Professionals with Perspective

James G. Cullem, J.D., B.S. (Founder & Managing Principal): Jim is a registered patent attorney and intellectual property (I.P.) expert with over a decade of experience in I.P. strategy development and implementation, and I.P. asset acquisition, management, and leveraging in the biotechnology/life sciences sector. He spent seven years in-house as the Director of Intellectual Property & Licensing and chief I.P. Counsel of Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., a leading proteomics-focused biotechnology company with 200+ employees. He has experience with companies ranging from start-ups to over $50M in revenues. His I.P. experience extends to a broad array of biotechnologies, including proteomics, biomarkers, novel drug targets, genes, and discovery methods. Prior to his in-house role, he spent several years as a biotechnology patent attorney with the intellectual property group of Mintz Levin P.C., one of the top I.P. law firms in the U.S. He holds a B.S. in biochemistry (with graduate coursework in toxicology) and has worked within the life sciences field for 20 years, including several years at the bench as a researcher in the areas of cancer cell markers, viral diagnostics, and transcription activators. Jim brings to the table a depth of experience that combines intellectual property asset and strategy expertise with the invaluable perspective of seasoned corporate senior manager and I.P. Director responsible for extracting maximum value from I.P. assets, while ensuring I.P. strategy alignment with corporate business strategies. His expertise includes over a decade of structuring and negotiating technology-driven agreements, including alliances, licenses, and collaborative projects, and building and managing worldwide patent, trademark, and copyright portfolios. Jim is an editor of Intellectual Asset Management magazine, a Co-Chair of the BPLA Corporate Practice Committee, and sits of the I.P. Advisory Board at the Pierce Law School. He has frequently lectured on I.P. asset development and management issues.

Karen Hersey, J.D., B.A. (Senior Consultant): Karen has more than 20 years experience as an intellectual property attorney and university technology transfer expert. She spent much of that time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), where she began as a technology licensing officer in 1980 and ultimately served as Senior Counsel for Intellectual Property. While serving in academia, she was an active participant in developing many of the current best practices used today in academic technology transfer in the U.S. In addition to the traditional technology transfer activities associated with I.P. licensing to existing and start-up/spin-out companies, Karen’s unique experience as an I.P. attorney engaged early-on in the development of academic licensing has enabled her to develop strategies for building effective knowledge asset management capacities in academia, both from organizational and operational perspectives. She currently serves as a Visiting Professor at the Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, N.H., where she teaches courses on technology transfer and knowledge asset management in the university setting, and lectures and consults for universities and governmental organizations around the world. She is a former president of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), and continuing her interest and commitment to developing effective strategies for the transfer of university intellectual property assets, serves on numerous academic intellectual property advisory boards and programmatic committees. In addition to numerous publications, she is currently co-authoring an international work on universities and the commercialization of research, scheduled for publication in 2009 by Cambridge University Press.

Eric J. Sundberg, Ph.D. (Technical Consultant): Eric holds bachelor degrees in Biochemistry and Economics from the University of Rochester and a doctoral degree in Biological Sciences from Northwestern University. Trained as an X-ray crystallographer and molecular biophysicist, he manages a research laboratory at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute, a private, non-profit institute in Watertown, Massachusetts dedicated to cutting-edge, biomedically-related basic research. An internationally-recognized expert in the development of novel protein therapeutics, Eric has authored dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. His areas of expertise include the structure and function of proteins, immunology, and
pathogen-mediated responses.

Other Professionals.  In order to completely address your consulting needs, we network with a variety of other preferred consulting professionals to provide business, sales, and operational strategy development consulting, if desired, to fully integrate with the I.P. strategy and asset management guidance we offer our clients. We also have a worldwide network of preferred practicing patent/trademark attorneys who we are happy to recommend and introduce to our clients for any actual I.P. legal work that our clients may need/desire to have conducted following or concomitant with our consulting services.