As Immediate-past President, I chaired the Society's committee on leadership and nominations and mentored other Board members.  The Society honored my service by awarding me the Frank Barnes Award for mentorship.

As President-Elect, I developed and rolled out a program of virtual events for LES members experiencing career transitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  I was also a member of the Board's COVID-19 task force, which resolved a long-term financial obligation and mitigated financial risk during the pivot from in-person events to virtual platformed events.

At GSK, I was the sole North American attorney for significant (over $1M) IP-driven business transactions to align the Vaccines pipeline with GSK's business strategy. I handled complex asset acquisitions, in-licenses, and collaboration agreements, as well as asset divestments (including site divestment) and termination/settlement agreements. I also negotiated multi-party collaborative clinical trial agreements and CRADAs. I provided the business with U.S. risk mitigation advice on royalty obligations and strategic alliances.  In addition, I was the sole North American attorney for the Vaccines portfolio of R&D contracts with U.S. government entities, including NIH/NIAID, BARDA and DARPA. 

I began my legal career at HBS&R, where I joined the firm's life sciences patent prosecution practice group.  I represented the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and selected spin-out companies.

Biogen-IDEC (NASDAQ: BIIB), originally Biogen, Inc., was founded in 1978, and is the oldest independent, global, fully integrated biopharmaceutical firm, and has a diversified biologics product portfolio for neurology, autoimmunity, and oncology disease indications.  I joined Biogen as Assistant General Counsel, IP and was promoted to Associate General Counsel, IP in September 2000.  While at Biogen, I was responsible for all IP matters relating to selected clinical- and late research-stage product development programs.  Key accomplishments included:

I led all IP activities in support of new product launch of AMEVIVE® (alefacept) for treatment of psoriasis in United States and Europe, including: 

• FTO investigation of all product components and key manufacturing steps 
• IP risk mitigation including patent opinions and defensive pre-litigation plan in U.S., U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland
• Brand development including trademarks, USAN/INN name, trade dress, website content, promotional materials, and pre-launch publication campaign
• Secured U.S. patent term extension

I was also the in-house team leader for Noelle v. Lederman, U.S. Patent Interference No. 104,415; together, the team secured a favorable decision of noninterference-in-fact, which cleared FTO obstacles from commercialization of a humanized monoclonal antibody therapeutic for autoimmunity and transplant indications.

I managed licensee-licensor relationships with six different land-grant and private universities having conflicting and overlapping IP rights in a humanized monoclonal antibody product candidate.

I was a lead negotiator in the in-licensing of neublastin, a recombinant biologic candidate for neuropathic pain.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) is a global specialty biopharmaceutical firm and a leading biodefense contractor, supplying its flagship vaccine, BioThrax (anthrax vaccine adsorbed) to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile.  I served as the company's first Chief IP Counsel, founded its IP Department, supported its Initial Public Offering (IPO), and guided all IP aspects of its subsequent 9+ year growth through sequential M&A activities.

I became a member of Emergent's Legal Affairs Division leadership team upon being promoted to Vice President in April 2009. I managed an IP department consisting of 8 patent professionals at 4 corporate sites across 8 time zones.  Together, we were responsible for management and oversight of the company's $5.2M annual IP budget.  As V.P., I led all aspects of corporate IP strategy, governance and compliance, including the following specific activities and accomplishments:

• I was a core team member in all of EBS’s IP-driven in-bound M&A activities; responsible for IP due diligence and negotiation of IP-relevant terms, which led to the portfolio integration of IP assets aggregating over $391M.
• I led negotiations of key out-bound license and co-development agreements to extract value aggregating over $259M from partnering of EBS’s pipeline candidates.
• I led all IP diligence activities in support of EBS’s 2013 offering of $250M in Convertible Senior Notes. 
• I developed and implemented innovative, business-centric IP strategic framework, including Master Plan and guidelines for IP portfolio management, FTO risk mitigation and value extraction from pipeline, which aligned all IP activities with the corporate strategy and growth plan.
• I worked closely with R&D, business development, and executive management to leverage product IP strategies to attract biopharma development partners and nondilutive funding from government agencies (DoD, DHHS, DHS, NIH) and NGOs (The Wellcome Trust, the AERAS Global TB Initiative).
• I was a Focus team member in companywide Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Risk Tolerance Framework initiatives; I was designated as the risk owner of all identified IP risks.
• I developed a novel adaptation of ERM principles to management of IP FTO risks, which allowed the company to focus its resources on the highest priority FTO risks and thereby avoid all potential IP disputes for my entire 9.5 years of service to Emergent. 
• I developed the company's suite of global IP policies and procedures and was responsible for employee training and compliance.
• I led a process improvement initiative including Kaizen blitz on approvals process for scientific disclosures.
• I was a member of the senior management team responsible for vetting company’s first two 5-year growth plans.
• I chaired the company's executive-level IP Steering Committee, which made all significant IP portfolio and risk management decisions regarding pipeline and commercial products and technologies.
• I was a focus team member for development of company core values and the “One Emergent” corporate culture.

In my early years at Emergent, prior to becoming V.P., my key accomplishments included the following:

• I led all IP aspects of formation and management of the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium (OETC), a joint venture between EBS and the University of Oxford, U.K.  OETC was the corporate vehicle for clinical development of Oxford's viral vectored tuberculosis vaccine, MVA85A. 
• I led all IP aspects of formation and management of the Emerging Pandemic Influenza Consortium (EPIC), a joint venture between EBS and Temasek, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.  EPIC was the corporate vehicle for R&D evaluation of countermeasures (vaccines and monoclonal antibodies) for H5N1 avian influenza.
• I coordinated multi-party European Patent Oppositions against third party patents covering viral vector technology relevant to EBS’s tuberculosis and influenza vaccine candidates
• I led all IP diligence activities in support of EBS’s IPO, which raised $52.5M. 
• I founded, structured and developed the IP department at EBS, with responsibilities for asset creation and management, FTO, risk mitigation, due diligence and transactional leadership in partnering negotiations.