#LESAM16
Andrew White is the Corporate Vice President of Emerson for the Middle East and Africa world area. He has resided in the Middle East for the last five years after moving to the region from the UK. In his role Andrew promotes Emerson’s portfolio of business platforms across the wider region whilst dealing with many governmental and regulatory institutions. Andrew also oversees Emerson’s corporate investment strategy across the Middle East and Africa.
He originates from a strong technology background and is considered an industry thinker within the technology and datacentre world. Andrew started out his career as an Engineer quickly broadening his skill set into the senior management arena. He is a master’s graduate from the world famous London Business School where he received his MBA. Andrew is a member of the American Business Council and also a member of the Institute of Engineers and Technologists.
Robin Farmanfarmaian
Andrew White
Craig Smith
Jeb Keiper
Jerry Wald
John Hornick
Lesley Stolz
Robin Farmanfarmaian is an entrepreneur, founder, professional speaker and best selling author working in cutting edge technology and medicine. Currently Farmanfarmaian is the COO of Arc Fusion Programs, working on the fusion of medicine, science and IT, and a VP at INVICTA Medical, a device company for sleep apnea. A life long philanthropist and mentor, she is the Co-Founder and on the Board of Directors (formally Executive Director) for the Organ Preservation Alliance, catalyzing breakthroughs in organ banking for transplants and tissue engineering, and President for the Innovation for Jobs Summit, finding solutions to disrupt unemployment. Robin is on the advisory board of many startups and conferences, and mentors female entrepreneurs. Previous work includes being one of the founders of Morfit, the Exponential Medicine conference, and a VP at Singularity University. Her book, “The Patient as CEO: How Technology Empowers the Healthcare Consumer”, is a #1 Best Seller on Amazon.
John J. Cheek
Craig Smith is Chief Executive Officer of Dhahran Techno Valley Company overseeing all aspects of the Dhahran Techno Valley Science Park, from entrepreneurship development to joint ventures between multinational companies and Saudi government and academia.
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Craig is a member of the Advisory Board, College of Engineering Sciences at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He has previously served as Chairman of the Board, LES Silicon Valley Chapter and still serves on its Advisory Board.
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Craig holds a B.A. in Asian History from University of Puget Sound, M.B.A. in International Finance from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, studied Cleantech Economics at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Stanford University Graduate School and US Energy Policy at the Brookings Institution, Washington D.C.
John has been a counselor and litigator in the Washington, D.C. office of the Finnegan IP law firm (one of the large IP firms in the world) for over 30 years, where he has litigated close to 100 IP cases. John founded Finnegan’s 3D Printing Working Group and advises clients about how 3D printing may affect their businesses. John frequently speaks and writes on 3D printing and has been recognized as a thought leader in this space. He is the author of a popular book, 3D Printing Will Rock the World, which has been called a “must-read” offering “rare insight into how 3D printing is redefining what can be designed and manufactured.” His articles have been published at www.3DPrintingIndustry.com, in the Journal of 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing, where he serves on the Editorial Board, and in Wired Innovation, and he writes a column for 3D Printing World. He was the only IP attorney selected by the U.S. Comptroller General Forum on Additive Manufacturing (which is the basis of a report to Congress). John is a juror for the International Additive Manufacturing Award.
Jeb Keiper is the Chief Business Officer of Nimbus Therapeutics. Jeb is accountable for the financing, business development, commercial, legal, communications, and operations functions at Nimbus, and alongside CEO Don Nicholson, led the Series B financing (March 2015), collaboration with Genentech (October 2015), and sale of ACC program to Gilead (April 2016). Prior to joining Nimbus, Jeb was Vice President of Business Development for GSK Oncology and a member of the Oncology Executive team as well as the Worldwide Business Development Leadership Team. In this role, Jeb was responsible for defining and executing the business development strategy for GSK Oncology, including in-licensing transactions, acquisitions, strategic alliances, academic research relationships, alliance management and competitive intelligence. Alongside these responsibilities, Jeb was also named to lead the GSK-Novartis integration of the commercial oncology business valued at $16B and impacting thousands of staff across 80+ countries.
Dr. Stolz has 20 years of business and corporate development experience working for companies that have been both technology platform and therapeutics focused. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson Innovation, she held executive positions with BioTime, Inc., Sutro Biopharma, Inc., and Sunesis Pharmaceuticals where she was responsible for corporate strategy, fundraising and all aspects of partnering. Earlier in her career, she served as Senior Director, Business Development for Aerovance, Inc. and for GPC Biotech AG in Munich, Germany from 2002 to 2006. She also served in senior management positions at Cell Genesys, Discovery Partners International and Axys Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Stolz received her Ph.D. in chemistry, and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.
