Gerard A. deBlasi
 
Gerry brings over fifteen years of experience in licensing and legal matters from the world's leading companies including Agere, Lucent Technologies and Bell Labs.

Prior to IPVALUE, Gerry was vice president for Intellectual Property & Law at Agere Systems Inc., where he oversaw a $140 million operation increasing revenue and profit from new deals significantly year over year. During his four-year tenure at Agere, Gerry was responsible for all aspects of intellectual property including licensing, patent assertion, patent and trade secret litigation, and patent prosecution.

Gerry came to Agere from Lucent Technologies where he held the position of managing corporate counsel in the IP transactions law group. In his five years at Lucent, he negotiated more than 80 patent and technology licenses, led the IP activities for more than 15 major M&A and divestiture deals, and managed the splitting of assets and IP matters between Agere and Lucent. Gerry has held IP management and legal positions at Bell Labs and AT&T Corp., and started his career as an associate at Fish & Neave in New York City.

Gerry earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Manhattan College and a doctorate in law from Fordham University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey; the Federal District Courts of EDNY, SDNY and DNJ; the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; and is a member of the US Patent and Trademark Office.




Murali Dharan

Murali has been with IPVALUE since 2002 and has been instrumental in the development of the company. His 19-year career includes executive positions in marketing and general management at some of the world’s leading technology companies. Prior to IPVALUE, Murali headed marketing, business development, and product develement as Executive Vice President at Preview Systems. Previously, he served as Vice President and General Manager for the Broadband Solutions Business at Silicon Graphics, and as Vice President of Marketing for its Workstation Division.

Earlier in his career, Murali served in an executive capacity at NEC Computer Systems where he managed the company’s desktop PC business in North America, for both the consumer and commercial markets. He also held product management and marketing positions at Intel and Kaleida Labs, a joint venture between Apple and IBM. Murali started his career as a research computer scientist for Amoco Production Company, specializing in artificial intelligence.

Murali holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from India, a graduate degree in computer science from Indiana University and an MBA from Stanford University.



Charles T. Harris III

Charles Harris is Co-Founder and Executive Partner of SeaChange Capital Partners. He spent 23 years in the banking business before retiring in 2002 from his position as a Partner and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he served as co-head of the East Coast High Technology Group in the firm’s Investment Banking Division and as co-head of Corporate Finance in the Americas. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the MIT Sloan School of Management.

He serves as a Director of IPVALUE Management, Inc. and of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Inc., which administers the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. He is Chairman of the Board of College Summit, and a member of the Committee on University Resources at Harvard University and of the Action Tank Advisory Board of New Profit, Inc. He is a co-chair of the New York City Advisory Board of Teach for America. In addition, he serves as President of the Trustees of Phillips Exeter Academy where he is also chair of the school’s major capital campaign, the Exeter Initiatives.



David C. Hodgson

David C. Hodgson is Managing Director of General Atlantic LLC, a worldwide private equity firm. He joined General Atlantic in 1982, helped found their partnership, and has over 20 years of experience identifying and assisting portfolio companies worldwide in all areas of their development. David serves as a director of a number of public and private information technology companies including Marketwatch.com, Northgate Information Solutions, S1 Corporation, and Xchanging.

David is board chair of Playing to Win and a board member of the Boys and Girls Harbor. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of the Manhattan Theatre Club and is chair of the board of the Echoing Green Foundation, a provider of fellowship support for not-for-profit entrepreneurs. He serves Dartmouth College as a member of the President's Leadership Council and is a trustee of the Spence School.

David graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1978 with a degree in mathematics and social sciences. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received the Kemeny Prize in computing at his alma mater. In 1982, David received a master's degree in business administration from Stanford University.




Dr. Petri Vainio

Dr. Petri Vainio has been a venture capitalist since 1988. Most of that time, Petri served as a general partner of Sierra Ventures, one of the leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms with over $1 billion of capital under management. While at Sierra, he served as a general partner of five successive partnerships and was responsible for leading Sierra’s investment practice in healthcare.

Petri has extensive venture capital investment experience and a deep understanding of the health care industry in particular. He has served as a board member of numerous private and public healthcare companies, including CardioRhythm (acquired by Medtronic), Connetics, GenVec, Heartport (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Intuitive Surgical, and Theravance.

Petri earned a degree in medicine and a doctorate degree in biochemistry with highest academic honors from the University of Helsinki, and a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University.




Peter Wheeler

Peter Wheeler is chairman of the board for IPVALUE Management. Peter was instrumental in founding IPVALUE in 2001 when he was a managing director of iFormation Group, a company created by The Boston Consulting Group, General Atlantic Partners and Goldman Sachs. Currently based in London, Peter spent 15 years as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, becoming a partner in 1994. More recently, Peter was a managing director in Goldman Sachs' London office, where he was responsible for the firm's investment banking relationships with a number of major global corporations based in Europe.

In 1991, Peter established Goldman Sachs' investment banking practice in Hong Kong covering all of Asia excluding Japan, and continued to lead and develop this business until his return to Europe at the end of 1998. Peter began his career with Goldman Sachs New York in 1985 in domestic corporate finance.

Peter is actively involved in several innovative non-profit businesses in the UK including New Philanthropy Capital, Charity Technology Trust and Kids Company.

Peter holds an undergraduate degree with honors in english language and literature from Christ Church, Oxford, England.


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