “learn and confirm” design.
In addition, he is a thought leader in improving organizational decision-making
in R&D and has spoken on R&D issues for the New York Times, Boston
Globe and Science Magazine.
Jeff Bellairs
Jeff Bellairs is the Director of External Innovation at General Mills. He has
been responsible for the creation of the General Mills “X-Squad” – a
cross functional team focused on leveraging externally sourced technologies,
ingredients and products to accelerate the pace of innovation at General Mills. During
his 10 years at General Mills, Mr. Bellairs has led a number of initiatives
in their Meals, Big G Cereal and Innovation groups. Prior to joining
General Mills, Mr. Bellairs worked in research and development for the Campbell
Soup Company, ConAgra Foods and Mars Incorporated. Mr. Bellairs earned
a B.S. from Michigan State University and a M.S. from the University of Florida.
Bruce Berman
Bruce Berman is president of Brody Berman Associates,
Inc. in New York, a leading management consulting and marketing communications
firm that advises owners and investors of complex assets, such as patents
and IP rights. Bruce’s most recent book, Making Innovation Pay – People
Who Turn Intellectual Property Into Shareholder Value, is an Amazon.com
5 star choice. He also is responsible for From Ideas to Assets – Investing
Wisely in Intellectual Property (2002), a widely acclaimed book about
the business of IP that is being translated into Japanese. Bruce has implemented
communications and business development programs on behalf of more than
200 businesses and firms, and has counseled many executives, investors and
attorneys. Bruce is a member of the editorial advisory boards of Intellectual
Asset Management and Patent Strategy & Management, and
his column, IP Investor, appears regularly in London-based IAM.
Frank L. Bernstein
Mr. Bernstein, a partner in the Silicon Valley office of Kenyon & Kenyon
LLP, has over 20 years' experience in litigation and client counseling in high
technology patent areas, including computers, software, electronics, semiconductors,
and e-commerce. Mr. Bernstein advises clients on licensing and intellectual
property issues related to open source software, including consequences of using
open source software in conjunction with proprietary software. His client
counseling activities also include rendering prelitigation validity and infringement
opinions, and giving advice on protection of software-related intellectual property
in the areas of patent, copyright and trade secrets. In addition, he handles
patent prosecution in a variety of electrical and mechanical engineering disciplines,
as well as computer software and business method patents.
Mr. Bernstein has a B.S. from Caltech, and a J.D./M.B.A. from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a frequent author and national speaker
on various intellectual property topics.
Jeanne
M. Bertonis, M.Sc., MBA
Ms. Bertonis is currently President and COO of Clera Inc, a private CNS company
with a focus on schizophrenia, depression and Parkinson’s. Her
experience has ranged from early stage start-up through to successful commercialization
of products in, and acquisitions of, publicly traded companies. From
2000-2006 she held the position of Chief Business Officer for Angiotech Pharmaceuticals
Inc, and in that position she oversaw all of the business and corporate development
functions, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic collaborations, and
marketing. Ms. Bertonis served as Senior Director, Corporate Development at
Genzyme Corporation and managed the Business Development group for Guidant
Corporation's Vascular Intervention Division. She also has additional experience
in business and research positions from other large pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical
companies including Eli Lilly & Company and Biogen, Inc. Ms. Bertonis holds
a Master of Management Degree from J.K. Kellogg Graduate School of Northwestern
University, a Master of Science Degree in Zoology from the University of Massachusetts
and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology from Vassar College. Ms. Bertonis
serves on the Board of Directors of Clera and is also a Board member of Twinstrand
Pharmaceuticals.
Greg Boyd
Greg Boyd is an attorney with Kenyon & Kenyon LLP in New York. He
has represented some of the most prominent game companies in the world. His
work includes IP counseling and litigation for both publishers and developers. He
is co-editor of a forthcoming book from Charles River Media on business and
law in the game industry. As a member of the International
Game Developers Association IP Rights Committee, he was an author and
editor on the International Game Developers Association IP Whitepaper. Dr.
Boyd has spoken at several national conferences including AIPLA, GDC, Austin
Game Conference, and State of Play. His commentary on business and
law in the game industry has appeared in national publications including
Fortune, Forbes, Game Developer Magazine, and Gamasutra. He sits on
the Board of Advisors for Mobygames. Dr. Boyd obtained MD and JD degrees
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Charles J. Brez
Brez is currently Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing for NineSigma,
an innovation-sourcing firm. At NineSigma, Brez works closely with
Fortune 500 clients to implement open innovation strategies in their organizations.
Brez has more than 30 years of corporate management, commercial and technical
experience. Prior to joining NineSigma, Brez worked with leading companies
including ABB Automation, its predecessor Bailey Controls Company, and Monsanto
Company. Brez has been Senior Vice President/General Manager of the
$100 million US chemical and pharmaceutical business unit for ABB, Vice President/General
Manager of the process business unit for Bailey Controls and Vice President
of the $250 million global sales organization for Bailey Controls Company. At
Monsanto and their Fisher Controls subsidiary, Brez worked in all aspects
of the product life cycle from idea inception to commercialization to obsolescence. He
has also been responsible for strategic planning, business development, acquisitions
and product management.
Brez is a Director of the AIChE Management Division
and served on the Advisory Board for the 2003 AIChE Management Conference
on Innovation. He has recently delivered talks to the European Commission
Conference on Technology, Innovation and Industrial Information in Budapest
in May, 2004; the Royal Society of Chemistry Management Group conference
on Creating Business through Trading Technology in London in April, 2004;
on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Case Western Reserve University MBA
students and local chapters of the American Chemical Society (“Sourcing
Innovative Solutions”) and the Product Development and Management Association
(“Web-enabled Innovation”).
Brez holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering
from St. Louis University.
Marc Sandy Block
Marc Sandy Block is a staff counsel at IBM Corporation’s Intellectual
Property Law Group headquarters. Sandy works mainly in the areas of patent
and technology licensing, standards and patent pool activities, and administrative
and legislative policy. He is a Board member and recent President of
the International Intellectual Property Society in New York City. He worked
on IBM’s recent amicus brief in the Metabolite Case and other amicus
briefs. He has also published a number of papers and spoken on patents, standards,
and current IP issues to various groups. Sandy is a graduate of Lehigh University
and George Washington Law School.
Charles Cella, Esq.
Charles co-founded GTC and is a recognized thought leader and leading practitioner
in the patent and licensing fields. He provides patent strategy, licensing
and technology-transaction services to a broad range of clients, from industry
leading software companies to single-inventor startups.
Prior to GTC, Charles founded and was CEO of BountyQuest, an Internet marketplace
for information relevant to the strength, validity or applicability of patents
and for which he recruited investments from Jeff Bezos and Tim O'Reilly,
among others. Previously, Charles was the first patent attorney at Foley
Hoag LLP, where he grew the practice to twenty-five people and advised high-tech
and biotech firms of all sizes on building IP portfolios and negotiating
technology transactions.
Charles holds a B.A. in Physics from Princeton University and a J.D. from
the University of Virginia's School of Law.
Henry Chesbrough
Henry Chesbrough is Executive Director of the Center for Open Innovation
at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He teaches in the Management
of Technology Program at Haas, which is a joint program with Berkeley’s
graduate College of Engineering. Previously, he was an assistant professor
of business administration, and the Class of 1961 Fellow at the Harvard Business
School. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of
California-Berkeley, an MBA from Stanford University, and a BA from Yale University,
summa cum laude.
His research focuses on managing technology and innovation. His new
book, Open Innovation (Harvard Business School Press, 2003), articulates a
new paradigm for organizing and managing R&D. In this new approach,
companies must access external and well as internal technologies, and take
them to market through internal and external paths. This book was named
a “Best Business Book of 2003” by Strategy & Business magazine,
and the best book on innovation in 2003 on NPR’s All Things Considered. Scientific
American magazine named him one of the top 50 technology and business leaders
for 2003 in recognition of his research on industrial innovation
His academic work has been published in Harvard Business Review, California
Management Review, Sloan Management Review, Research Policy, Industrial and
Corporate Change, Research-Technology Management, Business History Review,
and the Journal of Evolutionary Economics. He is the author of more
than 20 case studies on companies in the IT and life sciences sectors, available
through Harvard Business School Publishing.
Prior to embarking on an academic career, he spent ten years in various product
planning and strategic marketing positions in Silicon Valley companies. He
worked for seven of those years at Quantum Corporation, a leading hard disk
drive manufacturer and a Fortune 500 company. Previously, he worked
at Bain and Company. He can be reached at henry@chesbrough.com.