Dr. Jerry Wald, Senior Director, Intellectual Property Strategy, Visa Dr. Wald is an intellectual property professional responsible for business value creation for Visa through the strategic use of intellectual property. He focuses on the development and management of Visa's patent portfolio and trade secrets, the management of intellectual property risks and the diligence of commercial and M&A deals. Before joining Visa he co-led Intellectual Property Management Services at Ernst & Young and was Director of Intellectual Property Strategy and Licensing at Honeywell.
John J. Cheek is Senior Corporate Counsel and Deputy Chief IP Counsel with Caterpillar Inc. - the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines, and a leading services provider through Caterpillar Financial Services, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services, and Progress Rail Services. As Deputy Chief IP Counsel, John manages a team of attorneys and other professionals with global responsibility for brand protection and trademark enforcement, intellectual property licensing, industrial design protection, aftermarket parts and service patenting, and patent clearance and disputes, and IP for Caterpillar's industrial turbines business. John also holds leadership in Caterpillar's legislative and lobbying activities and has served as Caterpillar's Legal Division Champion for legal process outsourcing. He is Vice President of Prairie State Legal Services, and serves on Caterpillar's Pro Bono Outreach and Recognition committee. Mr. Cheek is a regular guest lecturer on IP strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Albert Wai-Kit Chan
Albert Wai-Kit Chan, Ph.D., J.D., is a Patent Attorney with over 20 years of legal experience in all aspects of obtaining and litigating patents and has a specialty focus on the life sciences. He was awarded his Ph.D. in Virology from the Baylor College of Medicine (Texas, U.S.) and his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law (New York, U.S.). Dr. Chan is registered to practice before the USPTO (1993) and has been admitted to practice in New Jersey (1992), New York (1993), Texas (2006) and the Supreme Court of the United States (2008). He is currently adjunct associate professor in the School of Life Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and has adjunct professorship in the Department of Health Technology and Informatics at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr. Chan is founder and director of United States-China Intellectual Property Institute, Inc. (a New York Not-For-Profit Corporation).
Baiju R. Shah
Baiju R. Shah is Chief Executive Officer of BioMotiv and co-leader of The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development, a $300 million US and UK drug development initiative. The Project’s mission is to accelerate breakthrough discoveries into medicines. It is advancing a portfolio of technologies through an innovative model that efficiently aligns capital and collaborations, including partnerships with disease foundations, Takeda, and Biogen. BioMotiv is the for-profit accelerator company aligned with The Project. Prior to BioMotiv, Mr. Shah was President and CEO of BioEnterprise, a partnership of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, Summa Health System, and University Hospitals. Shah has been named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and has been recognized as one of Cleveland’s most influential leaders. He received a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Yale University.
Charles R. Neuenschwander
Mr. Neuenschwander has more than 45 years business experience in the licensing, electronics and chemical industries. He has spent the past twenty-five years managing and supporting client assertive patent license negotiations and litigations for International Patent Licensing Company, Patent Solutions (both of which he co-founded), Mahr Leonard Management Company and STMicroelectronics. Mr. Neuenschwander personally or through organizations he has led has completed more than 65 IP transactions.
Mr. Neuenschwander directs and participates in developing licensing strategies, completing portfolio evaluations, documenting patent infringement incidents, calculating infringement damages and license royalties, and successfully concluding license agreements for clients. His licensing focus is in the areas of telecommunications, information technologies, semiconductors, consumer electronics, the internet and software.
David Ai
Dr. David Ai is Director of Knowledge Transfer at the City University of Hong Kong. Prior to 2014, he worked for Stanford’s Office of Technology Licensing for six years, managing inventions while spearheading Stanford’s technology marketing effort in China. Previously, Dr. Ai was Chief Advisor at Hitachi Corporate VC until 2006, where he scored two successful acquisitions and one IPO among the four VC investments he led. Earlier, Dr. Ai founded an award-winning e-healthcare business in Beijing. Also, as CEO he secured $6M VC investment in the first foreign-owned cancer center in Shanghai. In 1990s, he was VP/GM at Varian Medical (NYSE: VAR), VP of Marketing at Cirque (acquired by ALPS Japan), and Project Manager at Hewlett-Packard. Dr. Ai received a BS in psychology (National Taiwan University), an MS in computer science (Indiana University), an MBA (Stanford), and a J.D. (Santa Clara University). He is a registered patent attorney (California).
