Discover the keys to successful university-industry research contract negotiations at Contracting Forum 2020, January 28-29 at SkySong, The Arizona State University Scottsdale Innovation Center
More speakers are being added as the event gets closer; check back to see the latest!
Steve Harsy, University of Arizona
Dr. Harsy currently serves as Director of Contracting and Pre-award Services at the University of Arizona. He is responsible for central administrative units that negotiate contracts, review and submit proposals, and set up awards. Prior to joining the University of Arizona, Dr. Harsy worked in both industry and academia. He spent fifteen years at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, structuring relationships with industry, and managing conflict of interest, research misconduct, intellectual property, and other research policy issues. Dr. Harsy spent the first seventeen years of his career in industry, as a corporate scientist at W.R. Grace and Company, and in scientific and management positions at Covance Laboratories. He received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Stanford University, and his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Charles Adelsheim, Varian Medical Systems
Charles’ primary responsibility at Varian Medical Systems is for their patent portfolio for treatment and imaging, interventional medicine, and proton therapy. Adelsheim also has primary responsibility for the front end (evaluation and valuation) of technology licensing. He is a licensed patent attorney with 7+ years of experience prosecuting patents. He has a background in chemistry and engineering, and now oncology as well. Adelsheim has experience with the vagaries of working within a university system, and experience in the private sector, and enjoy bridging the gap between these two sometimes disparate worlds.
Elaine Brock, UIDP
Elaine is a Project Manager for the UIDP, managing the Contract Accords and Master Agreements projects, both of which develop practical guidance and materials to help parties negotiating collaborative research agreements. She is President & Senior Partner at Contracts, Compliance, and Conflict of Interest Authority, LLC, where she provides advice and counsel to universities and small business on research administration issues.
Elizabeth Adams, UIDP
Elizabeth H. Adams is currently the Director of the Office of Research and Project Administration at Princeton University. Previously, she was an Associate with the UIDP (University Industry Demonstration Partnership), consulting on range of research-related topics including public-private partnerships, the management of federal funding, operations management and compliance. Her nearly 20 years of experience in sponsored programs management (spanning preaward, contracts, postaward and information functions) across four major research universities (University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Virginia and Princeton University) provides her a wide frame of reference for managing and advising on university-based and cross-sector research. Elizabeth has worked at the center, department, school and central university administration levels.
Gaylene Anderson, Boehringer Ingelheim
As Boehringer Ingelheim’s US Director, Contracts and Alliance Management, Gaylene is responsible for negotiating sponsored research and license agreements and partnering with academic institutions to manage strategic alliance programs. Prior to joining BI, Gaylene served as the Director, Cleveland Clinic/ University of Notre Dame Global Alliance Commercialization Program – managing all life science IP, negotiating sponsored research opportunities, and spinning out new startup companies. Prior to the Cleveland Clinic, she worked for the University of Idaho and the University of Hawaii as a Senior Licensing Associate.
Glennia Campbell, Stanford University
Glennia Campbell is the Director of the Stanford University Office Industrial Contracts Office, specializing in research agreements with industry. Previously at Stanford, she was the Contracts Team Manager with the Clinical Trial Research Management Group. With over 20 years’ experience, Glennia is an attorney who has worked as a contract negotiator and manager in both industry and academia, in areas ranging from semiconductors to aerospace to drug development. She has been admitted to the State Bar of California, Texas and New York. She received a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law.
Keith Spencer, GSK
Keith joined GSK in 2016 and leads the US Academic Liaison Team at GSK, based just outside Philadelphia at one of GSK’s 2 global R&D Hubs. At GSK, Keith is responsible for putting in place agreements to facilitate collaborations with US academic institutions and other global academic centers. Keith also works to find opportunities to improve and expand GSK’s search for innovative science and talent. Prior to GSK, Keith was at the global research charity, Wellcome Trust, where he was part of the Innovations team which financed a broad range of healthcare opportunities and managed a portfolio of projects worth over $130M. Keith trained as an organic chemist, and obtained his PhD at the University of Oxford. After a postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania, he spent 10 years in the biotech sector at Arrow Therapeutics and co-founded re:Viral, a UK-based biotech.