Kimberly S. Chotkowski
Ms. Chotkowski earned her Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA in 1993 her Juris Doctor
from the Franklin Pierce Law Center in 1996 and an MBA in Finance from Sacred
Heart University, Fairfield, CT in 2000. In 1996 she started her career
in law with Hopgood, Calimafde, Kalil and Judlowe in New York City (now
merged with Morgan and Lewis) practicing in their patent litigation group.
She later moved to Pitney Bowes, Inc. of Stamford, CT as Senior Patent Attorney
in the Intellectual Property and Technology Department where she was a member
of their prosecution team handling the IP and business related matters for
their Office System Business Unit. She was also a member of the Capital
Asset Management team which was responsible for Corporate IP licensing activities. In
2001, Kim became employed with the Intellectual Property Department of InterDigital
Communications Corporation as a patent attorney and was soon promoted to
Senior Patent Attorney. During her tenure at InterDigital, the company
has seen the patent portfolio expand over 500 %. Kim is responsible
for the intellectual property portfolio management as well as being significantly
involved in the licensing team for which she travels to Asia monthly. She
now holds the title of Senior Director Intellectual Property Strategy and
Litigation. In that capacity she has become responsible for the strategic
focus and management of all aspects of the intellectual property portfolio
and for various technology enforcement actions for the company.
InterDigital is a recognized pioneer in the architecture, design,
and delivery of advanced wireless technology platforms. The Company’s
focuses on the next generation of wireless technology, known as the Third
Generation of wireless communications or 3G, is supported by substantial internal
capabilities and a broad base of experience in digital wireless technology
created through the efforts of its more than 300 employees located in the
United States, Canada and the UK. InterDigital’s inventive portfolio
comprises thousands of patents and patent applications worldwide which are
the foundation of its activities.
Stephen Y. Chow
Stephen Y. Chowis a partner at Burns & Levinson LLP,
of Boston, Providence and
Washington, D.C. and practices in the development, assertion, licensing and litigation
of
intellectual property portfolios for technology-based enterprises. He graduated
from
Harvard University with an A.B. in Physics and Philosophy cum laude and
an S.M. in
Applied Physics and from Columbia University with a J.D. as a Stone Scholar.
Steve is active in developing legislation involving the convergence of commercial
and
intellectual property law, notably as a member of the National Conference of
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws drafting committees on the Uniform Computer
Information Transactions Act and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act and
as an a
member of the American Law Institute. He wrote the legal treatise, E-Commerce
andCommunications (Lexis-Nexis). Steve is a member of the adjunct faculty
of Suffolk Law
School and is the incoming chair of the LES High Technology Sector Committee
on
Internet and e-Commerce.
Denis Concordel
Denis brings to BitPass over 20 years of experience in building and leading
high performance product teams and successfully taking high technology products
from concept to market in startups as well as larger companies.
Prior to joining the BitPass team, he held executive positions at Open Country,
an open source tool vendor, Cariocas, and Moai Technologies, both leading
eCommerce solution providers. Before joining Moai, Denis headed Manugistic's
development efforts in California. He has also provided engineering management
at KLA Tencor, where he founded a division, and at Applied Biosystems, where
he was a founding member of the Science and Technology group.
Denis graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications
Paris, France with a Masters degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
Karen F. Copenhaver
Karen F. Copenhaver is a partner in the firm’s Business & Technology
Group. Her practice focuses on technology transfer and licensing of intellectual
property, particularly in the areas of software licensing and open source
business models.
Karen also continues to serve as general counsel for Black Duck Software,
Inc., where she was instrumental in establishing automated methods of software
compliance management as an industry best practice. Before joining Black Duck,
Karen was a partner in the Patent and Intellectual Property Group of Testa,
Hurwitz & Thibeault LLP from 1994 through 2004. She began her legal career
in 1979 at IBM Corporation and served as, among other positions, site counsel
for the IBM Microelectronics Division, Semiconductor Design and Manufacturing
facility in Essex Junction, Vermont. She was a Partner at Brown & Bain
LLP in Phoenix, AZ and Palo Alto, CA from 1991 through 1994.
Publications and Presentations
Karen has served as an adjunct professor at Suffolk Law School in the field
of Computer Law, lectured at Suffolk's Advanced Legal Series conferences on
copyright law and sophisticated licensing issues, and served as chair for
the Practicing Law Institute’s annual conference on Structuring, Negotiating
and Implementing Strategic Alliances. Karen is a frequent speaker on issues
relating to technology licensing and open source software. Over the past year
she has presented at more than 20 national and international events related
to the adoption and management of open source software.
"Understanding Licensing Where Open Source & Proprietary Software
Converge,” presenter, O'Reilly Open Source Convention, Portland, OR,
July 2004; LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, San Francisco, CA, August 2004
and February 2005.
“Open Source Software: Risks, Benefits & Practical Realities
in the Corporate Environment,” presenter, Practicing
Law Institute, Open Source Law, New York, NY, November 2004.
“Open Source Software in Enterprise IT,” panelist,
Fidelity Investments CIO Roundtable, New York, NY, December 2004.
“Breakfast Discussion with Dan Bricklin on Open Source Software,” panelist,
Mass High Tech, Waltham, MA, December 2004.
“Outlook and Issues for Open Source in the Enterprise in 2005,” presenter,
Seminar Series with Dan Bricklin, Waltham, MA, New York, NY and Burlingame,
CA, January 2005.
"OSS Licensing" and "OSS Licensing and Best Practices,” presenter,
OSDL Enterprise Linux Summit, Burlingame, CA, January/February 2005.
“Open Source in Law and Practice,” presenter,
Marcus Evans, Critical Update for Software Law and Practice, Palo Alto, CA, March 2005.
“Open Source Licensing: What You Need to Know in 2005,” presenter,
Georgetown Advanced Computer and Internet Law Institute, Georgetown University
Law Center, March 2005.
“Working with Open Source - Software Compliance Management,” presenter,
Law and Technology, Current Trends in the Open Source and Free Software Movement,
Franklin Pierce Law Center, March 2005.
"Directions for Open Source Technology on Wall Street," presenter,
2005 Linux on Wall Street Conference, New York, NY, April 2005.
“Managing Open Source Use as a Licensee," presenter,
Law Seminars International, Learning the Licensing Pragmatics of Open Source
Software,
Reston, VA, May 2005.
“The Role of Software Compliance Management in Open Source Adoption,” presenter,
Red Hat Summit, New Orleans, LA, June 2005.
“Open Source Due Diligence and Drafting – A Practical Guide
to Working with Open Source,” presenter, University
of Texas School of Law 2005 Computer and Technology Law Conference, Austin, TX, June 2005.
“Open Source and Software Compliance Management,” faculty
and presenter, OSBC Legal Workshop Seattle, Seattle, WA, September 2005.
“How to Tap the Power of the Open Source Community,” panelist,
Merrimack Valley Venture Forum, Lowell, MA, October 2005.
"Open Source: Revolutionizing the Global Marketplace,” presenter,
New York Intellectual Property Law Association, New York, NY, October 2005.
“Moving from Apprehension to Appreciation and Adoption - Managing
a Mixed IP Environment,” presenter, OSBC East, Boston, MA, November
2005.
“Open Source Playbook for Software Developers,” presenter,
Practicing Law Institute, Open Source Software, New York, NY, November 2005.
“Effective Tactics for Corporate Counsel Dealing with Open Source
Software,” presenter, Marcus Evans, Advanced Software
Law & Practice,
San Francisco, CA, 2005.
“Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs,” panelist,
Harvard Business School Cyberposium, November 2005.
"Giving Away Patents: Open Source, Contributions and Standards," presenter,
Stanford/BCLT/UT Advanced Patent Law Conference, San Jose, CA, December 2005.
Open Source Forum in conjunction with the 24th Annual Minnesota Government
Information Technology Symposium, presentations and panel discussions on open
source compliance and risk management, Minneapolis, MN, December 2005.
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
“GPL 3,” presenter, Open Source Business
Conference (OSBC),
February 14, 2006.
“Software Licensing and Open Source Issues,” presenter,
Practicing Law Institute, Advanced Licensing Agreements Institute, New York,
NY, March 6-7, 2006.
“Getting the Most from Open Source Code in Your Company,” co-chair
and faculty, Law Seminars International, San Francisco, CA, March 9-10, 2006.
