LeadershIP 2024 Speakers

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Prof. Jonathan Barnett, Torrey H. Webb Professor of Law, University of Southern California

Jonathan M. Barnett is the Torrey H. Webb Professor of Law at the University of Southern California School of Law.  He is the author of Innovators, Firms, and Markets: The Organizational Logic of Intellectual Property  (Oxford University Press 2021) and has published widely in scholarly journals on antitrust and intellectual property law and policy.  He also comments and speaks regularly on legal, policy, and business developments in these areas.  Prior to academia, he practiced corporate law at Cleary Gottlieb in New York.

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Walter G. Copan, Senior Adviser (Non-Resident), Renewing American Innovation Program, CSIS

Dr. Walter Copan is senior adviser of the Renewing American Innovation Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Currently, he serves as vice president for research and technology transfer at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. He previously served as under secretary of commerce for standards and technology and 16th director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a position to which he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. He served as the U.S. principal presidential adviser on standards policy and technology matters and provided high-level oversight and strategic leadership for NIST, a world-leading science and technology institute. Under his widely acclaimed leadership, he spearheaded streamlining and modernization of foundational policies and practices for innovation and technology transfer arising from federally funded research to benefit the economy and society. Dr. Copan is a distinguished leader with wide-ranging experience spanning large company, entrepreneurial tech start-up, U.S. government, nonprofit, and other public sector settings. For the U.S. government, he also served with two of the Department of Energy national laboratories: the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory. He is a sought-after speaker and thought leader on matters of science and technology, strategy, entrepreneurship, technology commercialization, intellectual property, and innovation. Dr. Copan began his career in research and development and business leadership at the Lubrizol Corporation. He earned undergraduate degrees and his PhD in physical chemistry from Case Western Reserve University and holds a certificate in advanced business administration studies at Harvard Business School. He was named 2020 laboratory director of the year by the U.S. Federal Laboratory Consortium. The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) recognized Dr. Copan with its 2021 Bayh-Dole Award for contributions to innovation and technology transfer.

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Rama Elluru, Senior Director for Society and Intellectual Property, Special Competitive Studies Project

Rama G. Elluru is a Senior Director at the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), a non-profit, funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt and established to make recommendations to strengthen America’s long-term competitiveness for a future where artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies reshape our national security, economy, and society. Previous to the SCSP, she was a Director at the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), an independent Commission established by Congress to consider the methods and means to advance the development of AI, ML, and associated technologies to address the national security and defense needs of the United States.  She was detailed to the NSCAI from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where she served as an Administrative Patent Judge on the Patent Trial and Appeal.  Before joining the USPTO, Rama practiced IP law for 20 years, particularly in analyzing and litigating E.E. and bio-pharma patents. She graduated from Trinity University with a B.S. in Computer Science/Philosophy and obtained a J.D. from the Washington and Lee School of Law. After law school, she received a M.S. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from Georgetown University.

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Holly Fechner, Partner, Covington

Holly Fechner advises clients on complex public policy matters that combine legal and political opportunities and risks. She leads teams that represent companies, entities, and organizations in significant policy and regulatory matters before Congress and the Executive Branch. She is a co-chair of the Covington’s Technology Industry Group and a member of the Covington Political Action Committee board of directors. She is the Executive Director of Invent Together and a visiting lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She serves on the board of directors of the American Constitution Society. Holly served as Policy Director for Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Chief Labor and Pensions Counsel for the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.

She received The American Lawyer, "Dealmaker of the Year" award in 2019. The Hill named her a “Top Lobbyist” from 2013 to the present, and she has been ranked by Chambers USA - America's Leading Business Lawyers from 2012 to the present. One client noted to Chambers: "Holly is an exceptional attorney who excels in government relations and policy discussions. She has an incisive analytical skill set which gives her the capability of understanding extremely complex legal and institutional matters." According to another client surveyed by Chambers, "Holly is incredibly intelligent, effective and responsive. She also leads the team in a way that brings out everyone's best work."

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Gillian M. Fenton, Special Counsel - Innovation and Government Collaboration, GSK

Gillian M. Fenton, Esq., CLP has been a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES, USA & Canada) since 1992, and served as the society President in 2020-2021. Gillian’s contributions to LES and to the field of licensing were recognized with the society’s Frank Barnes Award in October, 2022. She is presently a member of the LES Public Policy Committee and is a volunteer instructor in LES educational courses.