Lesley Millar-Nicholson, MIT
Lesley Millar-Nicholson has been the Director of MIT Technology Licensing Office (TLO) since July 2016 and in September 2019 also assumed responsibility as Director of Catalysts in the newly formed MIT Office of Strategic Alliances and Technology Transfer (OSATT). As TLO Director, she leads a team managing the intellectual assets and technology transfer process for MIT’s inventions. The TLO team manage over 800 new inventions a year from the MIT and Lincoln Lab campuses. The MIT portfolio includes over 10,000 issued and pending US and foreign patents and over 1,000 active licenses. The TLO is an integral part of the MIT innovation ecosystem working closely with its many programs and centers established to harness the amazing innovations from MIT faculty, students and staff. As Director of Catalysts Lesley will lead a team of 10 Catalysts (currently being hired) who will work closely with faculty on non-federal research funding opportunities. Working with colleagues in OSATT (Strategic Transactions Officers), the Catalysts will provide early insight into the proposed engagement to speed the process for drafting and negotiating the right sort of agreement. Prior to arriving in Cambridge Ms. Millar-Nicholson was Director of the Office of Technology Management (OTM) at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign. Ms. Millar-Nicholson is a Past President of the Board of Governors of Certified Licensing Professionals Inc, (CLP Inc.), is on the Board of Directors of the Licensing Executive Society (LES), and on the Board of Cambridge Enterprise, UK. A native of Scotland, Ms. Millar-Nicholson has a B.Ed., M.Ed, MBA and is a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP).
Lisa Chen, Stanford University
Lisa Chen is a Senior Industrial Contracts Officer at Stanford. Lisa negotiates industry-sponsored research agreements, collaboration agreements, material transfer agreements, and data use agreements. Previously, Lisa practiced law as a general litigator and also spent 5 years working for the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit.
Mark Ralph, Boehringer Ingelheim
Mark Ralph is a member of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Business Development and Licensing team, responsible for leading contract negotiations and alliance management of collaborations with academic partners and enabling technology companies. Mark has over 10 years of experience identifying, evaluating and executing relationships with strategic outsourcing, biotechnology and academic partners. In addition, Mark has held strategic financial roles in the planning and management of budgets in the marketing and discovery research organizations.
Robin Beach, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Robin Beach is currently the Director, Pre-Award for Sponsored Programs Administration at the University of Illinois where she is involved in managing the institutional sponsored portfolio by providing oversight and management of the operations related to processing and records management, proposal submission and contract negotiation. Robin has been at the University of Illinois for 11 years where her area of expertise has been on negotiating major research agreements with industry/corporate sponsors. Robin has presented in different venues on topics related to University – Industry research engagement and contract clauses associated with research agreements. Robin previously worked in health care for 20 years becoming the Vice President/Chief Operating Officer for a women’s health care organization.
Sophia Herbert-Peterson, Georgia Tech
Sophia Herbert-Peterson is the Director of Industry Collaborations for Georgia Tech Research Corporation, the contracting entity for sponsored research activities at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In her role as Director, Sophia is responsible for developing and implementing policies and procedures in support of the research collaboration process as well as strategic initiatives for continued growth in industry engagement. Prior to joining Georgia Tech in 2006, Sophia served as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Earl B. Gilliam in the Southern District of California. She also practiced at a law firm in Atlanta prior to serving as in-house counsel for two Fortune 500 corporations. Sophia holds a BA in international studies and Spanish literature from Manhattan College and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Tony Buccanfuso, UIDP
Since July 2007, Tony has provided strategic leadership to the UIDP including its successful graduation from the National Academies in 2015. His insights on strategic university-industry matters are regularly sought by academic, government and private sector organizations. Tony is married to Dr. Laura Boccanfuso, who founded Van Robotics; along with their three children, they reside in Columbia, SC.