“Risk Management,” Beyond the Basics: Advanced
Legal Topics in Open Source and Collaborative Development in the Global Marketplace,” presenter,
University of Washington, Shidler Center for Law, Commerce and Technology,
March 20-21, 2006.
“Open Source Playbook for Software Developers,” presenter,
Practicing Law Institute, Open Source Software Institute, San Francisco, CA,
March 24, 2006.
“Compliance with Open Source Software Licenses,” presenter,
AIPLA Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, May 4-5, 2006.
Christine Copple
Christine Copple is President & CEO of Starise Ventures, LLC. Starise
provides entrepreneurs, investors and non-profits access to top-tier skills. Designed
to accelerate development, a Starise team is a cost effective way to add depth
to an organization at even the earliest stages. Starise also provides technology
evaluation and extraction from academic institutions into new or existing entities.
Previously Chris was President & CEO of ASM Resources Inc., the venture arm
of the American Society for Microbiology which is now fully invested. Before
that, Chris was Chief Operating Officer at Neuralstem, Inc. a stem cell company
focused on neurodegeneration. Prior to that, she was Director of
the Office of Industry Liaison for the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
where she was responsible for providing entrepreneurial guidance for faculty
and start-up companies. Chris was also Vice President at the public company Microfluidics
International for ten years. She came to the U.S. to join the Cell Biology
Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Chris received a B.Sc. in
Biological Sciences from the University of East Anglia (U.K.) and a Ph.D. in
Molecular Biology of Cancer from the University of Birmingham Medical School
(U.K.).
Tim Corless
Tim heads up STV’s Business Development and Marketing Program, which
manages broad, longer term strategic partnerships with Industry and develops
research and licensing relationships across Life Sciences and Physical Science
faculties with major corporations.
Formerly with Emisphere Technologies Inc., Tim was Director of Business
Development, responsible for the development of strategic alliances to develop
oral forms
of partners’ proteins and executed significant license agreements.
Tim began his career in the US healthcare industry in 1987 at Schering-Plough
Corporation in New Jersey after obtaining his MBA from the Wharton Business
School.
While at Schering-Plough, Tim worked in line management/marketing in the dermatology
and oncology therapeutic areas.
In 1991 he joined Sterling Drug (later Sanofi), in the Strategic Marketing
Group where he was responsible for the global commercialization of several
compounds in the oncology, anti-inflammatory and female healthcare segments.
Tim left Sanofi to spend four years in the healthcare consulting industry,
initially at Gemini Consulting (now Cap Gemini E&Y) where he
performed senior project roles at healthcare clients. This was followed by
two years at a managed care strategic consulting firm.
Tim is a qualified UK trial attorney and was called to the English Bar in
1978. After working as a common law trial attorney in London for several years,
he then worked as a commercial negotiator in marine insurance in the City
of London.
John Cronin
John Cronin is Managing Director and Chairman of ipCG. Capitalizing
on a lifelong study of creative and inventive thinking processes, business
strategy development, and transaction negotiations, John has created the unique
ipCapital System® methodology, which extracts and documents invention,
identifies opportunity and risk, drives transactions to completion, and creates
significant market value from intellectual property (IP). Over the years,
he has become a respected thought leader among executives who wish to align
business issues and IP, and translate strategies into actionable financial
results.
John has led ipCG from a small consulting practice to the largest professional
services firm of its kind, serving over 350 clients since 1998. The primary
architect of ipCG’s proprietary IP strategy tools and best-in-class transaction methods,
John has also negotiated deals for ipCG clients, including out-licensing agreements,
asset sales, and mergers and acquisitions. Working closely with the entire staff,
John continues to lead consulting assignments for a wide variety of clients.
John holds a BSEE, an MSEE, and a BA degree in Psychology from the University
of Vermont. Additionally, John is a member of the Advisory Board for Color
Kinetics.
Jacqueline (Jackie) Csonka-Peeren
Jackie holds an M.B.A. for Science and Technology from Queen’s
University, an M.A.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of
Toronto, and a B.A.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto.
She has six years of intellectual property planning, technology transfer,
and commercialization experience through BioAlliance Consulting, Millenium
Biologix and the Ontario Rehabilitation Technology Consortium (ORTC). Jackie
also has nine years of product and program development experience with IBM
and Celestica.
At Millenium Biologix, Jackie was responsible for managing product development
and commercialization activity across three engineering and biological laboratories
in Kingston, Zurich and Toronto.
While at Celestica, she led cross-functional teams and formed award-winning,
collaborative R&D with universities, suppliers, customers, and provincial
organizations. She also coordinated global corporate intellectual property activities.
An inventor herself, Jackie designed the FID™ method of team-based inventive
design to facilitate the creative process in others. She has led numerous
R&D teams through the process, helping them overcome their most challenging
technical obstacles.
Jackie’s professional memberships include the Licensing Executives
Society, the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society and Professional Engineers
Ontario. She is founder of the Kingston Chapter of the Licensing Executives
Society and participates in various market and competitive intelligence
organizations. Jackie is fluently bilingual in English and French.
Luciano Daffarra
Luciano Daffarra is the founding partner of Daffarra & Partners. Before
going into private practice, he was part of the legal offices of big Italian
corporations operating, among others, in the broadcasting field.
As a lawyer, he subsequently represented and currently represents many
producers, distributors and artists active in all media sectors. He is a member
of the Permanent Consultative Committee for Copyright at the Italian
Prime Minister's Office and is Secretary General of the Italian Federation
Against Audio-Visual Piracy (www.fapav.it).
Mr. Daffarra is a also member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy
(www.amcham.it ),
as President of the Intellectual Property Committee since 1996, and on the
Board of Directors of the Chamber since 2003. In the above capacities, he
collaborates with the Italian Government offices in charge of enforcing and
drafting amendments to the Italian Copyright Law, and has dealt with major
problems relating to copyright and intellectual property in Italy, the European
Union and the United States.
Mr. Daffarra is a frequent speaker and lecturer at courses, seminars and
conferences dealing with intellectual property law. He is a founding
member of the Italian organizations AGICA (Association of Cinema and Audio-Visual
Lawyers) and IPLAW (Association for Intellectual Property Rights and Competition www.iplaw.it)
Todd C. Davis
Todd C. Davis joined Paul Capital Partners in 2004 and is a partner
with the healthcare fund. Mr. Davis is responsible for leading
investment activities, and managing portfolio investments. He
brings a strong operational background and was most recently a Partner at
Apax Partners, where he was responsible for leading pharmaceutical investment
activities. Previously, Mr. Davis held senior management and operating
positions over an 18-year career at Elan Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Laboratories
and in the United States Navy. He has negotiated and executed
on a broad spectrum of successful transactions including license agreements,
company acquisitions, royalty purchases and equity investment in public
and private companies. He earned his M.B.A. from Harvard University and his
B.S. in Mathematics from the United States Naval Academy.
John R. Grizz Deal
John R. Grizz Deal is software evangelist and visiting entrepreneur at Los
Alamos National Laboratory. His job is to ferret out LANL technologies with
a reasonably large commercial potential, and then to implement and execute
his proven Whole Product Marketing method against those technologies to ensure
their success in commercial markets.
Grizz has over twenty years of experience in startups, fast growing ventures,
and acquisitions. He spent five years as principle in the venture consulting
group, Purple Mountain Ventures, serving a dozen large and small international
firms on product development, capital expansion, and marketing.
Grizz is the former chief marketing officer for Space Imaging, the world’s
largest commercial geographic data and remote sensing firm. Grizz is also a founder
and former CEO of LizardTech, one of the more successful spin-outs from Los Alamos
National Laboratory. He conceived of the entire business and lead LizardTech
through seven years of explosive growth.
Grizz is an internationally-recognized expert in technology commercialization,
consulting with industry, government, and the science community, and a former
computer research and applications group consultant to Los Alamos National Laboratory.
He holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in geospatial science from Texas
A&M University.
Ignacio de Castro
Ignacio de Castro is a Spanish lawyer and an English solicitor. Ignacio holds
a masters degree from King's College London. Before joining WIPO in 2002, he
practiced with the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, London in the areas
of international arbitration and litigation. Ignacio is a national of Spain.