SPEAKERS
Andrew White is the Corporate Vice President of Emerson for the Middle East and Africa world area. He has resided in the Middle East for the last five years after moving to the region from the UK. In his role Andrew promotes Emerson’s portfolio of business platforms across the wider region whilst dealing with many governmental and regulatory institutions. Andrew also oversees Emerson’s corporate investment strategy across the Middle East and Africa.
He originates from a strong technology background and is considered an industry thinker within the technology and datacentre world. Andrew started out his career as an Engineer quickly broadening his skill set into the senior management arena. He is a master’s graduate from the world famous London Business School where he received his MBA. Andrew is a member of the American Business Council and also a member of the Institute of Engineers and Technologists.
Robin Farmanfarmaian
Andrew White
Craig Smith
Jeb Keiper
Jerry Wald
John Hornick
Lesley Stolz
Robin Farmanfarmaian is an entrepreneur, founder, professional speaker and best selling author working in cutting edge technology and medicine. Currently Farmanfarmaian is the COO of Arc Fusion Programs, working on the fusion of medicine, science and IT, and a VP at INVICTA Medical, a device company for sleep apnea. A life long philanthropist and mentor, she is the Co-Founder and on the Board of Directors (formally Executive Director) for the Organ Preservation Alliance, catalyzing breakthroughs in organ banking for transplants and tissue engineering, and President for the Innovation for Jobs Summit, finding solutions to disrupt unemployment. Robin is on the advisory board of many startups and conferences, and mentors female entrepreneurs. Previous work includes being one of the founders of Morfit, the Exponential Medicine conference, and a VP at Singularity University. Her book, “The Patient as CEO: How Technology Empowers the Healthcare Consumer”, is a #1 Best Seller on Amazon.
John J. Cheek
Craig Smith is Chief Executive Officer of Dhahran Techno Valley Company overseeing all aspects of the Dhahran Techno Valley Science Park, from entrepreneurship development to joint ventures between multinational companies and Saudi government and academia.
​
Craig is a member of the Advisory Board, College of Engineering Sciences at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He has previously served as Chairman of the Board, LES Silicon Valley Chapter and still serves on its Advisory Board.
​
Craig holds a B.A. in Asian History from University of Puget Sound, M.B.A. in International Finance from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, studied Cleantech Economics at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Stanford University Graduate School and US Energy Policy at the Brookings Institution, Washington D.C.
John has been a counselor and litigator in the Washington, D.C. office of the Finnegan IP law firm (one of the large IP firms in the world) for over 30 years, where he has litigated close to 100 IP cases. John founded Finnegan’s 3D Printing Working Group and advises clients about how 3D printing may affect their businesses. John frequently speaks and writes on 3D printing and has been recognized as a thought leader in this space. He is the author of a popular book, 3D Printing Will Rock the World, which has been called a “must-read” offering “rare insight into how 3D printing is redefining what can be designed and manufactured.” His articles have been published at www.3DPrintingIndustry.com, in the Journal of 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing, where he serves on the Editorial Board, and in Wired Innovation, and he writes a column for 3D Printing World. He was the only IP attorney selected by the U.S. Comptroller General Forum on Additive Manufacturing (which is the basis of a report to Congress). John is a juror for the International Additive Manufacturing Award.
Jeb Keiper is the Chief Business Officer of Nimbus Therapeutics. Jeb is accountable for the financing, business development, commercial, legal, communications, and operations functions at Nimbus, and alongside CEO Don Nicholson, led the Series B financing (March 2015), collaboration with Genentech (October 2015), and sale of ACC program to Gilead (April 2016). Prior to joining Nimbus, Jeb was Vice President of Business Development for GSK Oncology and a member of the Oncology Executive team as well as the Worldwide Business Development Leadership Team. In this role, Jeb was responsible for defining and executing the business development strategy for GSK Oncology, including in-licensing transactions, acquisitions, strategic alliances, academic research relationships, alliance management and competitive intelligence. Alongside these responsibilities, Jeb was also named to lead the GSK-Novartis integration of the commercial oncology business valued at $16B and impacting thousands of staff across 80+ countries.
Dr. Stolz has 20 years of business and corporate development experience working for companies that have been both technology platform and therapeutics focused. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson Innovation, she held executive positions with BioTime, Inc., Sutro Biopharma, Inc., and Sunesis Pharmaceuticals where she was responsible for corporate strategy, fundraising and all aspects of partnering. Earlier in her career, she served as Senior Director, Business Development for Aerovance, Inc. and for GPC Biotech AG in Munich, Germany from 2002 to 2006. She also served in senior management positions at Cell Genesys, Discovery Partners International and Axys Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Stolz received her Ph.D. in chemistry, and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.
