Alison is Director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI), a joint initiative between Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Universities Association. KTI is the Irish national office, responsible for policy, practice and the performance of the Irish knowledge-technology transfer (KTT) system. Having started her career in the biotech industry, she then occupied a variety of academic-industry interface positions, most significantly as CEO at Medical Research Council Technology, UK, and at Kings College London where she led technology transfer and research support.

Rich is the Executive Director of MSU Technologies, the technology transfer office at Michigan State University, the nation’s pioneer land grant university, leading an office of 20 professionals who manage the university’s diverse intellectual property portfolio. Rich has been in university technology transfer since 2008. Prior to joining MSU, Rich served as the Director of Technology Transfer for the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan

Mary is an Associate Director at Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) where she has worked for more than two decades managing technologies from evaluation through to licensing in the life sciences and medical devices fields. She is involved in information management, the analysis of technology transfer business processes and information collection systems. In addition, she manages accounting, compliance, marketing and IT groups and is a member of the OTL Executive Committee responsible for shared governance of the office.

Graham is a Director of Quantifex Pty. Ltd. and Kakadu Software Pty. Ltd., a start-up out of the University of New South Wales, Australia (UNSW). Graham was previously the General Manager of NewSouth Innovations Pty. Ltd., UNSW’s technology transfer office. Graham started his career in investment banking, with roles at Deutsche Bank and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, before moving to UNSW.

Joann MacMaster serves as Director of Venture Development for the University of Arizona’s Tech Launch Arizona (TLA) team, focused on the commercialization of university research through the development of start-up companies. Prior to joining TLA, Joann served as Director of AzCI, a tech incubator housed at the UA Tech Park, and as Program Director and OTT Liaison for the UA McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship.

Becky is Director of Special Projects in the Division of Health Sciences at Montana State University, after establishing and serving 25 years as the Director of the Technology Transfer Office.  In this capacity her office spun-out more than 50 companies, most of those still thriving in Bozeman.  In her new position, she expands her role of connecting the university to public and private research efforts in the area of biomedical research.

Holly is the Associate Director of the Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She joined UAB in 2006 after serving as the Director of the Office of Technology Development at the University of South Alabama. She is a registered attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and a member of the State Bars of Alabama and Arkansas. Her career in university technology management and licensing spans more than 15 years and three universities.

Chris is the Director of Corporate Engagement for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Environmental Solutions Initiative. He was previously Licensing Officer for MIT’s energy portfolio, and also led international technology-transfer capacity-building engagements. Before joining MIT, Chris worked in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and executive management for international energy and technology companies. He was on the founding teams of two start-ups and is the lead inventor on two issued patents. He also spent 10 years as a consultant and investor, valuing M&A transactions, raising and negotiating financing for early-stage companies, and serving on the boards of private technology companies and non-profits.

Ken serves as Director of Intellectual Property and Social/Clinical Innovation at Innovate Calgary, which supports innovation and entrepreneurship for University of Calgary faculty, staff and students. He became interested in intellectual property when he and a team of chemists at Duke University invented a DNA sequencing technology for the Human Genome Sequencing Project. He entered the technology transfer profession at Duke University, has led the tech transfer office at CU-Boulder, and, in San Antonio, led the building of the first multi-institutional technology management office at the University of Texas.

Laura is the Technology Transfer Officer for BloodCenter of Wisconsin & the Blood Research Institute, a part of the non-profit organization Versiti. In this role, she is responsible for technology protection, commercialization, and partnership development. Laura has a diverse background as a research scientist, entrepreneur, and start-up advisor, and broad experience bringing inventions to market.

Marc is the Associate Vice Provost for Innovation and New Ventures and Managing Director of UNHInnovation. He joined UNH in 2010. Marc has an extensive background in intellectual asset management, licensing, and start-up formation. In addition to his position with UNH, he was the founding director of the Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center and serves as the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Innovation Research Center, New Hampshire’s only translational research funding program. Marc is currently the Principal Investigator of UNH’s National Science Foundation I-Corps Site.

Sharon works for Lilly’s Discovery Search and Evaluate External Innovation team as a Strategic Advisor to partnering with academic, alumni and external parties to foster novel business models, research collaborations and licensing opportunities. She is also co-chair of BIO’s Technology Transfer Office Committee.

Gayatri Varma is is Director of Partnering & Strategy at MedImmune, the early stage biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca where she leads business development activities for MedImmune’s Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity therapeutic area and engages in large-scale collaborations with academia and government.