Speakers

 

Paula J. Bates
Professor of Medicine
University of Louisville

Paula co-directs several innovation programs that help academic researchers turn their ideas into real-world products. One of these is KYNETIC, a statewide program that provides research grants, entrepreneurial education, and a network of expertise. KYNETIC opportunities are open to all faculty, staff, and students at Kentucky’s public universities and community colleges. Bates is also an active researcher and was a co-founder of a successful biotechnology company. She is an inventor on 17 issued US patents and was elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2016.

Amy Beuschlein
Special Agent
FBI

Special Agent Amy Beuschlein grew up in Chicago and attended Knox College. Following a master’s degree, working as an Army Officer and a psychotherapist, Amy was selected as an FBI Special Agent. In 20+ years, Amy received numerous awards for her FBI investigative efforts. In Chicago, she countered a variety of CI threats, including high-profile prosecutions of Iraqi foreign agents. In Colorado, she works on asymmetric CI threats to universities and more.  She also served as an Army Reserve Officer, including deploying to Afghanistan, before retiring as a Colonel. Amy lives in Fort Collins, CO with her two children.  She enjoys biking, skiing, volunteering with animal rescues and tasting microbrews.

Walter G. Copan
Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer
Colorado School of Mines

Walt oversees research portfolio development and tech transfer at Mines in Golden, Colorado. He also serves as Senior Advisor and co-founder of the Renewing American Innovation Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He previously served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and 16th Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a position to which he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate.  

Dr. Copan is a distinguished leader with wide-ranging experience spanning large company, venture capital, entrepreneurial tech startup, U.S. government, non-profit and other public sector settings. He earned undergraduate degrees and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Case Western Reserve University. Among the many accolades he has received, Walt was recognized with the 2022 Baldrige Foundation Award for Leadership Excellence in Government, as well as AUTM’s Bayh-Dole Award in 2021.

Ben DeGreen
Senior Licensing Associate
Office of Technology Licensing ​
Georgia Tech

Ben is responsible for managing a vast portfolio of invention disclosures from submission to patenting and marketing decisions and the negotiation, execution, and administration of license agreements. He supports inventors and inventions from the Engineering Schools including Electrical and Computer, Chemical and Biomolecular, Mechanical, Materials Science and Engineering, as well as the School of Biology. Prior to Georgia Tech, Ben worked for Kimberly-Clark and Eastman Chemical in technology licensing, project management, auditing, and sales. Ben holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and is a Certified Licensing Professional.

Joshua Gruenspecht
Partner
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Joshua is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he advises domestic and foreign investors, funds, established companies, non-profits, and start-ups on regulatory, investigative, and enforcement matters related to national security.  He has been recognized by both Chambers USA and Chambers Global as a leading international trade and CFIUS lawyer.  He served as CFIUS counsel to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in connection with the rulemaking that implemented recent CFIUS reform legislation and led the drafting of the NVCA’s model CFIUS language. Before becoming an attorney, Joshua was an engineer with the federal government focusing on device exploitation and computer network exploitation. He leverages his knowledge of technology and its uses within the national security community to assist clients in assessing the sensitivities and exploitability of their products in fields ranging from software to biotechnologies. 

Doug Hockstad
Assistant Vice President
Tech Launch Arizona

Doug joined the University of Arizona in 2013 initially directing the IP and licensing function, building on more than 30 years of experience in high tech markets.

Doug began his career in the software industry gaining experience in both established companies and startups assuming roles spanning from implementation to product management, marketing, and sales. Through a twist of fate, he moved on to tech transfer at alma mater — the University of Michigan — where his primary responsibility was managing software and other copyright-related intellectual property. Doug has also served on the AUTM Board of Directors, helping to set the strategic direction of the organization.

Rick Huebsch
Executive Director
Technology Commercialization
University of Minnesota

Rick's team is responsible for all facets of technology transfer including IP protection, marketing, licensing, and startups through the Venture Center. In addition, his team partners with the UMN Foundation on the University's Corporate Engagement initiatives. Rick also serves on the Launch Advisory Board for the State of Minnesota.

Rick joined the University in 2008 after 20 years of software industry experience including roles in software engineering, technology strategy, and executive management with Minnesota and California software companies.

Karin Immergluck
Associate Vice Provost, Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) 
Stanford University.

Karin leads an internationally renowned team of professionals responsible for managing all aspects of Stanford’s intellectual property portfolio, including IP protection, marketing and business development to generate both licensing leads and new industry research collaborations, industry research contracting, strategic alliance management, and licensing to new Stanford startups as well as established companies. This year, the OTL has also launched its new High Impact Technology (HIT) Fund and Program to fund and mentor translational and proof of concept project teams.
 
Prior to joining Stanford, Karin spent 17 years in technology transfer within the University of California system, ultimately leading the UCSF Office of Technology Management as Executive Director. Karin is also an active participant in TenU, a trans-Atlantic tech transfer consortium, and serves as a Board member of the non-profit Academic Venture Exchange, which facilitates matchmaking between entrepreneurial university inventors and seasoned entrepreneurs who have experience leading nascent startups. Dr. Immergluck received her Ph.D. in Developmental Molecular Genetics from the University of Zürich in Switzerland.