University Qualifications Universidad Complutense Madrid, Spain: Law
Degree (1983-1988)
Colegio de Abogados de Madrid, Spain: admitted as a
Spanish Lawyer (1989)
Université de Paris (Sceaux), France: Diplome
de Droit Francais (1984-1985)
British Council Scholarship: European Young
Lawyers Program, London (1989)
University of London (King’s College), United Kingdom: LLM
Commercial and Corporate Law (1989 -1990)
Law Society England and Wales: admitted
as an English Solicitor (1991)
Work Experience
Baker & McKenzie, London: Assistant Solicitor Litigation department
(1990 – 1995)
Berwin Leighton Paisner, London: Assistant Solicitor,
Litigation department (1995 -1997)
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, London: Assistant
Solicitor, International Arbitration Group (1997 – 2001)
United Nations
Compensation Commission, Geneva, Switzerland: Legal Officer,
E2 Claims (non-Kuwaiti corporate claims) (2001 - 2002)
World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center, Geneva, Switzerland:
-
Senior Legal Officer (2002 – 2003)
- Head,
Information and External Relations Section (2003 – to date)
Joseph A. DeGirolamo
Joseph A. DeGirolamo has been a partner at Morgan & Finnegan for sixteen
years and has practiced intellectual property law at the firm since 1982,
specializing in complex patent litigation. He has been registered to
practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 1977. His
practice in intellectual property includes: (1) business and strategic
planning including patent licensing, counseling clients, and extensive opinion
work including preparation of infringement, validity and enforceability opinions;
(2) all phases of patent, trade secret, and unfair competition litigation
including discovery, motion practice, trial work and appellate practice;
and (3) U.S. and foreign patent solicitation and prosecution. Mr.
DeGirolamo’s patent practice has encompassed a broad area of technologies,
typically in the chemical, pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, mechanical
and electrical system and consumer product areas. For example, in the
chemical and pharmaceutical areas, Mr. DeGirolamo has been involved in matters
relating to reformulated gasoline, controlled-release pharmaceuticals, pain
therapeutic agents and anti-cholesterolemic products; in the medical device
area he has been involved in matters relating to hip implants, contact lens,
occluders for the repair of cardiac defects, delivery and retrieval devices
for prosthetic occluders and intra-aortic balloon catheters; in biotechnology,
his practice has involved areas such as the isolation and purification of
Factor VIIIC, platelet derived wound healing factors, enzyme based nucleic
acid hybridization assays, and methods for testing for the presence of drugs
of abuse; and in the consumer products area, his practice has involved products
such as crispy/chewy cookies, HEPA air cleaners, DVD systems, antitheft automobile
systems, microwave ovens and antiperspirants.
Edson Paula De Souza
Mr Souza obtained his LLB from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, specialised
in Biosafety at the National School of Public Health, and in Chemistry and
Animal Biotechnology at the Federal Centre of Technological Education, and
obtained his MA in Biotechnological Law and Ethics from the University of Sheffield,
United Kingdom.
Apart from publishing some articles in national journals and lecturing IP
and Biotechnological Law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, he has
been working as an IP attorney at Momsen, Leonardos & Cia. for 7 years.
In particular, Mr. Souza is in charge of the prosecution, litigation
and licensing of biotech and pharmaceutical patents.
He is a member of various national and regional organisations, such as the
Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property, Inter-American Association
of Industrial Property, and Licensing Executives Society (Brazil).
Peter Detkin
Prior to joining Intellectual Ventures, Peter Detkin spent 8 years at
Intel Corporation where he was a vice president and assistant general counsel.
As assistant general counsel, Mr. Detkin was responsible for managing the
Intel patent and licensing departments, including all aspects of prosecution
and claims management. In addition, Mr. Detkin managed the litigation and
competition policy departments (including antitrust).
Before he joined Intel, Mr. Detkin was an intellectual property partner
at the law firm of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati in Palo Alto, Calif.
Mr. Detkin was the first patent lawyer hired at this firm and formed the
basis of their highly successful intellectual property practice. While
at Wilson Sonsini, he had lead or second chair responsibility for a number
of high-profile litigations, including the seminal computer copyright case
Lotus v. Borland.
Peggy Dillender, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Peggy Dillender is Director, Strategic Business Initiatives for Pfizer Animal
Health. She joined Pfizer in 1999 as Director of Licensing and Business
Development, where she developed and lead a group of 6 licensing professionals
responsible for identification, assessment and in-licensing of technologies,
R&D projects, products, and company acquisitions for all of Pfizer Animal
Health. Earlier this year Peggy moved to a new group within Pfizer working
on Strategic Business Initiatives. She continues to work closely
with the licensing group that she developed.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Peggy worked for 9 years at Abbott Laboratories,
both in the Diagnostics Division, and in Abbott’s Animal Health business. Peggy
has D.V.M and M.S. degrees from University of Missouri, and a Ph.D. from
University of Iowa. Since entering the Animal Health field
almost 20 years ago, Peggy has held a number of other positions in veterinary
clinical practice, teaching and research.
Joseph S. Dillon
Joseph S. Dillon is Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Development
Services for The Mattson Jack Group. Mr. Dillon is a seasoned pharmaceutical
executive with over 20 years of experience. He has extensive experience
in global pharmaceutical business development, planning and analysis, corporate
finance, M&A, licensing, and technology valuations. Prior to
joining MJG, Mr. Dillon was CFO and interim CEO, President, and Director
of The Pharmaceutical Development Center, a pharmaceutical developer and
manufacturer. His previous positions include President of Dillon Technologies,
Inc., a pharmaceutical consulting firm; EVP and CFO of a publicly held multi-bank
holding company; COO and later CFO, Secretary and Treasurer of Oread Inc.,
a contract pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer; and various planning
and corporate development positions with the predecessor companies of Sanofi-Aventis. Mr.
Dillon is an active Licensing Executive Society member and is often an invited
speaker at pharmaceutical industry meetings. He holds an M.B.A. and a Bachelor’s
in Finance.
Eric M. Dobrusin
Eric M. Dobrusin gained admission to the State Bar of Michigan in 1988, and thereafter
became registered to practice before the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office
as a patent attorney. He graduated cum laude in 1985 from the
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) College of Engineering with a B. S.
E. in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, and he graduated cum laude in
1988 from Wayne State University Law School (Detroit, MI).
With co-author Kathy White of Wayne State University Law School (and University
of Michigan Regent), Mr. Dobrusin has published a book entitled: Intellectual
Property Litigation – Pretrial Practice, (2nd ed.,) Aspen Law & Business
(1999). He published the first edition in 1996. In October 1999, Crain’s
Detroit Business Magazine selected Mr. Dobrusin as one of “40 Under
40” up and coming business people in Southeast Michigan. He
was also selected for inclusion in the 2007 edition of The Best Lawyers
in America®.
As a shareholder in a private law firm, Dobrusin & Thennisch PC, Mr.
Dobrusin has concentrated his practice in patent counseling and strategic
patent prosecution mainly in the areas of combinatorial materials science,
clinical laboratory chemistry, biomedical devices, plastics, automotive technology,
and semi-conductor device fabrication. Mr. Dobrusin is also a fellow
of the Michigan State Bar Foundation. He formerly served as the Executive
Director of the National Patent Board, an organization dedicated to improving
alternative dispute resolution for patent litigation.
Among his other current activities, Mr. Dobrusin regularly speaks on patent
law topics, and sits on the Board of Directors for two non-profit organizations.
Professor Peter Dobson
After a career as a lecturer in Physics at Imperial College and Senior Principal
Scientist at Philips Research laboratories he was appointed to a University
Lectureship and College Fellowship at the Queen’s College Oxford in 1988
and a Professorship in 1996. At Oxford, he assisted with setting up much of
a new joint course of Engineering and Materials Science and his research moved
into the areas of nanoparticles, nanostructures, optoelectronics and biosensors.
In 1999 he spun-off a company, now called Oxonica plc, that specializes in
making nanoparticles for a wide range of applications, ranging from sunscreens
to fuel additives and bio-labels. In 2000, with colleagues in Chemistry and
Engineering, he spun-off Oxford Biosensors Ltd that makes a hand-held device
based on enzyme-functionalized microelectrode arrays. He was appointed to his
present position in August 2002 and has the responsibility of setting up new
research institutes that will combine University activities with company R&D,
and leading a team that facilitates the rapid transfer of technology and knowledge.
He consults widely and advises several corporate and national organizations
on nanotechnology. His research interests are very broad, covering most aspects
of nanotechnology, and embracing biotechnology, environmental technology, materials
science, especially the applications of polymeric materials and the whole innovation/exploitation
process.
P J Dobson, BSc, MA (Oxon), PhD, C Phys, F Inst P, Member of the ACS.
James J. Dolan
Jim Dolan joined Purdue Pharma in 1994, after completing 15 years at Pfizer in
their International Pharmaceuticals Group, where he held line management positions
at Pfizer subsidiaries in South America and Africa.
