Friday Speaker Bios

Brian Hinman
Brian is the Chief Innovation Officer and Head of EMEA for the newly formed Aon IP Solutions.  In this capacity, he is part of the senior leadership team of Aon IP Solutions, which delivers IP solutions that enhance our client’s enterprise value through executing IP-based value creation strategies and mitigating IP risk exposure. Brian helps lead the efforts for Aon in seizing the generational opportunity to establish market-accepted standards for assessing and valuing the IP asset class for businesses and investors. 

Brian Hinman has over 30 years experience in the field of intellectual property, having held senior executive positions at some of the world’s leading companies.  Most recently, he served as Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Philips, based in the Netherlands. In this capacity, he also held the position of CEO of Philips Intellectual Property and Standards where he led a worldwide team of over 400 intellectual property professionals in 9 different countries.  He formulated and executed a robust IP strategy for each of Philips’ business units including IP portfolio management, all IP litigation matters (offensive and defensive), active participation in various industry standards, and conducting all forms of IP monetization including patent, technology and brand licensing and formation of various IP Ventures.

Previous to Philips, he was co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Unified Patents Inc., and prior to that, he held positions of Vice President of IP and Licensing at IBM, Verizon and InterDigital, and was founding CEO of Allied Security Trust.

Brian holds degrees from RPI and the University of Pittsburgh.

Patricia A. O. Bunye
Patricia Bunye is a Senior Partner and the Deputy Managing Partner for Administration of Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia.

She is a partner in its Intellectual Property Department and also heads the firm’s Mining & Natural Resources Department and the Energy practice group. 

Her Intellectual Property practice is focused on trademarks and IP commercialization, including licensing and franchising, and the registration of food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products with the Food & Drug Administration.

She was the President of the Licensing Executives Society International from 2016-17 and was the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to hold this position.

She is also the Founding President of Diwata-Women in Resource Development, Inc., a non-government organization advocating the responsible development of the Philippines’ wealth in resources. 

She is in the 2018 list of The Philippines’ Top 100 Lawyers 2018 and has been cited by various international law research publications such as Chambers, Legal 500, Asia Law, among many others.

Rachel Rudensky
Rachel Rudensky is a member of Akerman’s Intellectual Property Practice. She assists her clients in all facets of brand development around the world. She represents clients in a wide variety of sectors including, fashion, entertainment, hospitality, professional sports, healthcare, financial services, and consumer goods. Her practice encompasses trademarks, copyrights, and internet disputes involving domain names.

Rachel’s clients value her experience in building and managing strong trademark portfolios across diverse sectors. Her comprehensive work includes the evaluation and clearance of marks, trademark registration, and trademark prosecution before U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Rachel also enforces intellectual property rights in the U.S. and abroad, practices before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and advises clients with respect to licensing disputes, anti-counterfeiting and litigation. In the transactional realm, Rachel negotiates and drafts license agreements, purchase agreements, co-existence agreements, and assignments.

Jim Sobieraj
Jim Sobieraj a licensed patent attorney with more than 35 years of experience in the procurement, licensing and enforcement of IP rights. Jim has been lead counsel in many litigations involving patent infringement, ownership of patent rights, license disputes, misappropriation of trade secrets, trade dress infringement, copyright infringement, unfair competition, false advertising, defamation, fraud, antitrust, breach of contract and other commercial litigation.  Jim has represented clients in many mediations and arbitrations.  He also advises clients on negotiating and drafting IP licensing agreements, and on creating and defending IP portfolios and strategies.  Jim is a past president of the Licensing Executives Society (USA & Canada), Inc., the Licensing Executives Society International, and Brinks Gilson & Lione, one of the largest IP law firms in the United States.

Michael Switzer
A registered patent lawyer with a background in electrical engineering, Michael Switzer is the chair of Akerman’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. He leads a team of highly skilled lawyers and patent professionals practicing at the intersection of technology and law.  Drawing upon experiences gained from a diverse career of over 25 years in intellectual property, Michael supports his clients’ business objectives through intellectual property counseling, licensing, and litigation.

