2018 Boston Meeting Recap

A revolution of ideas, networking and education inspired more than 700 attendees at the 2018 LES Annual Meeting in Boston. Advancing Innovation through a Renewal of Trust was the opening plenary in a fireside chat format featuring Walter Copan, NIST, and Andrei Iancu USPTO, see Page 4.

Work Smart: How to Negotiate Your Compensation, brought to us by the Women In Licensing Committee (Chair, Soody Tronson), hosted a facilitated discussion on salary negotiations with featured speaker Alex Howley. Look for more on that in the March 2019 issue. IP Protection in the Age of Blockchain presented a panel of experts discussing patents and new uses for cryptocurrencies, see Page 5.

Spotlight plenaries targeted to each business sector gave a deep dive into various business trends. One all-star panel discussed Us or Them: Who is Going to Set Standards for Licensing? They highlighted how owners of intellectual property and their lawyers are on the front lines of developing voluntary licensing standards, see Pages 6-7.  Members are encouraged to join a Standards Committee to help set those standards. Visit: www.lesusacanada.org/page/lesstandards.

The Deals of Distinction Awards highlighted five teams that worked together to make our world a better place; read more about these fascinating deals on Pages 8-9. Jim McCarthy was recognized with the LES President's Exemplary Service Award, see his spotlight on Page 12. Chapter Cup Awards were a fun addition to the Welcome Reception, recognizing the importance of the Local Chapters, see Page 10. Educational add-on courses also offered CLE credit to many attendees. A noteable workshop led by Gillian Fenton was Career Paths for Dealmakers: A Ladder or a Jungle Gym? It included a Headshot Photo Booth available to all attendees.

Boston-themed networking events kicked off with the All Things Boston Welcome Reception featuring a tour of Boston. Monday evening took us to an LES Supper Club-type of "not so Gala" where we honored Louise Levien as the recipient of the 2018 Frank Barnes Mentor Award. On Tuesday evening signature cocktails from each sector were available for sampling; they helped the crowd loosen up for a hilarious Sector Feud Game patterned after Family Feud. LES is famous for these fun and lively events that allow attendees to grow their network through shared experiences.

Read LES Viewpoints December 2018 Edition here

Get Involved – It Will Change Your Life

Bob Held, LES President and Chair of the Board, gave the following acceptance
speech at the Annual Meeting in Boston on October 16, 2018.

Good afternoon everyone!

I want to thank all of you for your support over the years and also for all of the well wishes, and the condolences, that I have received as I take on this challenging new LES role! 

I also want to thank Bill Elkington for his service as President and Chair over the past year.  Bill has a passion that one does not see very often and his results have been tremendous. 

My message to you today is "Get involved—experience the value proposition that LES has to offer!"  

You may have read my Annual Report article where I recounted how and when I really got involved in LES.  And I am glad that I did as it changed my life! 

Thanks go out to the past chair of the High Tech Sector (HTS), Don Jarrell, who really kicked-off my LES career.  It was around 2005 or 2006 when Don was HTS Chair and stopped me at an LES meeting.  Up and until that time my role in LES was confined to just attending meetings when time permitted. Don said that HTS had a dormant committee called the Aerospace & Transportation committee that had not met in several years, and since I worked for Northrop Grumman in IP, would I be interested in trying to revive that committee?  I thought about it for a few minutes and said yes—what do I have to lose?  I created a draft mission statement, value proposition and goals based on what I thought would be interesting to me and this type of group.  I then cold-called all of the IP departments in aerospace companies that I could find in the LES directory and through on-line searches and told them what I was putting together. I wanted to create a forum where we, in the aerospace IP community, could share best practices in IP management and monetization, learn from each other, and discuss the unique IP situations that U.S. (Department of Defense) DOD contractors are faced with.  In other words, the power of "collective knowledge."

It was the best career move that I ever made. Not only did it create a cadre of friends, that to this day still communicates and shares knowledge and experiences with each other, but it advanced my career in ways that I could never have imagined. I would not have been able to recover from a layoff at my last company in 2016 when they were bought out and they gave us two days' notice, had it not been for the business relationships that were cultivated as a result of LES. 

My advice—get involved—the value and benefits far outweigh the time and effort! What do you have to lose? Stretch yourself and see what you can accomplish. 

Here's an example of what you can accomplish when you stretch yourself. My girlfriend convinced me earlier this year to enter the Seagull Century bike race scheduled for October 6th – 100 miles on the Eastern shore of Maryland. I had never done more than 46 miles. The week before the race, we decided that since we had not stuck to our Summer practice schedule due to all of the rain and my travel schedule, we would only do the 63-mile leg. But on the morning of the race she said to me that if we do the 63-mile leg and finish—we can't do anymore. But if we shoot for the 100 mile—and we don't make it—we can always take a van back at one of the rest stops. We decided to stretch ourselves and went for the 100-mile leg and ended-up doing 102.8 miles! It is amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind and body into it. 

It is a great honor to serve LES as its President and Chair – and I look forward to working with all of you, along with CEO Kim Chotkowski and the Board of Directors.

Read LES Viewpoints December 2018 Edition here