Staff Bios

Dan Sharp, Associate VP for Research/Director

Dan Sharp serves as Associate VP for Research and Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, Mr. Sharp oversees the business of the OTC, manages all intellectual property (IP) and licensing activities, and coordinates relationships between OTC and faculty university-wide. He is involved in the creation of new licenses and startup companies, manages the IP pipeline, and provides counsel to licensing staff with respect to technology marketing activities including: strategy, negotiation, terms, and goals.

Prior to joining OTC, Mr. Sharp was a practicing attorney—most recently with McKool Smith, PC and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, PC—with a focus on IP and technology law, including patent litigation as well as technology and IP licensing. He participated in structuring corporate deals ranging from complex mergers and acquisitions to venture capital financing rounds. Additionally, he participated in multiple jury trials for patent cases with damages models exceeding $100 million. Mr. Sharp has managed complex litigation and corporate transactions. He served as a Law Clerk to the Hon. T. John Ward, the presiding District Judge in the Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas, and is a member of the Bar in Texas and California.

Dan received his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. Currently, Dan serves as a judge and mentor to students competing in the Idea to Product competition and lectures on intellectual property and technology law. Mr. Sharp is a member of the 1883 Council and is involved with the College of Engineering Advisory Board. In 2009 he created a scholarship for engineering students that will be awarded to a student who is the first person from his or her family to attend college.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

James Earl (Jim) Brown III, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

jebiii@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-4735

As the Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Jim Brown provides leadership in the Office of Technology Commercialization to facilitate the achievement of commercialization objectives and increase the quality and magnitude of startups based upon research at The University of Texas at Austin. He identifies and evaluates technologies suitable for new venture formation in collaboration with inventors and the OTC licensing team; evaluates and provides feedback on business plans to launch promising new venture opportunities; assists in the creation of pre-seed launch strategies; helps to identify initial management teams, facilitates introductions to potential funding sources, and acts as a guide and mentor to inventors as they navigate the startup process.

Brown brings expertise and a successful track record in private equity and venture capital, as well as experience as a CEO and as a director in several private companies. He was most notably a General Partner at Polaris Venture Partners, where he identified and led several successful investments, including MarketXT (acquired by E-Trade) and Watchfire (acquired by IBM). He was very active with other Polaris portfolio companies as well, including Avici Systems, Exchange.com (acquired by Amazon), and Akamai Technologies. During Brown's tenure, Polaris grew from over $85 million to over $3 billion under management. He subsequently served as Managing Director of Virtus Capital Partners, heading the firm's Private Equity Investment Group.

Brown's operating experience includes the roles of President & CEO, and as a director at both InvisibleHand Networks and SparkPhone, Inc. He began his career as an investment banker with J.P. Morgan & Co., providing equity and leveraged loan financing in support of acquisitions, investments, and recapitalizations for private equity firms and private companies. He also gained valuable leadership and management experience as a captain and aviator in the U.S. Army. His service included the command of aviation soldiers in the prestigious 101st Airborne Division and the leadership of numerous day and night flight missions patrolling the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in the Republic of Korea—duty for which he was awarded the Army Achievement Medal.

Brown holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was President of the student body; a JD from New York University, where he was an Associate Editor of the Law Review, a Root-Tilden Scholar, and an International Fellow; and a BS in Engineering and Political Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was a varsity athlete, and where for four years he made Dean's List.

Intellectual Property & Licensing

Tom Baughman, Licensing Specialist

tbaughman@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-2875

Tom Baughman serves as a Licensing Specialist for Life Sciences in the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, Mr. Baughman specializes in life sciences, where he evaluates commercial opportunities for life science inventions, markets technologies to prospective licensees, negotiates intellectual property licenses, and assists in the formation of startups.

Mr. Baughman brings more than 20 years of experience in promoting and marketing life science technology. He has worked as a senior-level sales and marketing executive for three successful California-based startup companies (CardioThoracic Systems, Cohesion Technologies, and Novare Surgical Systems) and served as worldwide Director of Sales and Marketing for the Edwards Laboratories Division of Baxter International. In addition, Mr. Baughman directed his own consultancy that specialized in fundraising and initial marketing strategies for early-stage medical device companies. Mr. Baughman holds a B.A. from Indiana University.

Jitendra Jain (“JJ”), Licensing Specialist

jjain@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-9055

Jitendra Jain serves as a Licensing Specialist for the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) at The University of Texas at Austin. His focus in this role is to protect and to accelerate the commercialization of the university’s physical sciences, engineering, and computing intellectual assets. Mr. Jain specializes in commercially assessing and valuating technologies, cultivating inventions, developing intellectual property (IP) positions, guiding investments in patent prosecution, developing commercialization strategies, nurturing industry/venture-capital relations, marketing to prospective licensees, assisting in the formation of startups, and negotiating complex IP-based collaborative agreements to monetize IP.

