2009-11-11 18:16:03 -
Ada Nielsen, Director, Exploration & Production Technology, BP America Inc., was elected president of the Licensing Executives Society (USA & Canada) at the LES Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, October 18-21, 2009.
She leads a slate of new officers and members of the LES Board of Trustees who were also elected at the meeting.
In her acceptance speech, Nielsen declared that
the theme for LES for the coming year is “Deals, deals, and more deals,” and that the theme would be reflected at national and local chapter events and through the LES industry sectors.
Throughout the year, Nielsen plans to deliver education programs that feature “edgy panels that lead into facilitated discussions,” so that attendees can learn more by engaging and sharing in these sessions. “The collective understanding, wisdom, and experience of the people in the room exceed that of any one person,” she said, “so we will capture the experience and perspective of the audience.”
Nielsen also announced plans to transform the LES Winter Meeting into the “IP100 Executive Forum,” to be held February 8-9, 2010 at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Arizona. “For this event we want to target IP owners from universities, research centers, medical centers, small companies, and large companies,” she said. Many of the speakers will be business experts from within and outside the intellectual property (IP) community.
Another priority for the coming year will be “Around the World with LES”, April 26, 2010, a single-day celebration of the contributions of IP, in conjunction with World IP Day, sponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Nielsen’s goal is to offer the LES Professional Development Series 100 course, which is an introduction to IP licensing developed for business people and graduate students, in at least 10 locations across North America that day and to have every local LES chapter in North America host a networking event.
Nielsen also expressed her strong support for the ongoing Graduate Student Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the LES Foundation, which gives dozens of teams of graduate students from around the world the opportunity to write business plans with an IP licensing component for new products and services and compete for cash prizes and in-kind support for their projects.
In addition to Nielsen, the following slate of officers was elected.
- Michael Lasinski – President-Elect
- Francois Painchaud – Past President
- Walter Copan – Regional Vice President, USA
- Ken McKay – Regional Vice President, Canada
- Gary Nath – Secretary
- Thomas Filarski – Treasurer
- Pamela Demain – Vice President, Communications
- Michael Lee – Vice President, Education
- Paul Roberts – Vice President, Membership
- John Paul – Vice President, International
- Phillip Barnett – Vice President, Local Chapters
- Glenn Wheeler – Vice President, Member Interests
Joining these officers on the Board of Trustees are the following trustees: Mitch Charness, Ross Epstein, Robert Goldman, Russell Levine, Michael Martin, Gwen Melincoff, Tanya Moore, Mark Nawacki, Brian O’Shaughnessy, Caroline Rockefellow, Peter Ross, and Catherine Sohn.
For more information about LES, visit www.lesusacanada.org :
or contact LES at 703-836-3106.
The Licensing Executives Society (USA & Canada), Inc. is a professional association comprised of approximately 5,000 members engaged in the transfer, use, development, manufacture, and marketing of intellectual property. LES members include a wide range of professionals, including business executives, lawyers, licensing consultants, engineers, academicians, scientists and government officials. Learn more at www.lesusacanada.org :
for Licensing Executives Society (USA & Canada)Al
Rickard, 703-402-9713
arickard@associationvision.com : mailto:arickard@associationvision.com
