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Jeff Cooper, Esq.UPS
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Karen Carroll, Esq.Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
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Kenny Knox, Esq.Thomas | Horstemeyer
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Michael Riesen, Esq.Smith, Gambrell & Russell
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Nihal Parkar, Esq.Eversheds Sutherland
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Rivka Monheit, Esq.Pabst Patent Group LLP
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Trenton Ward, Esq.Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
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Stephen Dew, Esq.Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
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Scott Frank, Esq.AT&T
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Laura Fritts, Esq.Emory University Office of Technology Transfer
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Brad Groff, Esq.Gardner Groff Greenwald & Villanueva, PC
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Sean Holder, Esq.Baker Hostetler
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Clinton King, Esq.Thompson & Hine
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Kimberly KnightUniversity of Georgia SBDC
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Chris Lightner, Esq.Alston & Bird
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Ellen LailPure Storage
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Charles Maney, Esq.NCR Corporation
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Spencer Mead, Esq.Ballard Spahr
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Nicole MorrisEmory University School of Law
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Cheryl NajaAlston & Bird
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Matthew Warenzak, Esq.Smith, Gambrell & Russell

Jeff Cooper, Esq.
About Jeff

Karen Carroll, Esq.
About Karen

Kenny Knox, Esq.
About Kenny

Michael Riesen, Esq.
About Michael

Nihal Parkar, Esq.
About Nihal

Rivka Monheit, Esq.
About Rivka

Trenton Ward, Esq.
About Trenton

Stephen Dew, Esq.
About Stephen
Before becoming an attorney, Stephen worked for over a decade in various engineering roles at small and large organizations. In those roles, he enjoyed traveling abroad to diverse places such as Korea, Japan, Israel, and Europe to provide technical training and assist with sales efforts.
Stephen is committed to protecting the rights of innovators and artists. In 2017, he received a USPTO Patent Pro Bono certificate for his work with solo inventors. Stephen is also active in education-related causes. During the 2017-2018 school year, he co-taught advanced placement computer science at a high school in Atlanta. As a naturalized U.S. Citizen, Stephen is passionate about immigration policy and focuses his pro-bono practice on immigration matters. Stephen is also an Eagle Scout.
Stephen received his law degree from the University of North Carolina, a M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B. Eng. from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. Stephen and his wife live in Decatur with their three children.
About Scott
Scott received his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, and his Law Degree and Masters in Business from Georgia State University. He is heavily involved in many IP groups, including the being Chair for Georgia State University’s Intellectual Property Advisory Board.
Scott lives in Atlanta, Georgia and is married with four children.
About Laura
Before joining Emory, Laura represented branded and generic pharmaceutical companies in Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”) litigation arising under the Hatch-Waxman Act. She has been recognized by Chambers USA, by Managing IP in the “Top 250 Women in IP” and as an “IP Star,” and by LMG Life Sciences as a “Life Sciences Star.”
About Brad
Brad is a frequent speaker at professional programs and law schools as well as a mentor to many younger attorneys. Prior to his legal career, Brad was a mechanical engineer in the nuclear materials field. He is a named inventor on two patents and a published author. Brad devotes considerable time and resources to his community, serving in several civic organizations. His pro bono efforts include the legal representation of a faith-based youth leadership organization, trademark work for churches and church programs, and legal work for a clean drinking water initiative in Haiti.

Sean Holder, Esq.
About Sean

Clinton King, Esq.

