FADIPL Elects New Board Members

The Foundation for the Advancement of Diversity in IP Law (November 2024) – FADIPL is pleased to introduce 7 new members to join our Board of Trustees. Our new board members bring years of experience and leadership to help address the mission of increasing diversity in IP law.

The Foundation mission is to support members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in their pursuit of careers in intellectual property law. The Foundation’s Board of Trustees work towards:

• Recruiting diversity-minded individuals to consider exploring careers in patent law and other areas of IP law.
• Providing career preparation and career-readiness support, as well as financial support, to diversity-minded individuals who demonstrate an interest in a career in IP law.
• Accelerating the development of a more diverse IP professional community through networking, counseling, and mentoring efforts aimed at fostering career advancement of individuals with an interest in the advancement of racial or ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the patent law profession in the United States.

The six new board members joining the Foundation are Amy Klann (Foley Hoag), Kevin Prussia (Wilmer Hale), Corey Anthony (ECOLAB), Ali Ahmed (Salesforce), Nancy Mertzel (Mertzel Law), Alvaro Dominguez (Nixon Peabody LLP) and Alejandro Martinez (Sanofi).

Amy Gallup Klann has served as the Foundation’s Linn Inn Alliance liaison. As Counsel at Foley Hoag, Amy focuses her practice on strategic patent portfolio development and management for companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries with a particular focus on developing IP strategies and patent portfolios (offensive and defensive) for emerging companies, such as those developing gene editing treatments, cell therapies, as well as in the single cell sequencing space. Amy, counsels clients at all stages of the business life cycle, from emerging companies building foundational IP portfolios to established market leaders safeguarding and leveraging their innovations globally.

Kevin Prussia is a partner in the firm’s Litigation/Controversy Department, a member of the Intellectual Property Litigation and Trial Practice Groups, and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Mr. Prussia is an experienced litigator and trial lawyer, with significant experience representing leading life sciences and technology companies in major disputes involving intellectual property and other commercial matters. Mr. Prussia has experience across every aspect of trial and appellate practice, including bench and jury federal trials, International Trade Commission investigations, Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings, and appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He has successfully tried cases to verdict and has counseled numerous clients through complicated settlement discussions.

Dr. Corey Anthony is a Patent Attorney for Ecolab Inc., where he is responsible for patent and other intellectual property matters, including supporting the needs of NALCO Water business operations in Naperville, Illinois. Previously, Anthony was a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. As a trial attorney, Anthony represented the United States in a number of disputes involving a broad range of intellectual property matters. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Anthony was an assistant professor of chemistry at a liberal arts college in central Florida. Anthony, who hails from Jamaica, holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of the West Indies (Mona, Jamaica), a Doctorate in chemistry from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law.

Ali Ahmed is an innovative health care executive with a successful track record of achieving sustainable growth and P&L management through expertise in mergers & acquisitions, marketing, sales, market access, medical, new product development/launches. Ali is currently the Global Head, Industry Advisory & Innovation at Salesforce and, previously, was the Senior Vice President for the BioPharma Business Unit at Fresenius Kabi.  Prior to his operational roles, Ali practiced as a patent lawyer for global pharmaceutical clients. Ali previously served on the Foundation Board - we are excited to bring Ali’s leadership and diverse experience back to the Foundation and its scholars.

Nancy Mertzel has more than 25 years of experience protecting brand names, products, content and technology. Nancy's broad litigation experience includes numerous copyrights, trademark, trade dress, unfair competition and trade secret disputes. She regularly litigates matters involving source code and technology and has successfully handled cutting-edge cases involving the scope of copyright protection in source code and data. Nancy is Second Vice President of AIPLA’s Board of Directors and serves as the Foundation’s AIPLA representative.

Alvaro Cure Dominguezis a patent litigation associate at Nixon Peabody LLP. At Nixon, he applies his legal and scientific knowledge to help clients protect and enforce their intellectual property rights in district court litigation and PTAB review proceedings. As a 2019 FADIPL scholar, Alvaro assisted with starting the Foundation’s Society of Scholars program and is also the Foundation’s first Past Scholar Seat. We know Alvaro’s experience as a past scholar will help guide him in advising the Board in decision-making for our scholars and the program.

Alejandro Martinez is an experienced Patent Counsel with a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnology industry. Alex is skilled in Client Counseling, Patent Litigation, Patent Prosecution, Patent Strategy, Patent Law, and Litigation. Martinez is a strong legal professional who graduated from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. We are looking forward to having him on board.

For more information visit: https://diversityiniplaw.org/

###

 

About the Foundation

For nearly two decades the Foundation—formerly the American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation—has worked for the advancement of diversity in the IP profession.  In 2020, the Foundation adopted its new name—Foundation for Advancement of Diversity in IP Law— to accompany an expansion of the Foundation’s longstanding programming aimed at attracting diversity-minded members in the IP law profession—and advancing their opportunities for achievement in the profession once completing law school.  Since its inception, the Foundation had provided over $2.7 million in scholarship assistance to over 160 individuals.