Evelyn Chen is the proposed Chair and President, after having served as Chair-Elect and President Elect for 2023-2024. The proposed Chair-Elect and President Elect is Mike Perham. The proposed new board members are Jennifer Souter and Mark Shelley. Their biographies are provided below.

Evelyn is a Senior Counsel in Ericsson’s IP Rights & Licensing group. In her role, Evelyn supports Ericsson’s patent licensing policies and practices for its industry-leading portfolio of over 49,000 patents. Before joining Ericsson, Evelyn was a patent litigator and prosecutor at Sidley Austin LLP, representing both national and international clients. She also clerked for the Honorable David Folsom in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Evelyn has an Electrical Engineering degree and a law degree from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to attending law school, Evelyn worked as a registered patent agent for several years, prosecuting patents in a wide-range of technologies ranging from telecommunications to biomedical instrumentation. Evelyn is currently serving as a member of the LES Standards Board.

Mike Perham, Chair-Elect and President-Elect

Mike Perham, Ph.D., CLP, has been a member of LES since 2009, having served multiple roles as an Annual Meeting Program Chair, as chair of the Life Science Sector, leading the 2021 Life Science Royalty Rate Survey and on the Young Members Council. He is currently a board member and facilitating the 2024 Life Sciences Royalty Rate Survey.

Mike is the Director, Innovations and External Relations at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus, overseeing technology transfer, open science, and external relations. Before HHMI, he handled technology transfer and IP management at UTMB, the University of Virginia, Microlab Diagnostics, and Health Diagnostic Laboratory. He has spent the last 16 years negotiating and managing a wide variety of out-and in-licensing agreements, Intellectual Property rights transfer from open-source to collaborative development arrangements, managing IP portfolios, and leading litigation efforts.

He studied Chemistry at the University of Texas and received a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from Rice University, where he was an NIH Biotechnology Trainee and Keck Fellow in the Houston-Area Molecular Biophysics Program.

Jennifer Souter, Director

Jennifer Souter is the Managing Director for Intellectual Property (IP) in the Office of Research Commercialization, the technology transfer office for the Texas Tech University System (TTUS) and its five component institutions.  As Managing Director, she is responsible for the development and implementation of strategies to maximize the value of TTUS-owned IP and discoveries and directing IP assessment, protection and compliance activities. Prior to joining Texas Tech, Jennifer served as Director of Patents and Licensing for WiSys, where she managed the IP portfolio and licensing activities for technologies developed out of the 11 regional comprehensive institutions in the University of Wisconsin System.

Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in the life sciences, an MBA and has over16 years’ experience in intellectual property management and technology commercialization.  Throughout her career, she has been actively engaged in technology transfer supporting university researchers and entrepreneurs across a breadth of disciplines in both the US and UK.

Mark Shelley, Director

Mark Shelley is senior legal counsel at Marathon Petroleum Company in Houston, Texas, where he manages the intellectual property matters for the nation’s largest refining system.  In this role, Mark counsels Marathon both on the identification and protection of its intellectual property as well as a wide range of other IP issues. Drafting and negotiating intellectual property license agreements are a key part of his practice. Prior to joining Marathon, Mark engaged in all aspects of intellectual property law at several international law firms and an international oil and gas services company.  Through these roles, he has advised clients in diverse markets, including oil and gas exploration, production and refining, agricultural chemicals, medical devices, alternative energy processes, and consumer goods, among others.  Mark holds a Ph.D. and a B.Ch.E. from Auburn University and an M.S. from Texas A&M University, all in chemical engineering. He is also a licensed professional engineer in Texas. Mark has been involved in LES for a number of years, and particularly its education committee, where he served a three-year stint as SVP of Education.