Wade Brown, Novartis
Wade Brown is the Global Head of External Research Collaborations, Academic Partnerships & External Innovation at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc. He currently leads a global team responsible for providing business guidance and transactional support to enable external scientific partnerships across Novartis’s research organization.
Cindy McDonald, The Boeing Company
Cindy McDonald is a senior procurement agent and contract specialist at The Boeing Company. In her 28+ years at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, Cindy has mastered a wide range of commodities and contracting methodologies. She is recognized as an expert in university/business partnerships/collaborations within Boeing, having piloted the establishment of the first Boeing laboratory within a university. In the field of supply chain management, Cindy is recognized as a Boeing Designated Expert. Currently Cindy supports Boeing’s Research and Technology organization by negotiating various contracts and agreements for research and development projects, as well as supporting the capture of new business opportunities. Cindy has also worked extensively in the negotiation of intellectual property rights. In addition to her experience as a supply chain management specialist, Cindy holds an Associate in Science Degree and Certificate in Paralegal Studies.
Lisa Lorenzen, Iowa State University
Dr. Lorenzen is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Technology Advancement. Her office oversees the assessment of MU inventions for marketability; the process for securing intellectual property protection, such as patents and copyrights; and the negotiation and execution of license agreements that allow companies to access university-owned innovations. Prior to joining MU in 2019, Lorenzen started her career at Pioneer Hi-Bred in the Bioinformatics group and then worked at Iowa State University for 20 years in various roles related to economic development, industry relations, and technology transfer. She served as President of the ISU Research Foundation and Director of the Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer for nine years. She has served on a variety of boards including the Technology Association of Iowa, Ames Economic Development Commission (past chair), UIDP (past board member), Iowa Biotechnology Association, ISU Research Park and Ames Seed Capital (current Vice President).
Chuk Man, Boehringer Ingelheim
As Boehringer Ingelheim’s Associate Director for Contracts and Alliance Management, Chuk is focused on providing contract negotiation support for agreements with US, and Asian institutions. Chuk also manages strategic alliances with Institutes and Biotechs. Prior to Chuk’s current role, Chuk was a medicinal chemist focused on various discovery research projects.
Kirt Fuller, Oregon State University
As a Senior Industry Contracts Manager, Kirt develops, negotiates, and administrates industry-funded contracts and other industry agreements for Oregon State University. Kirt brings over 22 years of industry experience in research and development-related contracts. Kirt has a Master of Arts degree in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and an MBA from Marylhurst University. He also holds professional certifications from the National Contract Manager Association as a Certified Federal Contracts Manager and a Certified Professional Contract Manager, and from the Institute for Supply Management as a Certified Purchasing Manager. Kirt began his career in Tokyo, Japan, working as a licensing contracts specialist for Fuji Xerox. He has also worked as a supplier and contracts manager for Xerox Corporation and senior subcontracts manager at Rockwell Collins.
Robert Hardy, COGR
Robert B. Hardy is Director of Research Security and Intellectual Property Management at the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR; (www.cogr.edu)), an association of nearly 190 research universities and several affiliated hospitals and research institutes. COGR focuses on the impact of government policies and regulations on university research. Mr. Hardy has lead COGR responsibility for university issues pertaining to research security and technology transfer policies and regulations. Prior to coming to COGR in April 2001, Mr. Hardy was with the National Science Foundation (NSF) for over 30 years, serving in a variety of capacities, including Special Assistant to the Director and Deputy Director of the Division of International Programs. During the last eight years of his NSF career he served as Director of the Division of Contracts, Policy and Oversight. Mr. Hardy holds a B.A. degree from Gettysburg College and J.D. from Catholic University and is a member of the Bars of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Svetlana Vranic-Sowers, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Svetlana Sowers is responsible for commercializing software, copyright, and data inventions developed by innovators at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She works with a broad range of faculty from engineering and computer science to the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Her portfolio concentration includes patentable algorithms, security, machine learning applications, visualizations, and others. She helped launch the ready-to-sign and mobile development programs at the University of Illinois. Other strategic responsibilities include organizing showcase events, formulating licensing strategies, and managing key external partnerships. Prior to joining the tech transfer community 8 years ago, Svetlana Sowers worked in software development and management at Yahoo! and Motorola.