Mr. Jain brings over 14 years of domestic and international experience in academic technology transfer, product marketing, entrepreneurship, and business development spanning the computing, telecom, and semiconductor industries. Prior to joining the OTC in February 2008, Mr. Jain served as a Senior Licensing Associate at Ohio State University, successfully commercializing engineering properties. Previously, Mr. Jain worked as a Product Marketing Manager for the Communications Group at Advanced Micro Devices (spun out as Legerity), managing voice and broadband integrated chipsets. Later, Mr. Jain ventured into creating his own large-scale events production house and a related web portal. Mr. Jain has also worked as an Associate for the OTC at the Texas A&M University, and as a Sales Manager for Wipro Infotech’s Business Solutions Division, providing turnkey information technology solutions to Fortune 500 clients. Mr. Jain holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A. from Texas A&M University.

John H. (“Wick”) Johnson, Ph.D., Licensing Specialist

wick@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-4919

Wick Johnson serves as Licensing Specialist for the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC). Prior to joining OTC, he was Senior Director for Worldwide Business Development, Cardiovascular, Metabolic, and Endocrine Diseases, at Pfizer, Inc. In that position, he was responsible for evaluating licensing opportunities worldwide and for determining the probability of technical and regulatory success as well as commercial potential of new investment opportunities. Before Pfizer, Dr. Johnson was a Research Fellow at Parke-Davis, managing the pharmacology and molecular biology department. While an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, he made a number of seminal contributions to diabetes research, including development of technologies that allowed meaningful cell biology research into insulin secretion and action and production of the first islet cDNA library.

Dr. Johnson holds a Ph.D. and B.S. in Microbiology and a B.A. in English Literature from Oklahoma State University. He has authored over 100 papers, book chapters, and abstracts and holds two patents.

Les Nichols, Licensing Specialist

lnichols@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-0275

Les Nichols serves as a Licensing Specialist for Physical Sciences in the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, Mr. Nichols specializes in evaluating commercial opportunities for physical science inventions, marketing technologies to prospective licensees, negotiating intellectual property licenses, and assisting in the formation of startup companies.

To this role, Mr. Nichols brings more than 20 years of experience in industry and technology. His broad range of experience includes senior-level sales of a variety of products and technologies to the semiconductor industry and university research areas. He directed his own consultancy specializing in chemical plant process design and optimization, and he was integral in the development and startup of a division of a large diversified energy company that developed the most cost-effective means of providing high-purity chemistry to the largest semiconductor manufacturers. Mr. Nichols holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Patents

Samantha (Sam) Cardona, Patent Administrator

scardona@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-2842

Sam Cardona serves as Patent Administrator at the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, she manages patent prosecution and law firms. Prior to joining OTC, Sam served as Senior Paralegal at Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. for ten years, where she coordinated all U.S. patent prosecution with outside counsel as well as managed the worldwide docketing database. She has also served as Patent Coordinator with Motorola Inc. Sam received her Paralegal Certification from The University of Texas at Austin.

Law firms interested in doing business with OTC: Please review the UT System Selection Guidelines for Outside Counsel before contacting Sam.

Marketing

Betsy Merrick, Associate Director, Marketing/Public Relations

bmerrick@otc.utexas.edu • 512-232-7399

Betsy Merrick serves as Associate Director of Marketing/Public Relations for the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, Ms. Merrick oversees all internal and external marketing and public relations efforts including communications, strategic objectives and media. She was instrumental in the formation of the Marketing/Public Relations department for the Office of Technology Commercialization in 2005, and has developed and implemented highly effective programs and procedures working with diverse peer groups, faculty, administrative personnel, industry, community, and key stakeholders to develop and deliver targeted marketing initiatives.

Ms. Merrick has more than 20 years of national and international experience in corporate communications, marketing, and public relations. Ms. Merrick's corporate experience includes management roles for Fortune 100 companies including AT&T, Dell Computer, and Bell Atlantic. Prior to joining OTC, she was Vice President/Partner for The Thompson Group, a marketing firm focused on major Texas marketplaces. Her background includes branding, image building, and relationship/partnership development in the following industries: wireless, computer, and technology commercialization. Ms. Merrick's experience includes the build-out and launch for the first wireless system, Norcel, in Mexico; the opening of Dell's manufacturing plants in Brazil and Nashville, Dell employee programs reaching 39,000 employees worldwide; and managing projects involving Bill Gates, Lucas Films, The Disney Studio, Marvel Comics, and more.

She has served on the following boards and committees: Association of University Technology Managers, Texas Governor's Emerging Technology Fund/CenTex RCIC Advisory Board, The Association for Corporate Growth, Austin Community College Foundation, Austin Partners in Education, Association for Women in Technology Austin, The UT Austin Women in Engineering Program Advisory Board, The Association for Technology Managers, Project 19, The Seton Cove, the Downtown Development Association, and the Sun Bowl. Ms. Merrick earned B.A.s from The University of Texas in Public Relations and in Advertising.

Kathy Grace, Webmaster

kgrace@otc.utexas.edu • 512-475-9564

Administration

Tracy Hatfield, Administrative Manager

that@otc.utexas.edu • 512-475-9795

Tracy Hatfield serves as Administrative Manager for the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. Ms. Hatfield has over 20 years of experience working in administration.