At Purdue, Mr. Dolan established a Licensing and Business Development function
and assumed responsibility for acquisitions, in-licensing, strategic alliances
including copromotion arrangements, and discovery and development alliances. He
was named Senior Vice President in 2003, at which time he became a member
of the Executive Committee, reporting to the President and CEO of Purdue.
He is also a Director of Mundipharma K.K. (Tokyo). Outside of Purdue,
Mr. Dolan is a past President and current board member of the New York Pharma
Forum, Inc. He is an active member of the Licensing Executive Society and
a frequent guest speaker at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton
School in the Health Care M.B.A. program.
Mr. Dolan holds a B.A. from Holy Cross and an M.B.A. from the University
of Connecticut.
Paule Drouault-Gardrat
Paule Drouault-Gardrat joined the Paris office of Bird & Bird in September
2002, as the partner in charge of the Life Sciences Department.
Paule graduated from the CEIPI of Strasbourg (Center of International Studies
on Industrial Property) before graduating as a pharmacist and a lawyer. Before
joining the Bar in 1994, she previously worked for 13 years in the industry.
She has been intervening in contentious and non-contentious Industrial Property
matters as well as practising in French and European Pharmaceutical Law and
Product Liability Law for more than twenty years. She works for life sciences
industries, in particular pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as
well as VCs.
Paule is a member of various associations such as the LES, IBA, AIPPI and
Cercle Montesquieu and is registered on the list of Arbitrators and Moderators
of WIPO. She regularly publishes and intervenes in various conferences.
Karim El Helaly
Mr. El Helaly is an Egyptian national and senior legal consultant at Al
Tamimi & Co, Dubai, UAE. His main fields of specialization are intellectual
property, and technology transfer with a particular focus on technology-based
industries. His scope of work involves counseling, licensing, enforcement
and management of IP assets.
Mr. El Helaly completed his general certificate of education in Science
from the University of London in 1990. In 1995 he received his L.L.B. from
the University of Cairo, faculty of Law, and admitted to the Egyptian Bar
in since 1995. In 1998, Mr. El Helaly obtained his L.L.M with specialization
in IP and technology at Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH, USA. He
completed his internship at Colgate-Palmolive Trademark Department of the
Global Legal Function in New York.
Mr. El Helaly started his legal career as a junior associate at Baker and
McKenzie Cairo office, then he was appointed as public prosecutor and assistant
to the Attorney General Office. From 2000 until 2005, Mr. El Helaly
was the head of the IP and licensing department at the law firm of Zaki Hashem & Partners
in Cairo, Egypt. His work with the firm mainly focused on assisting the Government
of Egypt (“GOE”) towards its accession to the World Trade Organization
in terms of negotiating, drafting and implementing adequate intellectual
property legislations. In addition, he assists the GOE in establishing
a reliable intellectual property system that complies with Egypt’s
international obligations and strengthens the environment for investment,
trade, and innovation. His work involves the strengthening of the legal and
regulatory framework for intellectual property and to promote IP-public awareness.
He works extensively with Egypt’s intellectual property offices (Patent,
Trademark, and Plant Variety Offices) and advising on implementation of the
intellectual property system, including international best practices and
successful strategies adopted by other countries. Also, he provides training
of personnel who are responsible for implementation of Egypt’s intellectual
property laws.
Mr. El Helaly is a certified mediator for commercial and intellectual property
disputes and is an active member of the Licensing Executive Society USA-Canada
(“LES”), the International Association for the protection of
Intellectual Property (“AIPPI”), and is an associate member of
the American Bar Association for the division of Intellectual Property, Franchise
and Law practice management.
J. Hiram Ewald
J. Hiram Ewald is a Managing Partner of
Tall Oaks Capital, a seed and early-stage
Healthcare and Information Technologies
venture firm in Charlottesville, VA. Prior
to Tall Oaks, Mr. Ewald co-founded Whetstone
Partners in 1996, a consulting practice assisting
primarily university-based technologies
develop from bench to business. In 1991, Mr. Ewald was interim
President of Insmed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He served in many roles
as an officer and director, led several rounds of angel investment
and a venture capital financing in 1996. Mr. Ewald has portfolio
responsibility for ProVox and Get Well Network. He serves as
a Director of Spinner Technologies, a for-profit technology
commercialization arm of The University of Virginia Patents
Foundation. Mr. Ewald is a graduate of Phillips Exeter and the
University of Virginia.
Mark Feingold
Mark Feingold is Assistant Counsel at Merck & Co., Inc. where he supports
the in-and out-licensing of pharmaceutical compounds and products. He
also provides legal advice on implementing licensing transactions and research
activities. Prior to joining Merck, Mark worked for sanofi-aventis and
its legacy companies as a transactional lawyer and a regulatory/commercial attorney. Mark
also worked as an attorney at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, was
in private practice, and served as a Deputy Attorney General in New Jersey. Mark
began his legal career in the United States Department of Labor. Mark earned
his undergraduate degree at The Pennsylvania State University and his legal degree
at The American University.
Brandy L. Fernow
Ms. Fernow is a Managing Consultant in Navigant’s intellectual property
group where she specializes in assisting clients in intellectual property
disputes and intellectual asset management. She has experience in the areas
of competitive assessment, technology and market assessment as well as intellectual
asset strategy. Ms. Fernow has developed commercialization and monetization
strategies for clients across industries and assists them in all phases of
licensing their patents and technology. She is skilled in using patent
analytic tools to analyze and mine patent portfolios and identify opportunities
to leverage the assets. Ms. Fernow has provided litigation support
on intellectual property disputes including patent, trademark and trade secret,
as well as license disputes and breach of contract matters. She has
also worked closely with corporate legal counsel in areas including intellectual
property valuation, benchmarking and other specialized business needs.
Jonathan Fleming
Jonathan Fleming is the Managing Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners,
an international venture capital firm specializing in life science
technology based investments, with offices in Boston and Connecticut. Mr.
Fleming has been in the investment business for over twenty years, starting
and financing growth companies in the United States, Europe, and Israel.
Prior to joining OBP in 1996, he was a Founding General Partner of MVP Ventures
in Boston, MA. He began his investment career with TVM Techno Venture
Management in Munich, Germany. Mr. Fleming has also co-founded Medica Venture
Partners, a venture capital investment firm specializing in early stage healthcare
and biotechnology companies in Israel. Mr. Fleming holds a Master’s
degree in Public Administration from Princeton University and a Bachelor
of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Fleming is a co-founder and member of the Board of Memory Pharmaceuticals
(NASDAQ: MEMY). He is also Chairman of the Board of BioProcessors Corporation
and is a director of several private companies including Leerink Swann,
a Boston based investment bank specializing in healthcare companies. Mr.
Fleming is a Trustee of the Museum of Science in Boston and a Senior Lecturer
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Joseph R. Flicek
Joseph R. Flicek specializes in taking new technologies and under-performing
assets and leveraging them into profitable businesses.
Mr. Flicek is a Managing Director of Amphion Innovations US Inc. He
formerly served as CEO and is a current board member of Supertron Technologies;
an MRI Medical Device company, with expertise in building high temperature
superconducting circuits. The Company’s Investors asked Mr. Flicek
to assist in repositioning Supertron as a value added asset in the MRI marketplace.
Under Mr. Flicek Supertron was awarded the highly competitive $2 million Advanced
Technologies Program (ATP) product development grant.
Mr. Flicek created and established the New Ventures group of the Science & Technology
Ventures Office at Columbia University in 1996. Under his leadership
Columbia participated in the formation of over 40 new portfolio companies
through 2001, four of which are publicly traded. The Columbia portfolio companies
have raised almost $1 billion in venture and public market financings, and
have generated more than 1,500 jobs. Mr. Flicek dynamically brought
together faculty members, industry and venture capital groups to start new
business ventures based on Columbia University intellectual property and research
from the more than 7,000 faculty members and 2,500 laboratories. Columbia
University is ranked number one among universities in licensing and generates
over $150 million per year.
In Addition to Supertron, Mr. Flicek served as CEO of Sipcomm, now SipQuest,
another Columbia University Spin-out, where he raised $4.5 million in early
stage funding. Mr. Flicek is an adjunct faculty member of Columbia
University’s Graduate Business School in Entrepreneurship and assists
faculty and students in startup businesses through entrepreneurship programs.
As general manager of Cambrex Hydrogels, he turned this biomaterials venture
with zero book value and seven years of operating losses into a profitable
medical device and drug delivery business, which was then sold to Tyco. Mr.
