Tonya L. Combs, Sr. Vice President – General Patent Counsel, Eli Lilly and Company
Tonya Combs currently serves as Sr. Vice President, General Patent Counsel, where she advises senior leaders at Eli Lilly and Company on IP strategy. She also has the good fortune to lead a group of talented and experienced patent and trademark professionals responsible for global patent and trademark procurement (drafting and prosecuting), maintenance, litigation, and enforcement for Lilly. In addition, she and her team assess third party patents for potential impact on Lilly’s development efforts and value in business due diligence.
Ms. Combs started her career at Lilly as a chemical engineer in research and development with responsibility for optimizing scale up of clinical trial material. She’s held a number of positions of increasing responsibility in Lilly Legal, focusing on patent preparation and prosecution, multi-jurisdictional patent litigation, brand support, trade secret protection and enforcement, general counsel for the oncology business unit, and others. Ms. Combs joined Lilly Research Labs in 2001 after receiving a B.S. in chemical engineering from Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. She received a J.D. summa cum laude from IU McKinney School of Law in 2006. She currently sits on the IPO Board of Directors where she also serves on the Executive Committee and as the board liaison to IPO’s Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Issues Committee, and is active in AIPLA, where she was named a Woman to Watch in January 2019. Ms. Combs also serves on the boards of, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and the Foundation for Advancement of Diversity in IP Law.
Image
Hon. Makan Delrahim, Partner, Latham and Watkins
Makan Delrahim, former Assistant Attorney General in charge of the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division, advises clients on high-stakes mergers and acquisitions, government investigations, and crisis management. As Assistant Attorney General at the DOJ, Makan oversaw the review and resolution of hundreds of mergers and acquisitions, as well as more than 100 criminal investigations and indictments. He played a vital role in building the Antitrust Division’s engagement with its international counterparts. He garnered considerable media coverage and is recognized as one of the most transformative and effective leaders of the division for his work related to entertainment, sports, and media.
He previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division overseeing International and Appellate (2003–2005), as a Commissioner on the Antitrust Modernization Commission (2004–2007), and as antitrust counsel and later as Chief of Staff and Chief Counsel of the US Senate Judiciary Committee (1998–2003).
Makan currently teaches the course, “M&A Transactions and the Role of Governments,” as an Adjunct Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania. He previously served on the Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property and as Chairman of the International Competition Network’s Merger Working Group.
Image
Tom DiLenge, Senior Partner, Global Public Policy, Regulatory and Governmental Strategy, Flagship Pioneering
Tom DiLenge joined Flagship Pioneering in 2022 as Senior Partner, Global Public Policy, Regulatory & Governmental Strategy. Tom leads Flagship’s public policy, regulatory, and governmental affairs functions, including development and execution of strategies to advance Flagship’s priorities and positions at the federal, state, and global levels. He also serves as an in-house advisor and expert resource to Flagship’s ecosystem companies.
From 2016 to 2021, Tom was the President of the Advocacy, Law & Public Policy Division of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), a 1,000+ member trade association, where he was responsible for strategic and operational management of BIO’s domestic and international advocacy, policy, communications, alliance development, legal and Board governance functions. Prior to this role, Tom served as BIO’s General Counsel and Vice President for Legal and Intellectual Property for a dozen years. Before joining BIO, Tom served as the Chief Counsel and Policy Director for the House Homeland Security Committee, and as Deputy Chief Counsel for Oversight and Investigations on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he shepherded passage of several major pieces of legislation and became known as one of the leading policy experts on public health security matters. He began his career in the Washington, D.C. office of the international law firm Mayer Brown working in its general and appellate litigation practice.
He currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation and is a member of the Life Science Leader Advisory Board. He also currently is an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy, where he teaches a course on balancing healthcare innovation and affordability.
Image
Francesca Ferrari, Professor, University of Insubria
Francesca Ferrari, a professor of Civil Procedure Law at the University of Insubria – Como/Varese, has an extensive academic background, having served as a visiting scholar at both Harvard Law School and Maastricht University. She holds the qualification for full professorship both in Civil Procedure and in Comparative Law. She boasts a prolific publication record, with over one hundred works focusing on civil procedure and IP subjects, including four books and numerous essays published in esteemed journals. Presently, she holds the position of IP and Consumer Protection attaché at the Italian Permanent Representation at the European Union, appointed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to her academic pursuits, she is also an experienced lawyer and had been partner and of counsel of several law firms in Milan, the latter being Eptalex, with offices in Beirut, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, etc. Ferrari's professional trajectory has endowed her with profound insights into IP law, particularly in transnational litigation involving patents and trademarks, with a focus on pharmaceuticals. She also possesses expertise in copyright law, particularly in relation to emerging technologies and artificial intelligence as well as in antitrust law. Actively engaged in scholarly communities, Ferrari is a member of several scientific associations and seats in the editorial boards of prestigious journals. She is frequently invited to speak at both domestic and international conferences on civil procedure and IP-related matters.
