Certified Licensing Professionals, Inc.

Elevating the Licensing Profession Through Knowledge and Standards

Board of Governors

Chair

Sian Godwin, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals

Sian is the Executive Director BD&L and Alliance Management at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals where she is responsible for managing relationships with existing partners as well as identifying, negotiating and closing product acquisition and/or licensing deals targeted primarily at the US market.

Sian has over 15 years of pharma/biotech transactional experience including in and out licensing, M&A, divestitures, strategic partnerships, research collaborations and product acquisitions. Sian is a firm believer in driving innovation and access to life changing medicines through collaborative partnerships and alliances. read more

Chair-Elect

Don Taylor, UC Davis Health

Donald P. Taylor, PhD, MBA, CLP, serves as the inaugural Chief Ventures Officer of UC Davis Health (UCDH) and leads the UCDH Ventures Office. The Ventures Office partners with the innovation and entrepreneurship teams at UC Davis to develop and commercialize intellectual property and advance research translation.

Prior to joining UC Davis Health, Dr. Taylor was executive director of licensing for The Ohio State University since 2021. There he built and led a team of 15 people who oversee licensing and intellectual property for over $1.3 billion in annual research spend across all 16 colleges, including the College of Medicine and the Wexner Medical Center. Prior to Ohio State he served as assistant vice chancellor for commercial translation in the health sciences, executive director of sciVelo, co-director of the Center for Commercial Applications of Healthcare Data, and associate professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Pittsburgh from 2016-2021. read more

Secretary

Fiona Nicolson, Burness Paull

Fiona joined Scottish headquartered law firm Burness Paull as a consultant in November 2022 and leads the firm’s life science practice. She is both a Scottish and English qualified lawyer with many years' experience in working with a large range of clients across a number of sectors including life sciences, IT, software, engineering, consumer products and academia. In addition to advising blue chip companies and public bodies, Fiona advises growing SMEs, assisting them to enter new markets through licensing and other collaborative ventures. Fiona is highly experienced in international licensing transactions and has worked with many businesses in the life sciences sector, helping them to enter new markets using licensing and other collaborative ventures. read more

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Treasurer

Julie Watson, Marshall Gerstein & Borun LLP

Julie M. Watson is a patent attorney and member of the transactions practice group at Marshall Gerstein & Borun, LLP, a Chicago-based intellectual property law firm. A licensing professional with deep experience in structuring and negotiating deals to deliver strategic solutions, Julie concentrates her practice on intellectual property transactions with a particular emphasis in technology startups and university technology transfer. Her prior work includes managing nonprofit intellectual property licensing programs including the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the American Medical Association. read more

Immediate Past Chair

Jeffrey Whittle, Womble Bond Dickinson LLP

Jeff Whittle is a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP) and provides over three decades of legal experience to clients in the energy and high-tech industries. He advises on strategic and complex technology transactions, licensing, joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions, patent protection, portfolio analysis, and other contentious and transactional intellectual property matters, including inter partes reexaminations, post-grant reviews, and derivation proceedings, among other disputed cases.

Jeff has been recognized by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500 United States, WIPR Leaders Club, IAM Patent 1000, IAM Strategy 350, IAM Global IP Leaders, Managing Intellectual Property IP Stars, Who’s Who Legal, Patents, and Client Choice Awards, among others, for his outstanding career and contributions to law and intellectual property. He also is a senior member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). read more

Governors

Ben Dibling, University of Pennsylvania, Penn Center for Innovation

Ben Dibling is Deputy Managing Director of the Penn Center for Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania, where he leads the licensing, corporate contracting and corporate outreach groups. Ben’s team is responsible for working with Penn faculty, staff and students to evaluate, protect and commercialize Penn inventions and discoveries, and to facilitate engagement with industry and start-up company formation. Prior to joining Penn in 2016, Ben was Senior Associate Director of Licensing in the Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Sponsored Research at UCLA, where he focused on supporting the commercialization of a wide range of inventions with a focus in life sciences and medicine. Ben started his career in technology transfer in 2004 as a marketing intern at UChicagoTech, the office of technology and intellectual property at the University of Chicago. Ben managed a varied portfolio during his time at UChicagoTech, and was the Program Manager in Oncology at the time he moved to UCLA in 2011. read more