Kimberly Knight
About Kimy
Kimberly Knight is a small business consultant, economic developer and communications professional with more than 25 years of experience.
Kimberly began her career at TSYS in Columbus, GA, in corporate communications, where she was editor of the company’s official corporate newsletter, speechwriter for executives, and manager of the narrative section of the company’s annual report to shareholders. She also interfaced with local, national, and international media on behalf of the company.
Kimberly has served in numerous roles in Georgia state government, beginning her career with the Governor’s Small Business Center as the marketing coordinator. Kimberly’s work supported GSBC’s outreach efforts to include the Governor’s Mentor Protégé Program, the first of its kind, state-funded program in the country.
At the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Kimberly worked in marketing, research, and business development. Her final role at GDEcD was as the Small Business Outreach Program Manager, where she assisted small businesses with navigating the vast resources of the state of Georgia via one-on-one consultations, speaking engagements and partnerships with various community organizations.
Kimberly also worked with Invest Atlanta as the small business opportunity zones program manager. Kimberly’s work with Invest Atlanta helped deploy more than $1.5 million into the small business community in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She also worked with the Opportunity Zones team, assisting small businesses with information and opportunities in the city of Atlanta’s 26 Federal Opportunity Zones.
Kimberly is currently a business consultant with the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center at Georgia State University where she provides assistance to include research, marketing support and business plan development to small businesses in the Fulton County area.
A native of Alabama, Kimberly is a graduate of Auburn University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Troy University with a Master of Science in Management.
About Chris
Chris is active not only on the Georgia PATENTS Advisory Board, but also in leadership in the Intellectual Property Owners Association, on the Board of Directors for the Atlanta Bar Association, and in the IP Section of The State Bar of Georgia. For his ongoing local bar association and community service leadership efforts, Chris has been awarded the Georgia PATENTS Program’s Volunteer of the Year Award (2015 and 2016), and the Atlanta Bar Association’s Celebrating Service Award (2015). He will also in October 2017 receive Georgia State University College of Law’s IP Community Service Award. Chris routinely speaks as a panelist at local and state bar association CLE events; in his free time he goes to the park, swimming, camping, or the Tellus Museum with his seven children.

Ellen Lail
About Ellen
Prior to joining Pure Storage, Ellen held various sales leadership, business development and alliance roles at Cisco and BellSouth Business Systems. She also and led the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast and Federal Teams as Divisional Vice President of sales for VCE (Virtual Computing Environment). In addition to her position on the Georgia PATENTS advisory board, Ellen enjoys volunteering as mentor for both Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), Women Unlimited, a Women’s Leadership Development Organization and serving on the Open Doors and Red Carpet committees of Saint Mark United Methodist Church’s membership outreach programs.
Ellen and her husband, Mike, reside in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia where they enjoy all the city of Atlanta has to offer from it’s fabulous restaurants, music venues and museums to its beautiful weather where they enjoy biking, hiking and tennis.

Charles Maney, Esq.
About Charlie
In addition to a JD from the Western New England University School of Law, Charlie has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. When he’s not working, Charlie enjoys spending time with his friends and family on Martha’s Vineyard or wherever else he may find them.

Spencer Mead, Esq.
About Spencer
About Nicole
Prior to joining the Emory faculty, Nicole was the former Managing Patent Counsel at The Coca-Cola Company and was responsible for the development and implementation of the Company’s global patent strategy and providing day-to-day advice and counseling to business stakeholders.
Nicole received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern, her M.S. in Chemistry from University of Michigan, her law degree from the University of Minnesota, and is a registered patent attorney. She has over twelve years of experience practicing patent law in large and mid-sized law firms and has represented clients in patent and trademark litigation matters, as well as patent prosecution matters. She also worked as an engineer for six years with 3M and Eli Lilly and has over twenty years of experience working with consumer products and technology commercialization.
Nicole is a frequent speaker on innovation, technology commercialization, and patent law topics including patent strategy, IP licensing, and the role of corporate counsel in patent transactions. She is heavily involved in the IP community as a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), Atlanta IP Inn of Court, Atlanta Bar Association, National Bar Association IP Section, a board member of Georgia Lawyers for the Arts, and Minority In-House Counsel Association. In 2013, Professor Morris was awarded the 2013 “Rising Star Corporate Counsel Award from the Atlanta Business Chronicle and featured in the August 2013 issue of Corporate Counsel magazine.
About Cheryl

Matthew Warenzak, Esq.
About Matt
Matt is an active member of the Intellectual Property section of the Georgia Bar and the Atlanta IP Inns of Court. In addition to his full-time legal practice, Matt is an Adjunct Professor of patent law at the UGA School of Law. He is also recognized as one of the top attorneys in his practice area, repeatedly selected as a Georgia “Super Lawyers’ Rising Star” in intellectual property law and named to Georgia Trend’s “Legal Elite.”
Matt is also very active in his local community. He is a recent graduate of Leadership Buckhead, and an active supporter of the arts in Atlanta. In his free time, Matt enjoys spending time with his wife Tori and their son Cal, reading, biking through the city, and cheering on his local professional and collegiate sports teams.