PETER ACKERMAN
As President and Chief Executive Officer, Peter is responsible for strategic direction and vision. Peter began his legal career in 1989 at Intel Corp, where he handled a wide variety of contract, intellectual property and product issues involving patents, branding & trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, licensing and internal training. In his private law practice, Peter provided intellectual property assessments and audit services, helping clients to see and understand their IP-related inventories and processes, highlighting risks and opportunities, and imparting best practices. He also provided transaction support and advised clients involved in negotiations with such companies as Microsoft, HP, Siemens, Novell and Intel. Peter recognized the need for organizations to manage their IP as essentially a balance sheet item; as business assets capable of driving tremendous value. He also understood that this could not be done with spreadsheets alone and that systems, tools and technologies are critical for achieving maximum returns in a knowledge economy. This in turn led to the formation of IAG. Peter has spoken at a variety of events around the world on several topics related to the management and exploitation of intellectual property. He holds a J.D. from the Santa Clara University School of Law where, among other activities, he spent a portion of his time at Oxford University studying under Colin Tapper, an early pioneer in the science and strategy of computerized legal information retrieval.
SHAWN PILKINGTON
Shawn is EVP of Business Development and a founding member of IAG. His primary responsibilities include key account development, strategic relationships and partnership build-out. Shawn has a rich history of entrepreneurial pursuits in software solutions. He has over eighteen years of software sales and business development experience. He is the former Manager of Technical Services and Sales for The Invention Machine, a Boston-based software company specializing in process innovation and intellectual property assessment tools for corporate R&D, engineering, M&A groups, and intellectual property law firms. Before that, he was a Senior Consultant and Lead Project Manager at Xerox where he helped regional sales teams launch key new products to support new market segments. Prior to this Shawn was a founding member of Oswego Technologies, a software firm focusing on IP and document management tools for engineering. Shawn is the Founding Chair of the Oregon/SW Washington Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society, a global organization of professionals dedicated to the management and monetization of intellectual property. This launch was recognized in 2006-2007 by LES International as being the most successful initial individual chapter launch in its history. Shawn is a highly regarded leader in the fields of IP process management and analytics.