Anatole Krattiger

Anatole deals with the intersection of IP and global health, climate change, and food security at WIPO. He begun his career as a farmer in Switzerland, has a BSC in agronomy, and an MPhil in plant breeding and a PhD in molecular genetics from Cambridge University.

He worked at one of the CGIAR centers, led ISAAA, a global non-profit broker of agbiotech for developing countries with a regional office in Los Banos, Philippines, served as Executive to the Humanitarian Board for Golden Rice, was Editor-in-Chief of the ipManagement Handbook (www.ipHandbook.org) and consulted widely at the crossroads of development, government, science, businesses, and philanthropy. As Adjunct Professor, he also teaches IP management at Cornell University.

Ashley Stevens

Before founding Focus IP Group, LLC, an intellectual property consulting company in 2011, Dr. Stevens was Director of the technology transfer office at Boston University for seventeen years.  For ten years he taught a graduate-level, inter-disciplinary course on Technology Commercialization in Boston University's Questrom School of Business and is a Guest Professor at Osaka University, where he continues to teach an intensive version of this course, G-TEC, each summer.  He is a Principal Investigator at the National University of Singapore (Suzhou) Research Institute.  Before joining Boston University, he was Director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School.   Prior to entering the technology transfer profession, Dr. Stevens worked in the biotechnology industry for nearly ten years and co-founded two companies.  He is a Past President of AUTM and has lectured and published extensively on technology transfer, licensing and commercializing early stage technologies.

Dr. Stevens holds a BA in Natural Sciences, an MA and a D.Phil. in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University.  He is a Certified Licensing Professional and a Registered Technology Transfer Professional.

Peter L. Hoffman

Peter Hoffman is vice president of Intellectual Property Management for The Boeing Company, the world's largest aerospace company. Hoffman is responsible for strategies that protect and generate the highest possible value from this significant corporate asset. Hoffman specifically manages the company's patent portfolio; protection of trade secrets; and licensing of tech nical data, images, consumer products, trademarks and patents. Hoffman, 55, reports to John Tracy, Boeing's chief technology officer and senior vice president of Boeing Engineering, Operations & Technology.

Prior to being appointed to his current position, Hoffman served as director of global research and development strategy for Boeing Research & Technology, the company's advanced research organization. In that role, he was responsible for developing technology collaboration relationships with companies, universities and national laboratories around the world.

During the past decade, Hoffman played a leadership role in the expansion of Boeing's global technology engagement and presence and was instrumental in the establishment of research centers in Australia, India and China and numerous technology relationships in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. Hoffman joined Boeing in 1984. He has held positions in international business development and spent 14 years conducting research in the area of advanced materials and structures.

In addition to managing Boeing intellectual property, Hoffman also serves as executive sponsor of the Diversity & Inclusion Council for Engineering, Operations & Technology.

Hoffman earned a bachelor's of science degree in mechanical engineering technology and a master's of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Tennessee, a master's of manufacturing engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and a master's of international business from St. Louis University. Hoffman is a board member of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Center Group at the University of Sheffield in the UK, an Advisory Board member at the University of Tennessee College of Engineering, and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Thomas Skalak

Tom Skalak

Executive Director, Science and Technology, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation

Tom Skalak joined the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in 2015 as Executive Director, Science and Technology Programs.   The Foundation’s science and technology programs seek to explore new frontiers, re-invent fields in ways that reflect major societal challenges and fundamental scientific curiosity, and bring new knowledge to light with a broad array of partners, making a positive impact on the world.

A major interest of the Foundation is the wide and growing landscape of quantitative bioscience. Previously, Tom was Vice President for Research at the University of Virginia, where he led research and innovation programs spanning biosciences, environmental sustainability, physical sciences, engineering and technology, arts, design, and humanities. Tom led the launch of the OpenGrounds collaboration initiative, bringing people together across fields for ideation; the statewide i6 Virginia Innovation Partnership; and the Global Water Games, a participatory computer game that improves the health of watersheds worldwide.

As a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Tom’s personal research included biomechanics of the cardiovascular system, angiogenesis, computational modeling, systems biology, wound repair, and regenerative medicine. He is a past President of both the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). Tom is a frequent speaker on innovation and creativity with Fortune 500, venture capital, major art museum, and government partners, including The White House. He is a Council Member of the GUIRR Research Roundtable, a convening body of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the U.S.

Tom was the founder of the UVA-Coulter Foundation Translational Research Partnership and other proof-of-concept funds with corporate partners such as Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. One outcome was that the National Venture Capital Association ranked the Charlottesville region the #1 fastest-growing venture capital ecosystem in the United States between 2010-2015.

Tom was educated as a bioengineer at The Johns Hopkins University (B.E.S. 1979) and at the University of California, San Diego (Ph.D. 1984), is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and now enjoys exploring the deep waters of the Pacific Northwest with family and friends.