Michael began his intellectual property career as a patent examiner at the United States Patent & Trademark Office.  In addition to his firm experience, he has twice acted as in-house intellectual property counsel.  Early in his career Michael resided in Tokyo, Japan, while serving as the first in-house U.S. patent counsel for Hitachi, Ltd.  As a member of Hitachi’s International Licensing Department, he drafted and negotiated dozens of agreements.  More recently, Michael served as in-house counsel for a major multinational medical device company, where he managed all of the intellectual property aspects of certain medical device product lines from initial clearance to market through litigation.

Saturday Speaker Bios

Vince Garlock
Vince Garlock is the Deputy Executive Director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), where he is primarily involved in the shaping, development and communication of AIPLA’s domestic policy initiatives.  Prior to coming to AIPLA, Vince was in private practice and was counsel for several years to the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary.  There he worked on the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, where he was involved in the consideration of numerous pieces of IP legislation. 

Prior to coming to Washington, Vince was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio.  He also practiced law at a litigation firm in Ohio, and began his legal career as a criminal prosecutor.  Vince holds an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from George Washington University, a J.D. from the University of Toledo, and a Bachelor of Arts from the Ohio State University. 

Scott Johnstone
Scott has been founder CEO of the Scottish Lifesciences Association since 2011. The SLA is a membership organisation with over 130 members from large pharmaceutical companies to digital health start-ups. He started his career with a large pharmaceutical company where he gained technology transfer and R&D experience with a broad range of companies including Fisons (UK), Kevex based in California and Applied Research Laboratories based in Switzerland. From 1998 to April 2004 he was co-founder and MD of YAbA Ltd and secured venture capital to develop and manufacture human and veterinary diagnostic products. He was a member of the Scottish Government’s Life Sciences Advisory Board where he chaired its Technology Workstream from 2009-2011. Scott is CEO of Benenox Ltd which he co-founded in 2014 and launched the first product, Benenox, in 2017. Scott is also founding Director of Caledonian Informatics.

Scott is a Chartered Engineer and holds an Honours Degree in Engineering from Edinburgh Napier University and a MBA from Edinburgh University. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology and a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He is a former Scientific Member and Vice-Chair of Medical Research Scotland and current advisory board member with Promedim Ltd. Scott also forms the Health Innovation Partnership Industry Liaison Team in partnership with the Scottish Government.

General Richard I. Neal
Following graduation from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, General Neal was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps.  For the next thirty-five years, General Neal commanded at every level within the Marine Corps; battery, battalion, brigade and as the Second Marine Division Commander.  He served two tours in the Republic of Vietnam, and was twice decorated with the United States’ third highest award for gallantry, the Silver Star Medal. During Operation Desert Storm, General Neal served as the Deputy Director of Operations for General Schwarzkopf and was also responsible for briefing the international press on the war. General Neal was promoted to four stars and assigned as the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps before his retirement in 1998. Subsequent to his retirement he has been the President of three companies dealing with the licensing of Intellectual Property. General Neal was the Senior Mentor for the United States Marine Corps for five years and is currently a Senior Fellow for the National Defense University. Additionally, General Neal was the Chairman of the Board for the Military Officers Association of America and is presently on the Board of Directors for Humanetics Corporation, for Steel Partners Holding, LP, and is on the Board of Trustees for Norwich University. General Neal holds a B.S. in History and Education from Northeastern University, a M.Ed. from Tulane University and is a graduate of The National War College. General Neal recently published a memoir “What Now, Lieutenant?” He and his wife Kathy have three children and eight Grandchildren and have lived on Capitol Hill since his retirement from the Marine Corps.

Samantha Roe
Samantha Roe, IOM, recently joined the International Erosion Control Association (IECA) Region One as the Executive Director. Roe brings a variety of chapter management, membership development and international experience to the association from her previous positions.

Most recently Roe enhanced member onboarding and retention; restructured committees to tackle initiatives that affect the mining industry; and increased international membership with the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME). Roe has restructured, redesigned and implemented strategic programs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. and oversaw chapter relations and service to local members of the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) 93 chapters.