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

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.

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.

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.

Joann MacMaster is Chief Executive Officer of Desert Angels, a non-profit organization of accredited investors who invest in Southwest regional start-up or early stage companies. Previously she served as Director of Venture Development for the University of Arizona’s Tech Launch Arizona (TLA) team, and was 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.

Ian McClure is the Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization at the University of Kentucky where he oversees a team of 18 staff managing the University’s inventions. In this role, Ian is also a PI on the NIH’s Regional Technology Transfer Accelerator Hub grant for the Southeast IDeA states region, chairs the Ohio Valley Affiliates for Life Sciences (OVALS), and is a PI and sits on the Board for the Commonwealth Commercialization Center (C3), a state-supported project to provide tech transfer services to all other universities in the state. Ian began his career as a Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and Intellectual Property (IP) transactions attorney. Following private practice, he helped build a start-up company in Chicago that was the world’s first financial exchange for IP and technology rights, which he led through product development, capital raise, proof of concept and growth to 30+ full time employees.   

Holly is a partner with the Walding Law Firm in Birmingham, Ala. 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 practice is centered on start-up companies, licensing, and intellectual property law.

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 is the Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization at the University of Maryland, College Park. 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 teams that serve university innovators at the Universities of Colorado, Texas, and Calgary.
  

John is the director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Princeton University, and has been working in academic technology licensing for more than 25 years. At Princeton, John manages a group of nine and has overall responsibility for protecting and commercializing all of Princeton’s intellectual property. Prior to his career in technology commercialization, John worked in industry in a variety of sales and marketing positions.

Laura is the Technology Transfer Officer for the non-profit organization Versiti | Blood Research Institute. 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.

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 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.