Flicek, while holding financial and marketing positions at Cambrex Corporation
during its growth years when annual revenues grew from $35 million to over
$200 million, directed numerous acquisitions due diligence reviews and then
led the business transition teams following successful closing of many acquisitions,
divestitures and joint-ventures.
Mr. Flicek began his business career in New York with W.R. Grace & Company,
as a business and market analyst supplying competitive intelligence, analytical
reviews and investigating new business ventures for the $5 billion diversified
firm. He joined W.R. Grace & Company after receiving his MA in
Chemistry and MBA from the University of South Dakota. He was a Peace
Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa. He also holds a bachelor
of sciences degree in chemistry and mathematics from the University of South
Dakota. Mr. Flicek lives in New York with his wife, an artist, and
his two boys.
James J. Foster
Jim Foster has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and a law degree from Harvard Law School. He
ranks among the most experienced patent trial lawyers in the country with
35 years of trial practice, specializing in patent litigation. He has
chaired, and is now a senior member of, the Litigation Practice Group at Wolf,
Greenfield & Sacks, P.C. in Boston, Massachusetts.
He has been lead counsel in patent jury trials in seven states, and is also
an accomplished appellate advocate, having argued numerous Federal Circuit
patent decisions, including the landmark case of Vitronics Corp. v. Conceptronic,
Inc..
He is a member the bar in New York and Massachusetts, the United States Supreme
Court, six United States courts of appeals, and 14 United States district
courts.
He has also been named as one of Massachusetts “Super Lawyers” in
the field of patent litigation.
He has lectured on patent litigation to different patent law organizations
and at various bar meetings and has been widely published in such publications
as New York Bar Journal, Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society,
and Mass High Tech.
Kenneth B. Freese, Ph.D.
Ken Freese currently leads the Intellectual Property Management (IPM) Program
at Los Alamos National Laboratory, managing the invention disclosure process,
initial screening and evaluation of inventions, and strategic analysis of patents
and portfolios for the Laboratory’s Technology Transfer Division. The
IPM program is also responsible for development and implementation of IP management
policy for the Laboratory.
For the past 23 years, Ken has been involved in every aspect of Laboratory’s
growing technology-transfer and industrial-partnership programs, and has
been a leader in developing industrial partnering policy and practice for
the both the Laboratory and the US Department of Energy. He has held
several management positions at Los Alamos, including:
Leader of the Technology Management Office, responsible for intellectual
property commercialization strategy, licensing, and industrial partnership
development at the Laboratory. (2004-2006)
Program Manager for Strategic Partnerships, responsible for forming strategic
alliances with the private sector in selected areas of technology development
and commercialization. His team built successful strategic R&D
alliances with Motorola, Procter & Gamble, PPG Industries, and
others. He also managed the Industrial Fellows Program, an innovative
staff-exchange program to develop strategic alliances with companies. (1999-2004)
Program Manager for the Department of Energy’s Technology Partnership
Program at Los Alamos, working with more than 200 small and large companies
over a decade to co-develop dual-use technologies for civilian and defense
applications. (1994-1999)
Ken also has worked with the New Mexico Economic Development Department in
two separate assignments as a loaned executive to the State. From1983
to 1985, Ken managed the Technology Innovation Program, a small business and
entrepreneurial technology assistance program based in the business schools
and engineering departments at NMSU and UNM. In 2003-04, Ken led New
Mexico’s effort to establish and fund the New Mexico Hydrogen Technology
Partnership (HyTeP), a public-private partnership to promote the establishment
of a hydrogen and fuel cell business cluster in New Mexico.
Ken joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1974 as an experimental
plasma physicist in fusion energy research for the Plasma Diagnostics Group
of the Controlled Thermonuclear Research Division. He holds a Ph.D.
in physics from Dartmouth College, and a Bachelors Degree in physics from
the University of Michigan.
Hayley French Hayley French is a lawyer in the Life Sciences group at Bird & Bird
in London. Hayley has a degree in microbiology from the University
of Liverpool and a PhD from Queen Mary & Westfield College (QMW), University
of London. After studying for her PhD she completed an MSc in intellectual
property at QMW. Hayley then joined University College London Ventures
for five years and was responsible for the commercialisation of inventions
in the Life Sciences sector. After studying law she joined the Centre
for Applied Microbiology and Research (CAMR) as Head of Legal Affairs.
Hayley is a Board member and Chair of the Website Committee
for the Licensing Executives Society (LES) Britain and Ireland and Vice
Chair of the European Committee for LES International. She is also on the
committee for The Intellectual Property Lawyers Organisation (TIPLO) and the
Intellectual Property Awareness Network (IPAN) in the UK. Hayley is also a
freeman of the City of London.
Kelly Frey
Kelly Frey is a shareholder in Baker Donelson’s Nashville office and
is a member of the Firm’s Business Law Department. He concentrates his
practice in the area of corporate and information technology law. He represents
the headquarters locations of several Fortune 500 companies in both procuring
and in selling information technology. He also represents large companies,
and the vendors to such companies, with respect to general corporate transactions
and corporate compliance. He has extensive experience in negotiating and drafting
confidentiality agreements, term sheets, letters of intent/memoranda of understanding,
software development and licensing agreements, business process and IT outsourcing
agreements, ASP agreements, consulting agreements and content licensing agreements
(for both traditional and new media). He has been involved in all phases of
corporate procurement, including development of RFPs and evaluation of vendor
proposals on the purchaser side, preparation of responses to such RFPs on
the vendor side, and negotiation/drafting of final contract documentation.
He consults with vendors to regulated companies with respect to new compliance
requirements resulting from The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, USA PATRIOT ACT, OFAC, EU directives
and other compliance environments. Mr. Frey also regularly advises clients
on intellectual property matters (including copyright, trademark, trade secret,
domain name, Internet and ecommerce issues) and serves as the primary legal
resource for new business ventures in the information technology industry.
As a result of his emphasis on helping his clients achieve their practical
business goals and his integration within the operations of his clients, he
has been named as co-inventor on numerous business process patent applications
filed by his clients.
Tom Gillespie
Tom Gillespie is a Senior Director on In-Q-Tel’s Strategy, University,
and Early Stage Team. He is responsible for identifying and commercializing
technologies originating from universities, government laboratories,
and other research institutions that address challenges faced by the
intelligence community. Prior to joining In-Q-Tel, Mr. Gillespie was a strategy
consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, serving clients in the telecommunications,
financial services, and government (national security and defense)
sectors. Previously, he co-founded LaunchFuel, a venture commercialization
firm that created, developed, and advised early-stage technology businesses.
Mr. Gillespie directed numerous business and technology strategy projects
with Global 2000 clients for AT&T Solutions, and he led project teams at
Silicon Valley Global Ventures advising growth technology companies on strategies
for entering international markets. His experience also includes
positions in international privatization and the United States Congress.
Mr. Gillespie earned a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.B.A.
from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Nathan L. Golden Mr. Golden is a Licensing Executive in the Corporate Business
Development and Partnerships organization (CBD&P) at Sandia National
Laboratories. He is responsible for the management of intellectual
property through a strategic intellectual management and portfolio
process, which includes the negotiation of license agreements for selected
organizations within Sandia. His responsibilities also include
assisting Sandia inventing organizations in the management of issued
patents. Prior to joining the CBD&P organization in 2003,
he was a corporate internal auditor at Sandia National Laboratories
and performed environmental, safety and health (ES&H) audits of
Sandia’s programs. He has been at Sandia over twenty years
and has held a variety of professional positions while employed at
Sandia.
Mr. Golden is the local New Mexico LES Chapter chair. He is also
a co-chair for the Industry, University and Government Transactions Sector
- LES (FY 2007).
Mr. Golden earned a MBA/MIS from New Mexico State University in 1984 and
a bachelors in chemistry from New Mexico State University in 1982. He
is one of two BEAC Certified Professional Environmental Auditors at Sandia.
Robert B. Goldman
As a principal in CRA International’s Intellectual Property practice,
Mr. Goldman assists clients in
developing and implementing strategies for managing and realizing
value from their intellectual
property portfolios. Mr. Goldman focuses on litigation, valuation
and strategy assignments involving
patents, technology and other IP assets. His engagement experience
includes a variety of
industries including medical devices and medical treatments, telecommunications,
electronics,
digital imaging, electronic displays, automotive and heavy duty equipment,
printing presses and
chemicals. He is experienced in performing IP analytics research
to assist clients in making
informed IP-related decisions in variety of contexts such as M&A due
diligence, transaction target
identification and prioritization and risk assessment. Mr. Goldman
has consulted on numerous
engagements involving the valuation of intellectual property and
intangible assets for mergers and
acquisitions, corporate spin-outs, licensing transactions, and other
purposes. His litigation
experience includes the determination of reasonable royalties and
lost profits in patent infringement
matters, technology license disputes, and damages in trade secret
misappropriation matters.