Image
Hon. Dr. Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for the Economics of the Internet, Hudson Institute
Harold Furchtgott-Roth, former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he founded the Center on the Economics of the Internet and helped cofound the Forum for Intellectual Property. He is an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School and president of Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises, an economic consulting firm. He has cofounded various businesses in the communications sector.
Dr. Furchtgott-Roth is the only economist to have served on the Federal Communications Commission. Nominated by President Clinton, he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Previously, he was chief economist for the House Committee on Commerce, where he was one of the principal staff members on legislation that became the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He has testified several times to Congress and has served on federal advisory committees.
Widely recognized as an expert in economics and the communications industry, Dr. Furchtgott-Roth has consulted to scores of different businesses and served on various advisory boards over the past two decades. He is the author or coauthor of four books and many research publications. His hundreds of op-eds and columns have been widely published. He is a member of the Legal Policy Advisory Board for the Washington Legal Foundation.
Dr. Furchtgott-Roth received a PhD in economics from Stanford University and an SB in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Image
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.
Image
Dr. John J. Hamre, President and CEO, and Langone Chair in American Leadership, CSIS
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.
Image
Hon. Andrei Iancu, Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation Project, CSIS
Andrei Iancu is senior adviser of the Renewing American Innovation (RAI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Previously, he was under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a position to which he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. In this role, Mr. Iancu led an agency with approximately 13,000 employees and an annual budget of over $3.5 billion. He was also the principal adviser in the administration on domestic and international intellectual property (IP) policy matters. Currently, Mr. Iancu is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. Before that, he was a partner at Irell & Manella LLP, where he worked prior to government service. Mr. Iancu has also taught patent law at the UCLA School of Law. Earlier in his career, he was an engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company. Mr. Iancu is a sought-after speaker and has had hundreds of engagements on IP and innovation policy issues. One of his speeches received the 2020 Cicero Speechwriting Award in two separate categories: public policy and technology. Mr. Iancu has also written on a variety of IP issues. The Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society recognized one of his articles as "the greatest contribution to the fields of patents, trademarks and copyrights" in the publication year. Recently, and among many other recognitions, he received the IP Champion Award from the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation for “his extraordinary leadership in advocating for the value of intellectual property to stimulate the progress of innovation.”
Image
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.
Image
Adam Mossoff, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Adam Mossoff is a law professor at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. He is a visiting scholar and research fellow at several think tanks and policy organizations, and a co-founder of the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property, a nonprofit, independent academic center. Professor Mossoff’s research has been relied on by the Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit, and the USPTO, FTC, and other federal agencies. He has been invited seven times to testify before the Senate and the House of Representatives on patent policy. He posts regularly on LinkedIn about historical patents and current topics in innovation policy.
Image
Hon. Anne Neuberger, Former Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology
Anne Neuberger is an internationally recognized expert in cybersecurity, risk and emerging technologies. Ms. Neuberger served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor in the Biden Administration. In that role she had primary responsibility for national policy around cyber and emerging technologies, including quantum, spectrum and advanced telecommunications (5G/6G) and components of AI policy. She also initiated and led the successful effort to convene 71 countries to combat trans-national cyber threats like ransomware, and money laundering via cryptocurrencies. Prior to this role she served for over a decade at NSA and the Pentagon in senior roles where she was responsible for setting strategic direction and guiding operational execution of complex, global operations. At NSA, she was appointed the civilian deputy director of global intelligence operations (19,000 plus professionals). Ms. Neuberger also established and led the Cybersecurity Directorate (4,000 people), which included NSA’s first unclassified organization to share threat information with the private sector. In 2013, she was appointed NSA’s first Chief Risk Officer, following sensitive media disclosures of NSA’s operations. In that role, Ms. Neuberger built NSA’s enterprise risk management program and guided the rebuilding of NSA’s private sector and foreign partner partnerships thereafter. She was awarded DoD and NSA’s highest civilian awards, as well as a Presidential rank award.
Prior to her government service, Ms. Neuberger held several positions related to technology and operations at a large financial services firm. Throughout her government and private sector roles she continued to devote significant effort to transformative non-profit projects.
Image
Hon. David Norquist, President and CEO, National Defense Industrial Association
The Hon. David L. Norquist is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). Mr. Norquist has more than 30 years of public and private sector experience in national security and federal financial management. He has served in three Senate-confirmed positions: the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Department of Homeland Security, the Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller/CFO and most recently, as the 34th Deputy Secretary of Defense.
He began his career as a civil servant, supporting Army intelligence as a program/budget analyst with assignments on the Army staff, a major command, a defense agency, and at an overseas field site. Following his time with the Army, Mr. Norquist served for six years with the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense as a professional staff member. He later served for eight years as partner with Kearney and Company, a certified public accounting firm.
Image
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.
Image
Anne Pritchett, Senior Associate (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation; Founder, Pritchett Policy Associates, LLC
Anne McDonald Pritchett, PhD, is the founder of Pritchett Policy Associates, LLC, which provides life sciences, policy, advocacy, and strategic communications expertise to bear to address public policy challenges. She is a leading expert on the biopharmaceutical manufacturing supply chain and the range of public policies impacting biomedical innovation including intellectual property, cybersecurity, STEM, and economic and regulatory policies. She was previously senior vice president, Policy and Research and Member Relations, at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which represents the leading research-based biopharmaceutical companies.