Gillian is presently Special Counsel for Innovation and Government Collaborations at GSK. Her practice includes a wide variety of business development transactions, R&D collaborations and nondilutive funding agreements with U.S. Government entities (NIH/NIAID, BARDA, CARB-X and DARPA), all in support of GSK’s vaccines pipeline and platform technologies. Prior to joining GSK, Gillian was VP, Associate General Counsel & Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at Emergent BioSolutions Inc., where she founded the IP department and supported all IP aspects of the company’s IPO and subsequent 9 years of growth through M&A in the vaccines, biodefense, and global health fields. Gillian also spent over ten years in private practice at law firms in Boston, MA and Washington, DC.

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Fabian Gonell, Senior Vice President, Licensing Strategy and Legal Counsel, Qualcomm

Fabian Gonell is Senior Vice President, Licensing Strategy and Legal Counsel of Qualcomm's Technology Licensing division, where his responsibilities include developing the Company’s licensing strategy, negotiating license agreements, and overseeing the company's compliance with the rules of standards organizations. He has played a major role in structuring and negotiating license agreements with many of Qualcomm’s licensees, including Apple, Samsung, LGE, Ericsson, and Nokia/Microsoft, as well as in Qualcomm’s response to regulatory investigations of Qualcomm’s licensing practices. 

Prior to joining Qualcomm, Mr. Gonell was a litigator at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York, where he represented Qualcomm and other clients in patent and antitrust litigation. He also served as an adjunct professor at the Fordham University School of Law, where he taught courses in interviewing, counseling and negotiation. Mr. Gonell holds a BA in Economics from the City University of New York and a JD from the Fordham University School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Fordham Law Review.

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Dr. Kirti Gupta, Executive Director, LeadershIP; Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation Project, CSIS

Kirti Gupta is a noted economist and expert specializing in global matters related to technology, antitrust, and intellectual property (IP). Dr. Gupta’s diverse expertise spans engineering, product, litigation, and policy issues in the technology sector. She has more than 20 years of experience working at the forefront of technologies, including mobile/wireless telecommunications, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors. She currently serves as vice president and chief economist of global technology at Cornerstone Research, leading their technology, digital economy, and artificial intelligence practice. Before joining Cornerstone Research, Dr. Gupta was a vice president and chief economist at Qualcomm Inc. In this role, she provided economic analysis and strategic guidance on global technology, IP, antitrust, and macroeconomic policy issues in collaboration with business stakeholders and a global network of experts, economists, attorneys, and policymakers. She worked directly on Qualcomm’s strategic IP initiatives, antitrust investigations in various regions around the world, global litigation matters, mergers and acquisitions, and global trade issues. She is a cofounder and executive director of the IPLeadershIP platform, which convenes timely dialogues on IP and antitrust policy issues on a regular basis. She is also the executive director at the Institute for Business Innovation at the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley; is a coinventor of over 40 patents in the field of wireless communications; and has published in various policy, law, and economics journals. Dr. Gupta holds an MS in electrical engineering from Purdue University and a PhD in economics from the University of California, San Diego.

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Dr. John J. Hamre

John Hamre was elected president and CEO of CSIS in January 2000. Before joining CSIS, he served as the 26th U.S. deputy secretary of defense. Prior to holding that post, he was the under secretary of defense (comptroller) from 1993 to 1997. As comptroller, Dr. Hamre was the principal assistant to the secretary of defense for the preparation, presentation, and execution of the defense budget and management improvement programs. In 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates appointed Dr. Hamre to serve as chairman of the Defense Policy Board, and he served in that capacity for four secretaries of defense.

Before serving in the Department of Defense, Dr. Hamre worked for 10 years as a professional staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. During that time, he was primarily responsible for the oversight and evaluation of procurement, research, and development programs, defense budget issues, and relations with the Senate Appropriations Committee. From 1978 to 1984, Dr. Hamre served in the Congressional Budget Office, where he became its deputy assistant director for national security and international affairs. In that position, he oversaw analysis and other support for committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Dr. Hamre received his Ph.D., with distinction, in 1978 from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., where his studies focused on international politics and economics and U.S. foreign policy. In 1972, he received his B.A., with high distinction, from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, emphasizing political science and economics. The following year he studied as a Rockefeller fellow at the Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Phil Hill, Special Counsel, Covington