Julia De Paola Almeida Carvalho, University of Waterloo
Julia De Paola Almeida Carvalho is a Grants and Contracts Manager at University of Waterloo, Canada’s top innovation university, known for its collaborative research, co-operative education, and for producing 18.6% of Canada’s tech founders. Previously in her career, Julia was a corporate lawyer in a Brazilian company. With more than 10 years of experience, Julia has always worked with business law, with an emphasis on contracts, intellectual property, and corporate law. Her educational background includes a bachelor of laws, a bachelor in international relations, a contracts specialization, all from Brazil, besides an MA in Political Science from University of Waterloo.
Paul Lowe, Kansas State University
Paul Lowe is the Associate Vice President for Research at Kansas State University. Mr. Lowe has served K-State for 31 years in the areas of policy development and institutional compliance, and as K-State’s authorized organizational representative providing oversight of proposal development and submission, contract development/review/ negotiation and subcontracting activities. Mr. Lowe has participated in several UIDP projects over the years. He served on the UIDP Finance Committee from 2011-2013 and has participated in programming delivered through the UIDP Academy. Mr. Lowe served the UIDP Membership through service on the UIDP Board as an At-Large University Member during 2014.
Ana Andzic Tomlinson, University of New Mexico
Ana Andzic Tomlinson is the Executive Director of the Office of Research & Compliance at the University of New Mexico. She joined UNM’s Office of Research & Compliance in July of 2016, following a year of service as the Consultant to UNM’s Vice President for Research for research compliance and sponsored contracts. Andzic Tomlinson is also an Adjunct Law Professor and has served as an attorney in private practice for over 14 years. Prior to her UNM consultancy, she worked for Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward, P.A. where she helped secure the largest jury verdict in the U.S. in 2013. She is a recipient of the American Bar Association Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Property Law for her legal research work which resulted in legal textbooks published by West and Hein that became primary sources in the legal field. Prior to joining Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward, P.A. in 2009, Andzic Tomlinson represented UNM legally as its research and technology law counsel. She is keenly interested in breaking barriers to industry-university research collaborations while remaining compliant. She is fluent in English and Serbo-Croatian and proficient in Spanish.
Kathy Gentry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Kathy Gentry has been the Export Compliance Officer for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since April 2019. Before coming to the University, Kathy worked for APL Engineered Material, LLC and Aldrich-APL, LLC- both in Urbana, IL- for 27 years handling export duties and all things hazardous for chemicals. Kathy continues the outreach efforts at the UofI for export awareness. She works with staff to conduct restricted party screening, the faculty to develop Technology Control Plans, and Sponsored Programs Administration to review export controls for research.
Dana Rewoldt, Iowa State University
Dana Rewoldt is an Associate Director in the Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer and ISURF at Iowa State University and a US patent attorney. Prior to this, she worked at Syngenta as a Sr. Patent Attorney for eight years. Syngenta purchased a portion of Advanta where she was Head International Intellectual Property Counsel for Advanta Seed B.V for eight years. She has extensive experience in contracts, intellectual property rights, patent prosecution, and the Plant Variety Protection Act. Ms. Rewoldt is a present member of UIDP, and LES. She was a previous member of the Board of the Plant Variety Protection Office (PVP) in the USDA, and in the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Group Lead for the India working group. She is licensed to practice law in Iowa, Colorado, Washington and in North Carolina.