In her nearly two decades at PhRMA, she played a key role in developing and advancing research, public policies, and advocacy strategies to foster a favorable environment for continued medical innovation, maintain U.S. global leadership in medical innovation, respond to Covid-19 and prepare for future pandemics, and support globally resilient and secure manufacturing supply chains. She also has been a frequent presenter on industry-related issues, including testifying before Congress. Prior to PhRMA, she held various policy roles in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy with a primary focus on developing the National Drug Control Strategy and Budget and managing research collaborations with the Counter-Drug Technology Assessment Center, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Academies of Science. She previously held leadership positions at a nonprofit association and several contract research firms focused on research and communications support to several federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health as well as the National Institute of Justice.
Laurie Self, Senior Vice President and Counsel of Government Affairs, Qualcomm
Laurie Self is Senior Vice President and Counsel of Government Affairs at Qualcomm, where she specializes in global innovation and technology policy issues, including at the intersection of intellectual property, antitrust, standards, trade, and national security. Based in Washington, D.C., Ms. Self leads a team that is focused on ensuring that US laws and policies support the Company’s R&D-driven business model and technology leadership. Prior to joining Qualcomm in July 2012, Ms. Self was a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling, where she chaired the firm’s intellectual property practice group. Ms. Self holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from University of Virginia School of Law.
Image
Hemal Shah, Senior Director, IP and Trade Policy, Gilead Sciences
Hemal Shah is a Senior Director in Gilead’s Government Affairs team, leading intellectual property and trade policy. Previously, she led policy advocacy programs focused on India and emerging markets at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She also served as research associate for South Asia at the American Enterprise Institute and program coordinator at the Legatum Institute in London.
Shah has served as a scholar with the GMF’s Young Strategists Forum in Tokyo, the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Taiwan-U.S. Policy Program in Taipei, and the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange in Tel Aviv, with research focus on U.S. foreign and trade policy. Shah is the author of 40+ op-eds and research reports on economic and trade policy featured in publications including the Financial Times, the Economist, the Diplomat, and Foreign Policy.
Shah holds an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics & Political Science and a BA in Business Management from the University of Nottingham.
Image
Jamie Simpson, Chief Policy Officer and Counsel, Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
Jamie L. Simpson is the Chief Policy Officer and Counsel at C4IP, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting strong intellectual property policy to advance prosperity and well-being for people everywhere. She was previously the Chief Counsel for the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet and a counsel, on detail, to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee where she advised on IP policy. She served as a Senior Advisor to the Director of the USPTO, providing input on pending legislation, Congressional testimony, and USPTO initiatives. Ms. Simpson started at the USPTO as an Associate Solicitor, where she briefed and argued appeals before the Federal Circuit and helped to inform agency policy on patent issues. Earlier in her career, she litigated patent and contract disputes in private practice and was a clerk on the Federal Circuit. She holds a B.A. in biochemistry from Harvard College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a master’s in public policy from the London School of Economics.
Image
Coke Morgan Stewart, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Coke Morgan Stewart is the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She is currently serving as the Acting Under Secretary and Acting Director, leading one of the largest intellectual property (IP) offices in the world—a $4.2 billion operation with more than 13,500 employees located across the 50 states and Puerto Rico. She is also the principal IP advisor to the Secretary of Commerce, other federal agencies, and the President.
Ms. Stewart worked at the USPTO from 2011 to 2021, and re-joined the agency on January 20, 2025. During her ten-year tenure at the USPTO, Ms. Stewart served in many senior roles, including as Acting Deputy Under Secretary and Acting Deputy Director, Acting Chief of Staff, Counsel to the Director, Senior Policy Advisor, Acting Deputy Solicitor, and Associate Solicitor. In these roles, she defended agency decisions in federal court and advised multiple administrations on a wide array of legal and policy matters, from patent eligibility to drug pricing to artificial intelligence.
Ms. Stewart has a distinguished career in IP litigation. She has handled 70 appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit. She has advised the Department of Justice Civil Appellate Staff and the Office of the Solicitor General on dozens of patent, trademark, and copyright cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. She has overseen administrative law cases, defending agency practices and procedures in the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Ms. Stewart most recently practiced law at O’Melveny & Myers LLP in the Intellectual Property and Technology group. Prior to that, she taught Appellate Advocacy at the Regent University School of Law before serving as Deputy Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia,
She is a graduate of Duke University cum laude and the University of Virginia School of Law, and clerked on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Image
Dr. Stephen J. Susalka, CEO, Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM)
Dr. Stephen J. Susalka is the Chief Executive Officer of AUTM, a 3,000+ member non-profit association, focused on supporting and enhancing technology transfer globally. He also oversees a cooperative agreement with the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer to support technology transfer for more than 300 federal labs across the US.
As an internationally recognized leader in technology commercialization, Susalka leverages his extensive experience in fostering successful university-industry collaborations, along with his expertise in IP, licensing, and startups, to empower AUTM members in bringing groundbreaking innovations to market.