Emily Klein
Director for Venture Development
Technology Commercialization
Venture Partners
University of Colorado Boulder

Emily oversees a comprehensive series of training programs for university researchers designed to help them develop entrepreneurial and business skills while evolving their ventures from ideation to traction with investors, partners and the market.

Emily joined CU Boulder Venture Partners from her work catalyzing local startup investment with Rockies Venture Club (RVC). Through RVC, one of the largest angel investing groups in the country, she managed education and community events, led the Women's Investor Network, and managed a venture capital fund investing in early-stage startups across industries.

Emily is a graduate of Brown University and University of Vermont Grossman School of Business.

Angi Kujak
Senior Director of Contracts
UCLA Technology Development Group

Angi is a patent attorney and serves as UCLA Technology Development Group’s Senior Director of Contracts.  In this role, she is responsible for drafting, negotiating, and executing a broad range and high volume of complex IP-, industry-, and startup-related transactions and for managing a team of contract managers who provide support to the licensing team.  She also serves as primary point of contact for IP-related issues and disputes within UCLA’s broader campus.  Prior to joining UCLA, Angi served as Associate General Counsel for WARF and as a patent prosecution and litigation attorney within a private law firm. 

Kirsten Leute
Partner, University Relations
Osage University Partners (OUP)

In leading University Relations for OUP, Kirsten is responsible for the relationships with approximately 100 academic institutions that are partnered with the fund, engaging potential new partner institutions, and creating and delivering value-add programs for the partnered academic institutions and their entrepreneurs.
 
Kirsten is an experienced technology transfer professional, having spent 19 years in technology transfer at Stanford University and the German Cancer Research Center. Prior to joining OUP, she was Associate Director at Stanford’s Office of Technology Licensing. Over her career at Stanford, she managed portfolios of inventions in most technology areas, but concentrated in biotechnology.

Alice Li
Executive Director
Center for Technology Licensing
Cornell University

Alice oversees activities in technology management, licensing, marketing and finance to support Cornell’s goals in commercializing technologies, promoting startups, and building partnerships. Alice also leads the university gap funding series to accelerate innovation and new venture creation. Alice has more than 20 years of experience in university tech transfer and business development.

Prior to joining CTL in 2002, Alice was an R&D manager at BioArray Solutions, a startup biotech company in diagnostics. During her five-year tenure, the company grew from a two-person startup to an enterprise of fifty people.

Alice obtained her Ph.D. from Cornell University and a B.S. from Tsinghua University. She is also an inventor, patent holder, and author of research papers in scientific journals. She is a Certified Licensing Professional. Alice is a Board Director of AUTM.

Erik Lowe
Director of the Office of Export Controls
University of Colorado Boulder

Erik currently serves as the Director of the Office of Export Controls at University of Colorado, Boulder campus, where he routinely confronts issues of intellectual property protection in a globalized research and collaboration environment. Prior to joining CU, he served as the Director for Trade and Technology policy for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he advised policy makers, including the National Security Council, on threats and vulnerabilities to U.S. national security via trade, investment, and research in emerging technologies. His professional experience prior to the U.S. government includes an international organization focused on trade and development in emerging economies, as well as private legal practice at the intersection of IP and competition law and technology.  

Karen Maples
Founder & Chief Catalyst, FutureForward
Founder & President, Myutiq, LLC

Karen is the founder of FutureForward, a global initiative to advance the economic impact of innovation by accelerating inclusion of diverse and underrepresented groups in the innovation ecosystem. She is also the founder of Myutiq - an innovation strategy firm that helps organizations build innovation capacity for long-term viability and growth.
 
Karen is the Chair of AUTM’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee. She is a founding member of Invent Together and serves on the Advisory Board of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Foundation. She has been recognized by Enterprising Women as one of the top women entrepreneurs in North America.  Her education incudes a B.B.A. and M.B.A. from the College of William and Mary and post-graduate studies at Harvard Business School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Keith Marmer
Chief Innovation & Economic Engagement Officer
University of Utah

In his role at University of Utah, Keith has launching three accelerators, a business incubator and a venture fund to support startup companies. As an entrepreneur, he has launched three companies and helped other entrepreneurs raise more than $1 billion in investment capital.

Previously, Keith was co-founder of SG3 Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage life science companies. Prior to SG3 Ventures, Keith was chief business officer at Penn Center for Innovation. Keith serves on numerous boards and is a past entrepreneur-in-residence at Princeton University.

Holly Meadows
Director of the Agreements Practice Group
TreMonti Consulting LLC

Holly is a licensed patent attorney and holds two states licenses as well. She has over twenty years’ experience in Technology Transfer, spanning three Universities. She also spent two years of her career in the private practice of law in her home state of Alabama.  A former member of the Board of Directors for AUTM, she remains active in the Association and is on the committee for The Conversation.