In addition to his experience at CRA International, Mr. Goldman was
a development engineer for a
Big Three automaker and a tier one automotive supplier, and was a
founding team member and
Engineering Manager for a start-up company developing and manufacturing
tactile sensors for
instrumentation, electronic controls and automotive safety applications.
The company’s
development team was awarded 14 patents. Mr. Goldman is a named inventor
on 4 U.S. patents.
PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES
“Valuation by Comparables,” LES 2005 Annual Meeting, Phoenix,
Arizona, October 18, 2005.
“IP Evaluation Tools and Methodologies in the Real World,” LES
2005 Annual Meeting, Phoenix,
Arizona, October 18, 2005.
“Valuing Intellectual Property and Other Intangible Assets,” Business
Valuation Resources, Audio Teleconference, June 22, 2005.
“Intellectual Property: A Primer for Product Development,” Product
Development & Management
Association, Chicago Chapter Meeting, January 29, 2004.
“Intellectual Property Donations,” Southeast Region Technology
Transfer Director’s Meeting,
Atlanta, Georgia, May 30, 2003.
“Valuation: Case Histories and Recommended Practices for Dealing
with Thinly Capitalized and
New Economy Companies,” LES 2002 Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois,
September 23, 2002.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Licensing Executives Society
Norm Goldstein
Norman is an entrepreneur with a strong background in licensing, fashion, direct
marketing and internet concept development industries. As EVP Licensing and
Business Development at Walker Digital, Norman managed a large patent portfolio
of inventions and business process patents. Norman is a named inventor on 6
US patents.
As President and CEO of Univex Licensing Group, Mr. Goldstein pioneered, developed
and managed a joint venture with The Sharper Image Corp. to create 16 licenses
of their brand in many categories. Mr. Goldstein was the founder and CEO of Margin
Equities Inc., a manufacturing and importer of specialty and promotional products
for large corporate accounts such as Disney, American Express, IBM, Merck, and
M&M Mars. Mr. Goldstein was President of Peter Max Licensing Inc.,
where he generated 12 licensing agreements for the Pop Culture Artist, in addition
to opening a new gallery.
Mr. Goldstein is a New York State Mediator and Arbitrator, a Board Member
of Positive Directions charity, serves on the Advisory Board of the University
of Bridgeport School of Engineering, the National Parents Board of Syracuse
University, the Board of Visitors of the School of Informational Studies
at Syracuse University and is a Mentor/Coach to business entrepreneurs.
Norm was recently named a “2006
Purpose Prize Fellow” - recognizing him as a leader in the movement to
invent new ways to solve Society’s toughest problems.
Lawrence M. Green, Esq.
Larry Green is Chair of the firm’s Opinion Practice Group and is
a member of the Mechanical, Litigation, and Trademark Practice Groups.
He has also served on the firm’s Executive Committee.
Larry’s practice is focused on all aspects of intellectual
property in various mechanical technologies, including medical products,
laboratory equipment, and textiles and manufacturing apparatus and processes.
Larry is experienced in patent and trademark prosecution, preparing clearance,
validity, patentability and pre-litigation opinions, handling patent interferences,
and managing litigation.
Larry has successfully managed a number of patent litigations and interferences.
Representative matters he has worked on include the following:
Successfully managed Cooper v. Goldfarb, the
longest running patent interference in U.S. history. This historic,
18-year conflict involved three appearances before the Board of Patent
Appeals and Interferences, and two appeals to the United States Court
of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Briefed and argued two ex parte appeals to the United
States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Second-chaired four patent infringement trials, three
of which were jury trials.
Briefed and argued three litigation related appeals
with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Briefed two appeals to the United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit, one being the seminal case of Vitronics
Corporation v. Concentronic, Inc., 90 F.3rd 1576 (Fed. Cir. 1996).
Managed the discovery and trial preparation of numerous
other litigation matters including the briefing and arguing of dispositive
motions.
Larry is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and is admitted to practice
before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, various
other Federal Courts, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He
is active in the Brown Venture Forum, Boston and American Bar Associations,
American Intellectual Property Law and the Boston Patent Law Associations.
Larry has been a panelist and guest speaker on topics relating to patent
law, interferences, and inventorship for legal and business associations
as well as the engineering departments of several universities. He has been
named in Boston Magazine as one of Massachusetts' "Super Lawyers" in
the field of intellectual property.
Marta E. Gross Areas of Practice
Marta Gross is a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department, and
a member of its Intellectual Property Group and Life Sciences Practice.
Ms. Gross has experience in the full range of patent practice, including
litigation, interference work, opinion matters and strategic counseling.
Her principal focus is in the chemical, pharmaceutical and medical device
industries. Ms. Gross also leads Goodwin Procter’s opinion practice.
Her work in this area includes strategic counseling involving infringement,
validity, enforceability and freedom to operate.
Ms. Gross also has extensive experience with patent infringement actions
and patent interference work related to chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical
devices, semiconductor devices and processing, and biotechnology.
Professional Activities Ms. Gross is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City
of New York, Patents Committee; the American Intellectual Property
Law Association, Patent Law Committee; and the American bar Association.
Professional Experience Prior to joining Goodwin Procter, Ms. Gross was a partner at Fish & Neave.
Previous to her legal practice, she worked as an engineer and manager
of new product development at Millipore Corporation and as an engineer
at General Electric Company.
Bar and Court Admissions Ms. Gross is admitted to the bars of New York and Massachusetts,
the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and various federal courts.
Education J.D., Suffolk University, 1988 (cum laude)
S.B., Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
1980
Charles Grubsztajn Mr. Charles Grubsztajn joined MethylGene in 2005 and is heading
the Company's business development function, which includes seeking
corporate partnerships, strategic alliances and licensing opportunities.
Mr. Grubsztajn was most recently at m Caprion Pharmaceuticals where
he planned and executed technology and product licensing deals in the
areas of oncology and infectious disease with biopharmaceutical companies
such as Abbott, Biogen Idec, and Icos Corporation. These agreements
together have generated over US$30 million in revenues and more than
US$40 million in realizable milestone payments. In addition, he managed
a number of pharmaceutical alliances and participated in in-licensing.
Mr. Grubsztajn actively participated in MethylGene's $US272 million
research, co-development, and co-promotion agreement with Pharmion
Corporation. He earned his joint Bachelor of Civil Law and
MBA degrees with distinction from McGill University.
Daniel M. Gwartz
Daniel M. Gwartz is an explorer, innovator, and a relentless seeker of
human motivation. He has more than 17 years marketing experience holding
senior management positions with several multinational organizations before
becoming the Chief Operating Officer for By Kids For Kids Co. He
founded Gwartz International, a marketing consulting firm. His corporate
experience includes major brands at Kraft General Foods, Great Brands
of Europe (a subsidiary of Groupe Danone) and at Nabisco Brands. His international
experience in brand management (USA, Canada, and France) gives him
a broad breadth of perspective to call upon.
As a Marketing Director at Danone, he was responsible for $130 million
in revenue. He managed the newest brand, Dannon Natural Spring Water, as
the #1 water brand in USA supermarkets. He led the development of the LU
biscuit brand for the USA and Canada to become the number #1 brand within
18 months of launch. He developed the condiment portfolio in Canada, including
the brands Maille and Grey Poupon generating strong category leadership
and compounded annual growth of 40% over 3 years. Daniel is responsible
for the introduction of ready to eat JELL-O in Canada, and he lead the
management of all Cereal new product development for the Post and Nabisco
brands. He managed the merger of companies for the Adult cereal brands
including Shredded Wheat, Raisin Bran, Grape Nuts, Bran Flakes, Shreddies,
100% Bran, and Team.
Daniel began his business career at the age of 13 when he had the idea
to open his own ice cream business, Dan’s Ice Cream Emporium (DICE). Ahead of its
time, DICE used all natural ingredients and provided unique flavors with mix-ins
of Oreo cookies and chocolate bar pieces. Daniel filled over 200 orders
and managed the promotion, production and accounting all by himself.
