Introducing Mark Keagle, New Director of Education

My name is Mark A. Keagle, and I want to start off by thanking everyone at LES (U.S.A. and Canada) for providing me with this opportunity to help guide and direct the education offering here at LES. LES (U.S.A. and Canada) is a leader in the field of Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital. It is from this position of leadership that LES is continuing to take great strides moving our educational offering forward. This is why I am excited to be given to opportunity to work with such a wonderful organization. Having spent my career as an educator I am eager to work with The Board of Directors and the CEO to help bring make vision of education for LES a reality.

In September LES will be holding a series of educational classes and workshops in Chicago, Illinois. Brinks Gilson & Lione Law Groups will host the event from September 14 -28. Courses to be offered will include a one-day IP (Business Basics) 101 class, and then both a 3-day Master's and Advanced Business Development class. We will be concluding the conference with two different Royalty Rate Survey workshops: one focused on Hi-Tech and the other on Life Sciences.

On the heels of Chicago is the LES Annual Meeting, held in Boston, Massachusetts at the Marriott Copley Place Hotel. On Sunday, October 14 there are three separate educational offerings. LES will again offer a one-day IP (Business Basics) 101 course, as well as two separate workshops. One workshop will focus on valuation and the other will be IP in the Boardroom. And at the back-end of the LES Annual meeting, on Thursday, October 18, LES will offer a one-day CLP Exam Review course.

From there the future is wide open. Plans are coming together for the 2019 calendar and beyond. We have been exploring a number of possibilities; from expanding the number of courses we offer, to increasing the number of locations and frequency of our conferences, offering our classes in a variety of formats, and broadening our target audience as far as who we are offering classes to. Nothing has been off the table as we have discussed and debated the direction we want to take education moving forward. But, no matter what we had been discussing, our goal remains the same: Stay abreast of what is current and relevant, and provide the same information to our members and students. That is what will set us apart from everyone else. Additionally, as LES moves forward in creating future educational offerings, our goal is to post a calendar with enough advanced notice so that everyone involved has ample time to plan and adjust their schedules accordingly.

I want to leave you with one final thought: I am always open to comments, suggestions, and ideas. If you have a course you want to see offered, an idea on how to make things better or more efficient, or anything at all please do not hesitate to e-mail me: mkeagle@les.org. I am looking forward to getting to know more of you as I grow in this role, and am excited about where LES is headed.

For up-to-date information visit: www.lesusacanada.org/page/2018edcalendar