Dr. Jerry Wald, Senior Director, Intellectual Property Strategy, Visa Dr. Wald is an intellectual property professional responsible for business value creation for Visa through the strategic use of intellectual property. He focuses on the development and management of Visa's patent portfolio and trade secrets, the management of intellectual property risks and the diligence of commercial and M&A deals. Before joining Visa he co-led Intellectual Property Management Services at Ernst & Young and was Director of Intellectual Property Strategy and Licensing at Honeywell.
John J. Cheek is Senior Corporate Counsel and Deputy Chief IP Counsel with Caterpillar Inc. - the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines, and a leading services provider through Caterpillar Financial Services, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services, and Progress Rail Services. As Deputy Chief IP Counsel, John manages a team of attorneys and other professionals with global responsibility for brand protection and trademark enforcement, intellectual property licensing, industrial design protection, aftermarket parts and service patenting, and patent clearance and disputes, and IP for Caterpillar's industrial turbines business. John also holds leadership in Caterpillar's legislative and lobbying activities and has served as Caterpillar's Legal Division Champion for legal process outsourcing. He is Vice President of Prairie State Legal Services, and serves on Caterpillar's Pro Bono Outreach and Recognition committee. Mr. Cheek is a regular guest lecturer on IP strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Albert Wai-Kit Chan
Albert Wai-Kit Chan, Ph.D., J.D., is a Patent Attorney with over 20 years of legal experience in all aspects of obtaining and litigating patents and has a specialty focus on the life sciences. He was awarded his Ph.D. in Virology from the Baylor College of Medicine (Texas, U.S.) and his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law (New York, U.S.). Dr. Chan is registered to practice before the USPTO (1993) and has been admitted to practice in New Jersey (1992), New York (1993), Texas (2006) and the Supreme Court of the United States (2008). He is currently adjunct associate professor in the School of Life Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and has adjunct professorship in the Department of Health Technology and Informatics at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr. Chan is founder and director of United States-China Intellectual Property Institute, Inc. (a New York Not-For-Profit Corporation).
Baiju R. Shah
Baiju R. Shah is Chief Executive Officer of BioMotiv and co-leader of The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development, a $300 million US and UK drug development initiative. The Project’s mission is to accelerate breakthrough discoveries into medicines. It is advancing a portfolio of technologies through an innovative model that efficiently aligns capital and collaborations, including partnerships with disease foundations, Takeda, and Biogen. BioMotiv is the for-profit accelerator company aligned with The Project. Prior to BioMotiv, Mr. Shah was President and CEO of BioEnterprise, a partnership of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, Summa Health System, and University Hospitals. Shah has been named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and has been recognized as one of Cleveland’s most influential leaders. He received a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Yale University.
Charles R. Neuenschwander
Mr. Neuenschwander has more than 45 years business experience in the licensing, electronics and chemical industries. He has spent the past twenty-five years managing and supporting client assertive patent license negotiations and litigations for International Patent Licensing Company, Patent Solutions (both of which he co-founded), Mahr Leonard Management Company and STMicroelectronics. Mr. Neuenschwander personally or through organizations he has led has completed more than 65 IP transactions.
Mr. Neuenschwander directs and participates in developing licensing strategies, completing portfolio evaluations, documenting patent infringement incidents, calculating infringement damages and license royalties, and successfully concluding license agreements for clients. His licensing focus is in the areas of telecommunications, information technologies, semiconductors, consumer electronics, the internet and software.
David Ai
Dr. David Ai is Director of Knowledge Transfer at the City University of Hong Kong. Prior to 2014, he worked for Stanford’s Office of Technology Licensing for six years, managing inventions while spearheading Stanford’s technology marketing effort in China. Previously, Dr. Ai was Chief Advisor at Hitachi Corporate VC until 2006, where he scored two successful acquisitions and one IPO among the four VC investments he led. Earlier, Dr. Ai founded an award-winning e-healthcare business in Beijing. Also, as CEO he secured $6M VC investment in the first foreign-owned cancer center in Shanghai. In 1990s, he was VP/GM at Varian Medical (NYSE: VAR), VP of Marketing at Cirque (acquired by ALPS Japan), and Project Manager at Hewlett-Packard. Dr. Ai received a BS in psychology (National Taiwan University), an MS in computer science (Indiana University), an MBA (Stanford), and a J.D. (Santa Clara University). He is a registered patent attorney (California).