Staff Bios

Robert A. Peterson, Ph.D., Interim Director & Associate VP Research

rap@mail.utexas.edu • 512-471-9438

Robert A. Peterson is interim director of OTC and associate vice president for research at The University of Texas at Austin. He holds the John T. Stuart III Centennial Chair in Business Administration in the McCombs School of Business and the Charles Hurwitz Fellowship at the IC2 Institute, The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Peterson has extensive consulting experience, having worked with such firms as Ford Motor Company, Emerson Electric, Pillsbury, and 3M. He frequently testifies as an expert witness in litigation matters involving intellectual property and unfair competition. He has served on the boards of several corporations and nonprofit institutions as well as an advisory committee to the United States Bureau of the Census.

Dr. Peterson has served as chairman of the Department of Marketing Administration and associate dean for research in the McCombs School of Business; he is a former editor of the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Presently he serves on four editorial boards. He received his doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

Licensing

Rick Friedman, Associate Director, Licensing

rfriedman@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-4738

Rick Friedman serves as Associate Director for Licensing for the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, Mr. Friedman oversees the licensing team and the evaluation and commercialization of UT Austin's intellectual property.

Mr. Friedman brings 18 years of experience structuring, negotiating and managing complex intellectual property, financial and commercial transactions for technology ventures to the OTC. Most recently, Mr. Friedman served as an independent business development and legal consultant to several private technology companies. Before that, he served in various other executive positions, including as partner at Heller Ehrman LLP, a leading national law firm based in California, and as Vice President and General Counsel of pcOrder.com, a publicly traded software company spun out of Trilogy Inc.

Mr. Friedman holds a B.A. from the University of Rochester, a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and an M.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin.

Ray Atilano, Licensing Specialist

ratilano@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-4919

Ray Atilano serves as a Licensing Specialist for the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, he evaluates commercial opportunities of life science inventions, markets technology to potential partners, guides investment strategy in patent prosecution, and negotiates intellectual property licenses.

Dr. Atilano brings more than 12 years of experience in evaluating research, presenting technologies to venture groups, angel investors, and companies, marketing early-stage inventions, and negotiating licensing. Most recently, he worked as a technical project director to support the Department of Defense, Air Force Research Labs in a Bio Safety Level 3 Laboratory on commercializing advanced biomaterials, biochem sensors, and product applications as a result of SBIRs and related DoD contractor initiatives. Previously, he held a technical management position with a startup micro-optoelectronic technology company, which spun out of his work as a technical project director with a private foundation focused on biotechnologies, biomedical devices, and prototype development. He has represented the technology of subject matter experts at previous Trilateral Technology and Bio-Defense Summit Meetings, and to the Under Secretary of Defense, DISA, NRO, and NSA.

Dr. Atilano is a Texas Certified Civil & Commercial Negotiator from the Dallas Mediation Institute, and holds a B.S. from Illinois State University and an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University. He also holds a Management Certificate from Texas State University Center for Health Services Education & Research.

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 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 Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University.

Max Green, Licensing Specialist

mgreen@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-9054

Max Green serves as a Licensing Specialist for the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, he specializes in the physical sciences, where he is responsible for marketing technology to prospective partners, negotiating intellectual property licenses, and guiding investments in patent prosecution.

Prior to joining OTC, Mr. Green assumed the role of account manager in support of NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program at Kennedy Space Center. In this capacity, he was responsible for the commercialization of technologies developed by the space program. Mr. Green also served as a business development consultant to UT's Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) initiative to establish TechBA in Austin. Prior to his role at KSC, Mr. Green served at Applied Materials, Inc. as a project test engineer, where he focused his efforts on the implementation of Built-In-Test systems.

Mr. Green holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Science and Technology Commercialization, both from The University of Texas at Austin.

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.

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

Diane Malner, Associate Director, Patents and Law Firms

dmalner@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-4735

Diane Malner serves as Associate Director in the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. She oversees the interactions between OTC and outside counsel, industry partners, and inventors on matters relating to intellectual property. Diane and her team are responsible for all aspects of OTC's patent prosecution, federal invention reporting, and patent-related compliance.

Ms. Malner has 18 years of legal administrative experience, 13 of which have been focused on intellectual property law. She managed portfolios and client cases in civil litigation and intellectual property at law offices ranging from leading regional firms to boutique IP firms.

Ms. Malner earned her B.A. summa cum laude in Criminal Justice from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas.

Samantha Cardona, Intellectual Property Assistant

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

Marketing

Betsy Merrick, Associate Director, Marketing

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

Betsy Merrick serves as Associate Director of Marketing 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.

Ms. Merrick has more than 20 years of national and international experience in public relations, marketing and corporate communications. Ms. Merrick's corporate experience includes management roles for Fortune 50 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.

Ms. Merrick earned B.A.s from The University of Texas in Public Relations and in Advertising. She has served on the following boards and committees: Texas 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 Seton Cove, the Downtown Development Association, and the Sun Bowl.

Kathy Grace, Webmaster

kgrace@otc.utexas.edu • 512-475-9564

Kathy Grace joined the Office of Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin in 2005 and currently serves as Webmaster for the department. In this role, she maintains the OTC website, manages internal databases, and creates departmental marketing collateral.

Prior to joining OTC, Ms. Grace was a freelance web designer, creating sites for clients including law firms, public health organizations, and retail stores. She has also worked as a multimedia designer and instructor, serving clients such as American Airlines, Informix, and Wal-Mart, and as a publication designer.

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.

Jenny Chang, Administrative Assistant

jchang@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-6586

Debbie Harris, Administrative Assistant

dharris@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-6105

John Jimenez, Programmer

jimenez@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-8612

Bharathi Pamu, Programmer

bpamu@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-9057

Accounting

Angela Hodge, Assistant Director, Accounting and Licensee Compliance

ahodge@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-6601

Angela Hodge serves as Assistant Director of Accounting for the Office of Technology Commercialization at the University of Texas at Austin. In this role, Ms. Hodge oversees the accounting team, financial management functions, royalty distributions, and licensee compliance issues.

Ms. Hodge brings more than 20 years of experience in the areas of auditing, general accounting, and taxation. Prior to joining OTC in 2007, she served as The University of Texas at Austin's Insurance Accountant and Financial Analyst for the Dean's Office of the College of Fine Arts. Previously, Ms. Hodge worked for organizations such as AT&T Wireless Services, Rector-Duncan & Associates, and Cooper Graci & Company, CPAs.

Ms. Hodge received her B.B.A in Accounting and M.P.A in Taxation after completing the Program in Professional Accounting at The University of Texas at Austin.

Kawanna Jenkins, Administrative Associate

kjenkins@otc.utexas.edu • 512-475-9562

Ana Meraz, Administrative Associate

ameraz@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-9357

Brittany Mitchell, Accountant

bmitchell@otc.utexas.edu • 512-471-6409