Chris Brandt, Kansas State University
Responsible for management and licensing of intellectual property at Kansas State University.
Kim Rosenfield, Dartmouth College
Kim Rosenfield is the Deputy Director at Dartmouth’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer. Kim previously worked at MIT and Partners Healthcare Innovations in Cambridge, and was General Counsel of the Research Foundation for SUNY, which manages all sponsored programs ($1B) and intellectual property (>1000 issued patents) for SUNY’s 64 campuses, including 32 research colleges and medical centers. She has worked in-house with publicly-traded device and pharma companies and as outside counsel at Mintz Levin in Boston, and helped to found several start-ups. Kim is a graduate of Yale and University of Virginia Law School.
Sethuraman Panchanathan, Arizona State University
Dr. Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, Executive Vice President, ASU Knowledge Enterprise Chief Research and Innovation Officer Director, Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC) Foundation Chair in Computing and Informatics. Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan leads the knowledge enterprise at Arizona State University, which advances research, innovation, strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship, global and economic development at ASU. His leadership has led to many accomplishments at ASU including quintupling research performance over the last decade (to over $635M in 2018) placing it as the fastest-growing research university in the United States. In 2014, Dr. Panchanathan was appointed by the U.S. President to the U.S. National Science Board (NSB) for a six-year term. He is the first American of Indian origin to be appointed to the NSB. He served as Chair of the Committee on Strategy and currently serves on the External Engagement and National S&E Policy committees of NSB. Additionally, he was appointed by the former U.S. Secretary of Commerce to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE). Dr. Panchanathan is Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Membership of the National Academy of Inventors. He was Chair of the Council on Research (CoR) of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and Co-Chair of the Extreme Innovation Taskforce of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils. (GFCC). Dr. Panchanathan was appointed Arizona Governor Doug Ducey’s Senior Advisor for Science & Technology in 2018, and in October 2019, he was asked to testify before the U.S. Senate subcommittee on Science, Oceans, Fisheries and Weather during a hearing titled, “Research and Innovation: Ensuring America’s Economic and Strategic Leadership.” Dr. Panchanathan is a Fellow of the NAI, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE). He was the editor-in-chief of the IEEE Multimedia Magazine and is also an editor/associate editor of several international journals and transactions. Dr. Panchanathan has published more than 485 papers in refereed journals and conferences and has mentored more than 150 graduate students, post-docs, research engineers and research scientists who occupy leading positions in academia and industry.
Jarrett Ellis, Georgia Tech Research Corporation
Jarrett Ellis is Associate Director of Industry Contracting at Georgia Tech Research Corporation. Before joining Georgia Tech, Jarrett practiced law at Alston & Bird, LLP, where he represented and advised corporate clients in strategic matters including governance, securities transactions, mergers and acquisitions, technology sales and licensing, and data privacy and security. Jarrett is an active presenter at educational meetings for UIDP and is a sitting member of its Finance Committee.
Roberta Tassinari, Intel
Berta Tassinari is Managing Counsel, Intel Labs, in Hillsboro, OR, where she provides counseling and transactional support in the commercial, university and government contract space. Prior to joining Intel in 2015, she was Senior Counsel for IP Transactions with IBM in Armonk, NY, where her practice focused on a broad range of IP-focused and IP-related deals, including M&A, technology transfer, and patent licensing/acquisition.
Fiona Nelms, Australian National University
Dr. Fiona Nelms is the Director of the Technology Transfer Office at the Australian National University. Fiona started in technology commercialisation in 1999 and since that time has been involved in projects from a broad range of disciplines including agri-biotech; animal health; medical and health science; and physics and engineering. Fiona has been responsible for the establishment of several spin off companies from ANU which have gone on to raise significant capital nationally and internationally. Fiona has been involved in the establishment of University related investment funds, held memberships on investment review panels and participated in grant review panels for both NH&MRC and ARC. Fiona has held positions on five company boards.