Nichole Mercier
Assistant Vice Chancellor & the Managing Director
Office of Technology Management
Washington University in St. Louis

Nichole sets strategy for technology transfer and oversees operations relating to the licensing and protection of intellectual property. She is committed to ensuring that women and minorities engage in technology transfer and entrepreneurship, establishing the Women in Innovation and Technology (WIT) Program at WashU and also Equalize, a national program that gives the support needed to women who face barriers to academic entrepreneurship.

Nichole holds a PhD in Cell Biology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Cliff Michaels
Assistant Vice President & Director
Office of Technology Transfer & Commercialization
Georgia State University

Cliff oversees the growth and evolution of the tech transfer program. He has more than 15 years of experience in academic technology transfer, licensing, industry partnerships and research administration. Cliff strongly believes in the ability of academic research to have real-world impact.

Cliff holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Emory University and prior to joining Georgia State, Cliff was a long-time member of Emory’s Technology Transfer Office including a period serving as the office’s interim executive director. Cliff is an active AUTM, CLP, and UIDP volunteer and is a member of Southeast Life Science’s Board of Directors and Georgia Bio’s Academic Counsel.

When not supporting research and innovation at Georgia State, Cliff can often be found running or baking; two hobbies which luckily work to offset one another!

Graciela (Gracie) Narcho
Deputy Assistant Director
Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships
U.S. National Science Foundation

Narcho has been with NSF for nearly three decades, serving in a broad range of roles spanning the development of the TIP Directorate, grants and agreements oversight, program management, and diversity and inclusion efforts. Narcho is known as a change agent for positive human capital reforms, business practice innovations, and NSF policy development.

Together with colleagues across NSF, Narcho has helped develop and launch several NSF initiatives, including the industry-government partnerships for the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes program, the Global Environment for Networking Innovation, or GENI, the Computing Community Consortium, or CCC, and Computer and Information Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowships, or CSGrad4US.

Taunya Phillips
Director
Office of Technology Commercialization
University of Kentucky

Taunya oversees a team of 14 staff managing the University’s intellectual property, licensing and startup portfolios. Previously, she was the senior associate director of New Ventures & Alliances, where she was focused on overseeing key alliances for OTC and managing support and services for UK and Lexington entrepreneurs and startups. She has worked at UK since 1999, where her previous positions have been assistant vice president for Commercialization & Economic Development, chief financial officer for Kentucky Technology, Incorporated, College of Engineering lecturer, and Minority Engineering program director. Before UK, Taunya worked at Milliken & Company, a chemical and textile manufacturer.

Marc Sedam,
Vice President, Technology Opportunities & Ventures
New York University and NYU Langone Health

Marc is responsible for the commercialization enterprise across NYU’s $1bn research enterprise, including its #2 ranked medical school and #3 ranked healthcare system, for one of the top performing tech transfer offices in the US. NYU regularly ranks in the top 10 nationally for license income and startup formation, and recently hired the first full-time equity research analyst in a tech transfer office to support startup formation. Marc also operates NYU Langone Health’s $25MM in-house venture fund dedicated to accelerating startup success.
 
Prior to joining NYU, Marc ran the innovation enterprise at the University of New Hampshire where he achieve a #6 ranking in innovation impact amongst mid-sized universities, founded its entrepreneurship center, was PI of the I-Corps Site, and built an internationally-recognized program in the commercialization of digital and creative works. During COVID Marc helped build and operate UNH’s COVID testing lab from scratch, going from concept to CLIA certification in 100 days, which at its peak tested over 25,000 samples/week across the state of New Hampshire.
 
Marc has also served as AUTM Chair, VP and COO of Qualyst (a UNC-Chapel Hill startup), an advisor to Ferocity Capital, and is currently the co-President of the New York Intellectual Property Alliance. He holds a BS in biochemistry from UNH and an MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Tari Suprapto
Director for Search & Evaluation for Western US and Canada
Novo Nordisk

Tari is a seasoned technology commercialization professional in the life sciences.  She also has experience with the animal health industry when she was a part of the External Innovation team at Elanco, and spent over 15 years in the non-profit sector promoting and commercializing innovative opportunities from world-class research institutions such as the Salk Institute, The Rockefeller University, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. 

Tari has extensive experience in licensing, building and managing strategic alliances with industry and other academic institutions, and a well-rounded technical background in a variety of therapeutic areas resulting from her Ph.D. in Molecular & Cellular Biology from The Rockefeller University and an Honors B.A. from Swarthmore College. 

Tari is also a mother of two daughters and two dogs, loves kickboxing, yoga, beaches, and sea turtles. 

James Zanewicz
Chief Business Officer
Tulane Medicine

James serves as principal BioMedical business development strategist and connectivity officer to industry, venture capital and other external collaborators; as well as overseeing marketing & communications, working on change-oriented special projects, and crisis management for Tulane Medicine.  His career includes establishing the open science functions for HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus, corporate chemistry at Rhône-Poulenc Rorer, “new media” for the daily news show EXTRA, and Innovation and Engagement functions at the University of Illinois & University of Louisville.  

James is on the Board for the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare, chaired the Board of ATTP, and served on the Boards of AUTM, NACRO, and the BioJudiciary Project.