Turning Vision into Ambitious Mindsets and Actions – the Journey Continues
Our LESI 2026 Annual Global Conference is coming up, 26-29 April 2026. The program is outstandingly rich and diverse. It is attracting the largest crowd we have seen in recent years. I look forward to seeing you all there. If you are not yet registered, it is not too late, but close. Click here and be part of this not-to-be-missed event.
Our International Management & Delegates’ Meeting (IMDM), 26 April 2026, will be a central moment to assess the actions we took, the results we achieved, and how to best continue the ongoing projects of interest to LESI and its members. The agenda this year will be very interactive, with plenty of opportunities for the delegates representing our geographically diverse societies to actively contribute.
On the topic of continuity, I would like to commend President-Elect Ningling Wang for her engagement during my term. We promised to work together closely and we did. Ningling has been involved in any decision that was likely to have an effect during her term and beyond, which required much attention and engagement on her part. I very much hope that our collaboration style has paved the way on how the next presidents will fulfill their tasks in this spirit of continuity for the benefit of LESI and its members.
The members of the LESI Board have wholeheartedly embraced their responsibilities within the taskforces that were put in place from day one of my term. They have advanced them with tremendous commitment and a sense of leadership.
Our Executive Director Dana Colarulli has constantly gone the extra mile to direct, re-direct, push, prioritize, substantiate, and fuel all these projects, fulfilling tens of roles at the same time. Will I dare say that I will miss our weekly 2-hour catch up Zoom® meetings?
Together, we have put our members, especially our industry members, at the center of any decision:
- We finalized and launched the long-awaited Global IP Owner Membership program;
- We substantially strengthened our partnership with WIPO, EPO and USPTO, always with a view to ensure these partnerships create added value for LES members;
- We accelerated the LESI’s geographical reach with well advanced projects in Romania and MENA, and others in the pipeline in Asia;
- We initiated very ambitious projects that will increase LESI’s visibility: LESI’s first time participation in the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing in June 2026 (200,000+ visitors) and LESI’s and the LESI Sustainable Patent Index, to name only two;
- We booked successes in growing LESI in important industries such as Aerospace & Defense and Franchising; and
- Our efforts to keep expenses under control and to increase activity-based revenues enabled us to achieve financial results that should gradually give us the means of our ambitions, i.e., to improve our value to our members and thereby to increase our membership and our footprint, especially among industry members.
As 2025-2026 President, I had committed to visit our LES chapters and leaders in person in most continents. I accomplished this, with (much to my regret) the only exception being ANZ. From Japan to Korea and China, from South Africa to the U.S. and Latin America (Peru, Chile and Brazil), and without forgetting the European visits to London, Paris, Rotterdam, The Hague, Budapest, Prague, Lisbon, Milan, and Geneva, I had the privilege to witness how the LES national chapters are strongly connected with their national innovation and IP ecosystems and how the doors to the regulators, judiciary and industry are wide open to LESI as a platform for education and dialogue. In every country, the LES leaders who organized these visits are recognized thought leaders and embody the LES DNA. They will recognize themselves. I am utterly grateful to all of them. They helped prepare these trips well in advance to ensure that we could have the right meetings at the right level of authority, and that we could thereby achieve win-win-win results, for the local chapter, for LESI and for our members.
As with any position within LES, as president, the more you give, the more you receive. I received a lot and I humbly hope that some of the mindsets, structures and projects that were advanced during my term, with the help of Ningling, Dana, the Board and all the LES leaders who contributed to them, will continue to benefit the organization and its members for many years to come. My thanks to those who will take them over and give them their own charisma.
Looking forward to seeing you in Dublin!
—Jean-Christophe Troussel (« JC »)
President
Licensing Executives Society International (LESI)