Phillip Hill focuses on complex copyright matters with an emphasis on music, film/TV, video games, sports, theatre, and technology. Phillip’s global practice includes all aspects of copyright and the DMCA, as well as trademark and right of publicity law, and encompasses the full spectrum of litigation, transactions, counseling, legislation, and regulation. He regularly represents clients in federal and state court, as well as before the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board, Copyright Office, Patent & Trademark Office, and Trademark Trial & Appeal Board. Through his work at the firm and prior industry and in-house experience, Phillip has developed a deep understanding of his clients’ industries. He also regularly advises on cutting-edge topics like generative artificial intelligence, the metaverse, and NFTs. In addition to his full-time legal practice, Phillip serves as Chair of the ABA Music and Performing Arts Committee, frequently speaks on emerging trends, is active in educational efforts, and publishes regularly.

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Kate Hudson, Associate Vice President and Counsel for Government Relations and Public Policy, American Association of Universities

Kate Hudson has served at AAU since March 2022. As the Associate Vice President and Counsel for Government Relations and Public Policy, her portfolio includes intellectual property, technology transfer, open and public access, data privacy, and copyright issues. In addition, she supports AAU’s policy and federal relations work in areas that require legal expertise, such as tax issues related to research, labor and employment, research security policy, higher education Title IX issues, and other regulatory matters important to America’s leading research universities. Kate also leads AAU’s General Counsels (GC) constituent group and Intellectual Property & Tech Transfer Task Force. 

Prior to joining AAU, Kate served in the U.S. federal government as a senior attorney-advisor in the legislative and executive branches, most recently with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). At GAO, she provided legal counsel on a range of issues including interagency governance bodies, federal financial management, legislative drafting, and technical advice to Congress. Before her work at GAO, Kate served as an attorney-advisor with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), as both an administrative litigator before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and regulatory counsel. Additionally, she served as agency counsel for three years in the federal litigation surrounding the 2015 OPM cyberbreach case, the largest federal class action privacy lawsuit in U.S. history.

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Patrick Kilbride, Senior Vice President, Global Innovation Policy Center, US Chamber of Commerce

Patrick Kilbride is the Senior Vice President for the Global Innovation Policy Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he leads a policy team committed to the premise that intellectual property rights should provide a reliable basis for private sector investment in innovation and creativity. Previously, Patrick served in the Chamber’s International Division, as head of the Americas policy team and founder of the Coalition for the Rule of Law in Global Markets. Before joining the Chamber he was Deputy Assistant USTR for Public Liaison in the George W. Bush administration, advancing the President’s ambitious trade agenda. Patrick’s background in economics informs his market-focused approach to intellectual property policy.

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Dr. Jason Matheny, President and CEO, RAND Corporation

Jason Matheny is president and chief executive officer of RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. Prior to becoming RAND's president and CEO in July 2022, he led White House policy on technology and national security at the National Security Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Previously, he was founding director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University and director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), where he was responsible for developing advanced technologies for the U.S. intelligence community. Before IARPA, he worked for Oxford University, the World Bank, the Applied Physics Laboratory, the Center for Biosecurity, and Princeton University. Matheny has served on many nonpartisan boards and committees, including the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, to which he was appointed by Congress in 2018. He is a recipient of the Intelligence Community's Award for Individual Achievement in Science and Technology, the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He was also named one of Foreign Policy's “Top 50 Global Thinkers.”

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Judge Paul Michel, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Ret)

Judge Paul R Michel served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from March, 1988 through May, 2010 and as its chief judge from December, 2004 to May 31, 2010 when he retired from the judiciary in order to speak freely on the nation’s need for a stronger patent system.  In pursuit of that goal, he has written dozens of articles and numerous amicus briefs for the Federal Circuit, the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court.  The articles have been published in both general media and IP media, including the Wall Street Journal,  Newsweek magazine, STAT, Boston Sunday Globe, Fortune, Thompson-Reuters, International Business Times, The Hill, Roll Call, Bloomberg Law, the National Review and IPWatchdog, among many others.  He has co-authored scholarly articles, including for the Berkeley Law School and Business School journals and the Drake University Law Review.  At IP conferences, he is a ubiquitous panelist and a frequent keynote speaker.  He has been called repeatedly to testify before the IP committees in Congress, including on the urgent need to reform the law of eligibility.

