Kathryn A. Atchison
Vice Provost, UCLA Office of Intellectual Property
Kathryn A. Atchison has been a part of UCLA’s faculty since 1987 and has served as vice provost since January 2005. As the leader of the Office of Intellectual Property, Atchison transformed the organization by improving open communication with faculty, initiating a student internship program and moving industry contracting into the office to enable better service to industry.
Atchison’s past administrative experience includes more than four years as associate dean for research and knowledge management at the UCLA School of Dentistry and chair of the School of Dentistry Faculty Executive Committee. She is President of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry.
Atchison received her dental degree from Marquette University School of Dentistry in 1978 and her master’s degree in public health from Boston University School of Public Health in 1982. Atchison was selected in a nationwide competition to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Dental Health Services Research Fellowship at UCLA, from 1984–86, and then joined UCLA’s faculty in 1987. She was chosen by the UCLA MultiCampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology to participate in the Bureau of Health Professions Mid-Career Fellowship in Geriatric Medicine and Dentistry in 1991. In 2003, Atchison was a primary health care policy fellow at the Department of Health and Human Services. Her research focuses on quantity and quality of services for the disadvantaged.
Zareh Baghdasarian
President, COO of Chromodyne Networks
Mr. Baghdsarian was one of the founders of Monterey Networks, Inc., a pioneering IT company that developed the industry’s first wavelength router, and was eventually acquired by Cisco in 1999. He is also a Co-Founder and a Board Member of Calisto Medical, and Director/Board Member of myShape.com.
Randy Churchill
Director, Business Development, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
A graduate of Indiana University School of Law, Randy has assisted entrepreneurs in various capacities for over 20 years. Mr. Churchill currently sits on the Executive Committee of the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum, the Advisory Committee of the Los Angeles Business Technology Center, and the Advisory Board of USC’s Center for Technology Commercialization.
Fred Farina
Assistant Vice President, Office of Technology Transfer, California Institute of Technology
A graduate of Caltech (MS Electrical Engineering) and a registered U.S. patent agent, Mr. Farina also holds a “Diplôme d’Ingénieur” in Electrical Engineering from the Institute National des Sciences Appliquees, Lyon, France. At Caltech, he is in charge of the Office of Technology Transfer, whose responsibilities include evaluating inventions at Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA), supervising patent prosecution and portfolio management, negotiating licensing deals with industry and assisting Caltech/JPL entrepreneurs with the creation of startups.
Michael A. Giardello
Chairman of the Board, Entretech
President & CEO, Materia, Inc.
Dr. Giardello received his B.A. from Grinnell College in 1988 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Northwestern University in 1993. He has been involved in numerous start-ups and in October 1997 co-founded Materia (then Advanced Sports Materials, LLC) and served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer from January 1998 until February 1999 when he became President, CEO & CTO.
Richard Jones
Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP
Richard Jones has extensive experience in securities transactions. He represents companies in financing, licensing, corporate governance, executive compensation, mergers and acquisitions, and other matters. Additionally he has significant experience in public finance, having acted as bond, underwriters’ and disclosure counsel in numerous transactions.
Richard Jones acts as counsel to a variety of corporations operating in various technology fields. Mr. Jones counsels regarding corporate finance and governance matters, intellectual property licensing, executive compensation, mergers and acquisitions and other related matters.
Mr. Jones’ experience in corporate equity financings includes the initial public offerings of Nike, Inc. and Entravision Communications Corp., as well as offerings of preferred stock in private placements, and business formation matters for biotech and life science companies.
In the public finance arena, Mr. Jones has acted as bond counsel for the State of California, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles, many other California counties, and a variety of other local agencies in both general obligation and revenue bond financings. He has also acted as bond counsel for numerous certificates of participation and lease revenue financings for a variety of infrastructure projects.
Mr. Jones has also represented clients in short-term borrowings since 1979, during which time he has acted as bond counsel in connection with the issuance of revenue anticipation notes aggregating several billion dollars.
Mr. Jones has extensive experience as underwriter’s counsel in public finance transactions, having served as the lead partner in the $11.3 billion California Energy Bond financings, the San Diego Padres ballpark financing, and many other projects. He has also represented liquidity providers and credit enhancers, as well as providers of interest rate swaps and various other financial products.