AUTM Welcomes New Board Chair, Directors

Seattle, Feb. 11, 2026 — AUTM, the world’s largest association for technology transfer professionals, welcomed a new Chair and members to its Board of Directors during the 2026 AUTM Annual Meeting.

Irene Abrams began her one-year term as Chair of the AUTM Board of Directors on February 11. She is Senior Vice President of Research Innovation at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she leads the nationally ranked Technology & Innovation Development Office. She also serves as Managing Director of the Therapeutic & Medical Device Accelerator, a hospital-run investment fund focused on advancing Boston Children’s innovations toward commercialization. Abrams previously held senior academic technology transfer leadership roles at Mass General Brigham Innovation, Brandeis University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“I am honored to serve as Chair of the AUTM Board at a time when the role of technology transfer has never been more important,” said Abrams. “I look forward to supporting this community, fostering collaboration, and helping ensure that innovations born in research institutions continue to reach the people and communities they are meant to serve.”

The Board also selected Daniel Dardani, Director of Physical Sciences and Digital Innovations Licensing and Corporate Alliances at Duke University, as Chair-Elect. A recognized leader in software, AI, and digital technology licensing, Dardani brings more than two decades of experience negotiating license agreements and counseling inventors on how to protect, leverage, and translate university-born innovations into impactful commercialization opportunities. He is a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP), a Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP) Fellow, and an AUTM member for more than twenty-three years. Before Duke, Dan worked in technology licensing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and at Harvard University’s Summer School where he co-taught a course in intellectual property.   
 
Five new Directors are also beginning their terms on the Board:

• Kathleen Butcher, Director of License Strategy & Business Development at Northwestern University’s Innovation and New Ventures Office
• Felicia Metz, Associate Director, UM Ventures, Office of Technology Commercialization at the University of Maryland
• Laura Schoppe, Chief Communications Officer at TechPipeline inc. (Fuentek LLC)
• Maithili Shroff, Licensing Manager at the University of New Hampshire
• Patricia Stepp, Assistant Vice President for Technology Transfer at Rice University

Abrams, Dardani, Butcher, Metz, Schoppe, Shroff, and Stepp will take their places with continuing Board Members: Immediate Past Chair Joy Goswami, the Research Foundation for SUNY; Treasurer Doug Aguilera, Aguilera and Associates; Gaylene Anderson, Boehringer Ingelheim; Jennifer Fraser, University of Toronto; Marie Kerbeshian, University of Iowa, and Ellen MacKay, RTTP, Intellectual Property Ontario.