Board of Directors
PETER ACKERMAN
President and CEO, Innovation Asset Group.
JACK TODARO
Jack Todaro is President of Performance Improvement Associates, a national management consulting firm dedicated to helping companies improve productivity, profits and shareholder wealth. Jack specializes in strategy development and execution, organizational change and restructuring, financial restructuring, implementation of measurement and accountability systems, mergers and acquisitions and capital formation.
DONALD R. VANLUVANEE
Donald R. VanLuvanee was president, CEO, and a director of ElectroScientific Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESIO) of Portland, Oregon from 1992 until his retirement in 2002. ESI is one of the most successful technology companies in Oregon and is a leading provider of high-tech manufacturing equipment to the global electronics market. Don has served as a director of several companies, including nanotech tools company FEI (Nasdaq: FEIC), Micro Component Technology, Inc. - a leading supplier of integrated automation solutions for the global semiconductor test and assembly industry, and AirAdvice, Inc., an innovative provider of air quality and energy efficiency solutions. In addition, he chairs the School of Science Advisory Board at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is a member of the President's Advisory Board of the Oregon Institute of Technology, a director of the Oregon Business Council, and is affiliated with several other civic and business organizations. Mr. VanLuvanee holds a B.S.E.E. and an M.S.E.E. from Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.
WILLIAM ROSS
William Ross is founder and president of William Ross and Associates, Inc., a registered investment advisory firm in Portland, Oregon. Will’s firm provides both traditional Investment advisory services and financial planning strategies to individuals and families around the country. A third generation money manager from the Boston area, Will began his career at Eaton Vance Corp in Boston. In 1991 he moved west to join his brother in forming an entrepreneurial residential real estate development company. An avid sailor and skier, his appreciation for the natural world and passion for entrepreneurship have been guiding forces in Will's life. In addition to growing successful Real Estate and Investment Advisory businesses himself, Will has helped numerous businesses owners build stronger businesses. Will is a graduate of Bates College.
Advisory Board
William Campbell is a Managing Director at Equilibrium Capital Group, a growth equity investor focused on building the leading companies of the sustainable future. He also retains his partnership in Ater Wynne LLP, a law firm with offices in Portland, Seattle and Silicon Valley, where he serves a select group of technology companies as general counsel. Bill has particular experience in international transactions involving intellectual property-based goods, software and services, and with joint ventures, performing research and development to bring ideas and products to market.
Jim Johnson is the CEO of Tripwire, a leading change audit technology company located in Portland, Oregon. Previously, Jim spent 27 years with Intel Corp in many roles including the Oregon Site Manager, Vice President of the Technology & Manufacturing Group, General Manager of the Internet Service Operation, Director of Marketing for the Internet and Communications Group, and co-founder of Intel PCEO (Intel’s retail products group, which he grew to over $500M in sales). Jim is a member of numerous boards and professional organizations, and has unparalleled strategic leadership experience.
John Kelly serves in multiple business strategy roles at Symantec Corp., among them directing many aspects of their intellectual property strategy. His duties include aligning Symantec's IP portfolio with their long term business goals. He also created their patent acquisition strategy and process and analyzes IP as part of Symantec's M&A activity. Previous roles in the software industry (at Symantec, Microsoft, Veritas, a small Microsoft VAR, and in private consulting) included product management, business development and alliances, deal development and negotiation, product marketing, product strategy, and competitive strategy. As the Director of Windows Platform Strategy at Veritas, John was responsible for strategic planning for platform expansion for Veritas storage management and high availability products on Windows.
Bob Kohn is Chairman & CEO of RoyaltyShare, Inc., the premier provider of digital revenue and royalty solutions for the record industry, music publishers, book publishers, and motion picture distributors. Previously, he was Vice Chairman of the Board of Borland Software Corporation (NASDAQ: BORL) where he also served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Bob founded EMusic.com, Inc., the pioneering MP3 music-download subscription service, where he served as Chairman until the company was sold to Vivendi/Universal in June 2001. He served as Vice President of Business Development for Pretty Good Privacy, Inc., a leading encryption software company, and was Corporate Counsel for Ashton-Tate, a software company, and Associate General Counsel of Candle Corporation, a mainframe software developer.
David McFeeters-Krone is President of Intellectual Assets Inc., based in Portland, Oregon. He is an intellectual property (IP) consultant, providing services to corporations and entrepreneurs, as well as governmental and university research and technology transfer organizations. He assists with the development and management of effective IP strategies, inventorying and analyzing IP portfolios, gathering and staying abreast of competitive intelligence, technology re-positioning, training, and identifying and negotiating technology licensing opportunities. He is a member of the Licensing Executives Society and is published by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM).
Russell Parr is an internationally recognized expert in the field of intellectual property and intangible asset valuation. He founded the Licensing Economics Review and is President of Intellectual Property Research Associates, Inc. (IPRA). He has conducted valuation and royalty rate studies in the areas of communications technology, pharmaceuticals, semiconductor process technology, lasers, agricultural formulations, biotechnology, computer software and medical products technology, and others. Russell was retained to value the Dr. Seuss copyrights and the AT&T patent portfolio. Additionally, he is a featured speaker in various countries under the sponsorship of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which administers international intellectual property treaties, and is a sought-after expert witness on IP infringement damages. Russell has authored and co-authored numerous books and publications on intellectual property valuation.
Peter Slate is the President & Chief Executive Officer of International Orthopedic Alliance, Inc. (IOA). Prior to joining IOA, he was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Arizona Technology Enterprises, LLC (AzTE), a leading technology commercialization and investment company for Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and other affiliated research institutions. While with AzTE, Peter founded over 20 companies and entered into more than 80 joint venture and licensing transaction. Peter has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and advisor to start-up and emerging companies. He has also held senior executive positions with a number of public and private companies, including Baxter International Inc., Zenith Electronics, Inc. and Primecare International, Inc. Peter was also a corporate attorney with the law firm of Katten, Muchin and Zavis in Chicago where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, securities and private equity transactions. He is active in LES where he was Co-Chairman of the Chicago Chapter from 2003 to 2005. Peter has been an invited speaker at more than 50 national conferences on subjects including early stage technology investing, structuring joint ventures, and technology valuation.
Brian Tyler is a Managing Partner with Rudder Capital, LLC, an advisory firm with offices in New York City and Boston, MA. He provides strategic advisory and merger & acquisition services to growth and middle market companies in the Information, Technology and Communications industries. Prior to joining Rudder Capital, he held senior operating positions with Thomson Scientific and Healthcare as Executive Vice President. Brian was responsible for substantially increasing the growth of Thomson’s intellectual property assets through the acquisitions and alignment of Delphion, MicroPatent, MDC, and Derwent. He has extensive experience in building businesses, and has completed more than 30 transactions, ranging from small tactical acquisitions to $500 million strategic acquisitions.