Daniel’s flair for innovation and entrepreneurial spirit continued through
his career. He has co-founded two additional businesses, Dovetail Antiques
and Waterbrands. Dovetail is a wholesale distributor of fine European Antiques
based in Fairfield County. Together with his partner, the business grew
as an alternative source for the dynamic home market. Its unique positioning
and pricing strategies generated significant loyalty among customers. Waterbrands
is a custom label bottled water company that uses bottled water to convey marketing
messages for small to medium business. Using the label to tailor a message
is an effective brand building tool in todays’ cluttered environment.
Mr. Gwartz is a graduate of the Whittemore School of Business at the
University of New Hampshire and a graduate of the University of Grenoble,
France.
David F. Hale
David Hale is Chairman of Hale BioPharma Ventures, a private company focused
on the formation and development of biotechnology and specialty pharma companies. He
was previously President and CEO of CancerVax Corporation which merged with
Micromet, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the research, development
and commercialization of novel biological products for the treatment of cancer,
in May 2006. Following the merger Hale became Chairman of the Board of
the combined companies.
Mr. Hale has had a significant career in the biotechnology industry. He
is a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in the founding and/or development
of over 15 biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies. After
joining Hybritech, Inc., in 1982, the first monoclonal antibody company,
he was President & Chief Operating Officer and became CEO in
1986, when Hybritech was acquired by Eli Lilly and Co. From
1987 to 1997 he was Chairman, President and CEO of Gensia, Inc., which
merged with SICOR to become Gensia Sicor, Inc., which was acquired by Teva
Pharmaceuticals. He was a co-founder and Chairman of Viagene, Inc.
from 1987 to 1995, when Viagene was acquired by Chiron, Inc. He
was President and CEO of Women First HealthCare, Inc. from late 1997 to
June 2000, prior to joining CancerVax in October 2000.
Prior to joining Hybritech, Hale was Vice President and General Manager
of BBL Microbiology Systems, a division of Becton, Dickinson & Co.
and from 1971 to 1980, held various marketing and sales management positions
with Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, a division of Johnson & Johnson,
Inc.
Mr. Hale is a co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Somaxon Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., and Chairman of Santarus, Inc., which are publicly held companies. He
also serves as Executive Chairman of privately held SkinMedica, Inc. and
is a co-founder and director of Verus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Metabasis
Therapeutics, Inc., Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Zogenix, Inc.
Mr. Hale also is a co-founder and serves on the Board of Directors of
BIOCOM and the California Healthcare Institute (CHI), is a member of the
Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Biotechnology
Institute. Hale also serves on the Board of Directors of the San
Diego Economic Development Corporation, the Burnham Institute and Children’s
Hospital of San Diego. He is a co-founder of the CONNECT Program
in Technology and Entrepreneurship and currently serves as Chairman of
the Board.
Dr. George Harker III
Dr. George Harker joined Georgia Tech as Director – Office of Technology
Licensing (OTL) in September 2001 and is responsible for all the institute’s
technology transfer activities. In FY 2005, OTL received 324 invention
disclosures, filed 65 patent application, had 43 patents issued and assisted
in the start-up of 9 new companies using Georgia Tech intellectual property. In
July, 2003, Dr. Harker assumed expanded responsibilities as Assistant Vice-Provost
for Economic Development and Technology Ventures. In this new dual
reporting role, he is responsible for research contracts with industry
sponsors and interfacing OTL with the Institute’s economic development
efforts. He has developed strong connections to the research, entrepreneurial,
angel and venture capital communities in Georgia and around the US.
Dr. Harker was formerly the Director – Office of Technology Transfer at
West Virginia University. He started-up their office in 1999 and rapidly grew
it into a successful, expanding organization. While at West Virginia University
he was also involved with setting up and assisting start-up companies, attracting
venture capital companies to the university and the state, setting up an angel
investing group and founding the West Virginia Entrepreneurs Forum.
Dr. Harker has over 25 years of business experience with large, mid-size
and small companies, including DuPont, Chemtex International, The
Ensign-Bickford
Company and Nelson Brothers, Inc. His experience covers a wide variety
of functions, including Technology Transfer, R&D, Manufacturing, Marketing
and Sales,
Business Development, Strategic Alliance and Joint Venture Development,
Project Management, Financial Analysis and Legal. He has over 25
years of technology transfer/licensing experience. He has conducted
business in over 45 countries on 6 continents.
Dr. Harker earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University
of New Orleans and a BS in Chemistry from Louisiana State University-New
Orleans.
Dr. Harker is a member of the American Chemical Society, the Licensing
Executives Society and the Association of University Technology Managers,
The Atlanta Technology Executives Roundtable, the Technology Alliance of
Georgia and the Georgia Biomedical Partnership. He also serves on the Board
of Directors of the Wright Fuel Cell Group (based at Case Western Reserve
University) and the Office of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization
(National Institute of Justice organization).
James E. Hattersley
Mr. Hattersley joined Antares Pharma as Vice President, Corporate Business Development,
in February 2005. Prior to joining Antares Pharma, from 2000-2005, Mr.
Hattersley served as Senior Director of Business Development at Eurand, Inc.,
a global oral drug delivery and specialty pharmaceutical company. From
1998 to 2000, he was employed by Anesta Corporation prior to its acquisition
by Cephalon, and from 1995 to 1998, Mr. Hattersley was Director of Program
Management for JAGO Pharma AG, which was acquired by SkyePharma. Mr. Hattersley
also held technical positions at Abbott Laboratories, Syntex Research USA,
and Alza Corporation between 1986 and 1995. He holds a graduate degree
in biochemistry and an undergraduate degree in neurobiology, both from the
University of California.
Joanne Hayes-Rines
Joanne joined INVENTORS' DIGEST in February of 1987. She came to the magazine
with a background in editing, having worked for Johnson & Johnson and the
American Business Women's Association, and in small business ownership and
retail sales. In 1994 she purchased the magazine and took over publishing responsibilities.
Over the years, she has interviewed and talked with thousands of inventors
encouraging them to follow their dreams. "But people have to have a basic understanding
of the new product development process," she says, "before they jump
in and start writing checks for patenting or marketing services. Unfortunately,
it's much easier to do things wrong than it is to do them right."
She created the first National Inventors' Month�� -
August in 1998 to raise the national consciousness about the contributions made
by independent inventors and to change the all-too-often negative image of inventors. "Inventors
are the people who are changing the world and making it a better place for all
of us," she says. "However, it's hard to encourage kids to be inventive
if the only role model we give them is the kooky, weird inventor."
Joanne has been very active in national issues concerning inventors' rights
and works extensively with inventor organizations across the U.S. To that
end, she has served on the board of the United
Inventors Association of the USA as Director of Patent Law Reform and
has assumed several office positions. She is also a board member and Vice
President of the Academy of Applied
Science, a national non-profit organization which promotes the value
of creativity, invention and scientific excellence through educational
programs for students from primary school through college.
Fran Heller
As Head of Strategic Alliances at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Fran Heller establishes
and negotiates key strategic transactions with partners in the pharmaceutical
and biotech industry as well as academic institutions worldwide. She is responsible
for creating and negotiating high priority collaborations to further Novartis’ research
objectives. Ms. Heller is also responsible for building and managing
relationships with the venture capital community including potential relationships
with VC portfolio investments. Prior to joining Novartis, Ms. Heller
was Vice President, Corporate Development and Legal Affairs at Signature
BioScience, Inc. a drug discovery company focused in Oncology. At Signature,
she oversaw Signature's legal and business development activities including
all efforts to establish and grow corporate and academic collaborations worldwide.
Before joining Signature, Ms. Heller was Vice President Intellectual Property
and Legal Affairs at Zyomyx, where she was responsible for the company’s
legal and business development efforts. Previously, Ms. Heller was Corporate
and Intellectual Property Counsel for Celera Genomics, where she was responsible
for corporate and business transactions associated with the generation, analysis
and commercialization of genomic information and genomic-based collaborations.
She also has held several positions of increasing responsibility in the areas
of licensing, business development, marketing and intellectual property management.
Ms. Heller earned a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law, an M.A.
in biology from American University and a B.S. in biology from Tulane University. Ms.
Heller is a member of the California State Bar and is licensed by the US
Patent and Trademark Office.
René Hlousek,
ASA
René is the President and founder of Beacon Valuation Group, LLC
headquartered in San Francisco, California. His core experience includes
conducting an extensive array of business valuation engagements, having
determined and opined to the value of more than 200 major business entities
and over 1,000 distinct intangible assets in connection with mergers and
acquisitions