Héctor Chagoya, Mextrategy

With a career in IP that started in 1997 and having led a patents team that has filed more than 10,000 patents for companies in all fields of technology, ranging from Mexican inventors to multinational companies, Héctor E Chagoya Cortés decided in 2021 to start Mextrategy to focus on the strategic and management side of IP rights. Within a year, Mextrategy has been involved in Covid-19 related technology transfer and innovation projects, start-up consultancy, medical devices and IoT/blockchain/big data projects where he deploys his expertise focusing heavily on portfolio management strategies, innovation strategies, freedom-to-operate opinions, technology intelligence studies, IP-assets valuation, IP negotiations, technology evaluation and substantive issues of patent litigation. read more

Alexander Ducruet, University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute

Alexander P. Ducruet, Ph.D., CLP is Executive Director, Licensing & Innovation Commercialization, for the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) Innovation Institute, where he is responsible for intellectual property protection and commercialization for Pitt innovations. The Innovation Institute is the hub for innovation and entrepreneurship at Pitt and provides a comprehensive suite of services for Pitt Innovators, from protecting intellectual property to commercialization through licensing and new enterprise development. Prior to the formation of the Innovation Institute, Alex led licensing activities for Pitt’s Office of Technology Management, which he joined in 2005. read more

Kirsten Leute, Osage University Partners

Kirsten Leute is Partner, University Relations at Osage University Partners (OUP), a venture capital firm that invests in deep science startups out of academic research institutions. In leading University Relations for OUP, Kirsten is responsible for the relationships with approximately 100 academic institutions that are partnered with the fund, engaging potential new partner institutions, and creating and delivering value-add programs for the partnered academic institutions and their entrepreneurs. read more

Anji Miller, LifeArc

Anji is a technology transfer professional with more than 20 years’ experience of working with early-stage, translational life science research. Anji has extensive experience of IP related transactions and management, including, licensing, strategic partnership, funding, business development of healthcare technologies and development of knowledge transfer policies. Her current role at LifeArc involves working with academic and charitable establishments toidentify, cultivate and commercialize early-stage healthcare technologies. As the LifeArc Lead for the Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapies, she leads activities to ensure viral advanced therapies are developed to impact patients.

Anji holds an M.Sc. in Human Molecular Genetics and Ph.D. in Cancer Genetics from Imperial College, as well as an M.Sc. and Certificate in Intellectual Property Law from Queen Mary, University of London.She is a certified project manager (PRINCE2), registered technology transfer professional (RTTP) and a certified licensing professional (CLP). read more

Dan Potvin, General Electric Company

Dan Potvin is a Senior Director of Licensing at GE. Based in Niskayuna, NY at GE’s Global Research Center, he joined the Licensing team in 2012. Dan leads the development and negotiation of IP licensing programs across a variety of fields with a current focus on engineering software and hybrid electric vehicles.

Dan is a Certified Licensing Professional and a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES). He has over 16 years of experience in negotiating complex licensing transactions and partnerships. His specialties include patent licensing, technology transfer, patent pools, and commercialization of advanced technology. read more

Caroline Rockafellow, University of New Hampshire

Caroline Rockafellow is Director of Career Services at the University of New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce School of Law. Prior to joining UNH, Caroline served as Associate General Counsel at Syngenta, a global provider of agricultural science and technology. She has over 25 years of transactional experience, including licensing, strategic partnerships, research collaborations, venture investments and M&A. Caroline served on the Licensing Executives Society USA and Canada Board of Directors for eight years, including positions as V.P. of Strategy and V.P of Chapters. She holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Drury University and a Juris Doctor and Masters in Intellectual Property from the University of New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce School of Law. read more

Jeremy Schieler, AbbVie Inc.

Jeremy Schieler is a Senior Manager in Technology Licensing and Collaborations at AbbVie Inc. where he is responsible for managing and negotiating IP-related transactions across AbbVie's R&D pipeline. Prior to AbbVie Jeremy worked at The Coca-Cola Company as an IP Strategist in Ingredient Research where he negotiated external research and development agreements and developed IP strategy for The Coca-Cola Company Ingredient Research team. Prior to this, Jeremy spent nearly 10 years in technology commercialization at Community Health Network (Director, Commercialization) and Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation where he most recently served as Director of Technology Commercialization. read more

View past CLP Chairs here.

Interested in Serving on the Board of Governors?

Contact CLP at clpinfo@licensingcertification.org for more information.

CLP Organizational Chart

Click here to view the CLP organizational chart.

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