Managing Intellectual Property magazine named him one the 50 most influential leaders in intellectual property law in the world and Intellectual Asset Management magazine inducted him into its international Hall of Fame. He serves on the boards of the IPO Education Foundation and the U.S. IP Alliance. A graduate of Williams College and the University of Virginia Law School, he was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degrees by John Marshall Law School and The Catholic University of America. Previously, he was an assistant Watergate special prosecutor, assistant counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Korea-gate prosecutor, associate deputy attorney general, and chief of staff and counsel to Senator Arlen Specter.

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Hon. David L. Norquist, President and CEO, National Defense Industrial Association

The Hon. David L. Norquist is President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). He joined NDIA on May 1, 2022 bringing with him more than 30 years of public and private sector experience in national security and federal financial management. Mr. Norquist previously served as the 34th Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2019 to 2021 and was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Department of Defense (DoD), including managing the Pentagon’s budget and personnel. He led reforms in DoD business processes and realigned investments toward the challenges of multi-domain warfare. 

At the request of the Biden Administration, Mr. Norquist served as Acting Secretary of Defense and continued as Deputy Secretary until the Senate confirmed Secretary Lloyd Austin and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks. From 2017 until 2019 as the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer, he supported the National Defense Strategy (NDS) through the development and execution of the DoD’s annual budget of more than $680 billion.

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Dr. Lynne E. Parker, Associate Vice Chancellor and Director, AI Tennessee Initiative, University of Tennessee

Dr. Lynne E. Parker is Associate Vice Chancellor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT), and Director of the AI Tennessee Initiative, which is positioning the University and the state of Tennessee as a national and global leader in the data-intensive knowledge economy. Prior to this role, she led national AI policy efforts for four years (2018-2022) in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, serving as Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States, Founding Director of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office, and Assistant Director for AI. She also served as co-chair of the Congressionally-directed National AI Research Resource Task Force, which aimed to democratize access to the computational and data infrastructure needed for AI research. She served for two years (2015-2016) at the National Science Foundation as Division Director for Information and Intelligent Systems. In these roles across three Administrations, she led the development of numerous landmark national AI policies bolstering research, governance, education and workforce training, international engagement, and the Federal use of AI.

Parker joined the UT faculty in 2002 and is an expert on distributed and intelligent robot systems, human-robot interaction, and AI, having published extensively in these and related areas. She previously worked for several years as a Distinguished Research and Development Staff Member and Group Leader at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She has received numerous awards for research, teaching, and service, and is a Fellow of AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence), AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), and IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers); and a Distinguished Member of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery). Parker earned a PhD. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Brian Pomper, Partner, Akin Gump

Brian represents companies before Congress, the White House and federal agencies on a diverse set of public policy matters, including market access, investment, international trade disputes, intellectual property, international tax and customs issues. Brian formerly served as chief international trade counsel to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). In that role, he advised Chairman Baucus and other members of the Senate Finance Committee on all aspects of the Committee’s international trade and economic agenda.

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Judge Randall R. Rader, Former Chief Judge of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Ret.)

For over 25 years, Judge Rader has been a thought leader in the field of intellectual property law and jurisprudence. His work as Chief Judge, his publications and his work teaching patent law globally to students, judges and government officials has left an indelible mark on the field of IP law and the protection of IP rights throughout the world. Judge Rader was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President George H. W. Bush in 1990 and assumed the duties of Chief Judge on June 1, 2010.

He was appointed to the United States Claims Court (now the U. S. Court of Federal Claims) by President Ronald W. Reagan in 1988. Before appointment to the Court of Federal Claims, former Chief Judge Rader served as Minority and Majority Chief Counsel to Subcommittees of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. From 1975 to 1980, he served as Counsel in the House of Representatives for representatives serving on the Interior, Appropriations, and Ways and Means Committees.

Since leaving the bench in 2014, Judge Rader has founded the Rader Group, initially focusing on arbitration, mediation, and legal consulting and legal education services. Judge Rader has presided over a major arbitration under ICC rules in Paris; conducted mediations to settle ongoing litigation; joined law faculty at Tsinghua University; conducted full-credit courses at leading law schools in Washington, D.C., Seattle, Santa Clara, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, Munich; consulted with major corporations and law firms on IP policy and litigation; and advised foreign governments on international IP standards.  He continues to advocate improvements in innovation policy through speaking engagements worldwide.