ABA-IPL Section Nominating Committee Announces Nominees for 2023-2024 ABA year
George W. Jordan, III, Chair of the Section’s Nominating Committee, reports that the committee has selected the nominees for elective leadership positions for the 2023-2024 Association year.
Chair-Elect: Susan McGahan, Bedminster, NJ. Ms. McGahan is the current Vice Chair of the Section. She served as the Revenue Officer for the Section for three years. Prior to that she was Vice Chair of the Revenue Committee, and served as a member of that committee (formerly the Sponsorship Committee) for five years. She served as Secretary of the Section for two years, Membership Officer for four years, and Financial Officer for three years. She was a member of the Section Council for six years. She has also been a member of the CLE Board, the Membership Board, the FADIPL Board of Trustees, the Content Advisory Board, the Nominating Committee, the former Newsletter Committee, and the In-House Counsel Committee. She has chaired the Professional Issues Division, the former Publications Division, the former Membership Committee, and the former Young Lawyers Committee.
Vice Chair: Robert Lytle, Redmond, WA. Mr. Lytle is the current Revenue Officer. He was the Financial Officer for two years. He served as Financial Officer-Elect prior to becoming Financial Officer. He served as a vice-chair of the Patents Division. He has served on the Books Editorial Board for six years, the Revenue Committee for three years, and the Investments Committee for three years. He was co-chair of the Trade Secrets and Interferences with Contracts Committee for two years.
Secretary: Joshua Simmons, New York, NY. Mr. Simmons has served as Section Secretary for two years. Prior to becoming Secretary, he served as a member of the Section Council for four years. Before joining the Section Council he served as Chair and as Vice Chair of the Copyrights and Related Rights Division. He served several years prior as Chair and Vice Chair of the Copyrights and Social Media Committee. He also served on the Nominating Committee of the Section.
Revenue Officer: Tammy Pennington Rhodes, Houston, TX. Ms. Rhodes has served as a member of the Section Revenue Committee for four years. She has also served as a member of the CLE Board for six years. She is current Chair of the International Patent Laws Committee, and served as Chair of the USPTO Ex Parte Patent Practice and Policy Committee for two years. She served as Vice Chair of the Patent Litigation Committee for two years and Chair of the High Tech and Software Patent Committee.
Financial Officer-Elect: Rich Stockton, Chicago, IL. Mr. Stockton has served as Vice Chair of the Patents Division for two years. He has been Chair of the Standing International IP Task Force for two years, and served as Vice Chair for two years prior to that. He was Vice Chair of the Patent System Policy Planning Committee for two years, Chair of the Patent Litigation Committee for two years, and Vice chair of the Patent Litigation Committee for four years.
Publications Officer: Adrienne Fields, New York, NY. Ms. Fields is the current Publications Officer for the Section. She previously served as Vice Chair of the Content Advisory Board for two years. She has been a member of the Content Advisory Board for nine years. She has served as a member of the Magazine Editorial Board for 13 years, and was Editor-in-Chief, Vice Chair and Intake Editor of that Board. She also served as a member of the former Annual Review Editorial Board for two years.
Continuing Legal Education Officer: Janet Hendrickson, St. Louis, MO. Ms. Hendrickson has served as Continuing Legal Education Officer for the past two years. Prior to being elected as the CLE Officer, she served as a vice chair of the CLE Board for four years, and a member of that board for six years. She served on the Section Council for four years. She has been a Chair of the Young Lawyer Fellows Advisory Committee and served on the Membership Committee and the Revenue Committee. She was Chair and Vice Chair of the Patent Legislation Committee, and Vice Chair of the Committee on Women in the Profession.
Membership Officer: Sharon Israel, Houston, TX. Ms. Israel has served as the Membership Officer for the past two years. Prior to being elected to that position, she served as Vice Chair of the Membership Board. She served on the Section Council for four years prior to that. She has served as Chair of the Professional and Section Relations Division, Chair of the Patent Legislation Committee, IP Licensing Committee, Unfair Competition – Trade Identity Committee, and the Special Committee on the Judicial Intern Opportunity Committee. She has also served on the Nominating Committee. She is a past President of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
Diversity Officer: Nicole D. Galli, Philadelphia, PA. Ms. Galli is nominated to become the first Diversity Officer of the Section, after that new Officer position was created by the Section in 2022. She has served as Liaison to the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession for two years. She served as a member of the Section’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force in the past year and as a member of the In-House Counsel Task Force the prior year. She was the CLE Officer for the Section for two years and served on the CLE Board for 5 additional years. She has been the Liaison to the LES Supply Chain Committee for the past six years. She was chair of the former CLE Teleconference Committee for one year. She currently serves on the Section Membership Board.
Section Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates: (for a three-year term expiring in 2026)
Adriana Luedke, Bethesda, MD. Ms. Luedke is a current Section Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates. She served as a member of Council prior to this, and served as Secretary for three years before re-joining Council. She served on the Section Council for four years before becoming Secretary. She also previously served as Section Secretary for three additional years. She has been the Chair of the Patents Division, and the Section Liaison to the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession. She has served as Chair of the former Division on Meetings and Resolutions. She has also been Chair of the Committee on Patent System Policy Planning, the Committee on Government Relations to Patents and the Young Lawyers Committee, and has served as Program Vice Chair for the Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference and Program Co-Chair of Section activities at the ABA Midyear Meeting.
At-Large Council Members: (for a four-year term, ending in 2027)
Stephen Chow, Boston, MA. Mr. Chow served as Chair of the Specialized IP Law Division for four years. He has served as a member of the Standing International IP Task Force for four years, and as a member of the HOD Resolutions Committee for three years. He has served as co-chair of the IP Transactions and Licensing Committee and also of the Trade Secrets and Interferences with Contracts Committee. In the past five years, he has served as ABA Advisor, Section Advisor, Member and Liaison to numerous study and drafting committees of the ULC and ALI. He has also served three years as a member of the Section of Science & Technology Law’s Group on Artificial Intelligence Ethics.
Jennifer Criss, Washington, DC. Ms. Criss has served as a member of the CLE Board for the past six years. She was Vice Chair of the Copyrights Division for two years. She served as a member of the Nominating Committee. She served as Chair of the Copyrights and Social Media Committee for two years, and as Vice Chair of that committee for three years. She was Vice Chair of the Special Committee on Copyrights and New Technologies for one year.
Pippa Loengard, New York, NY. Ms. Loengard has served as the Chair of the Copyrights Division for the past two years. Prior to that she was Chair of the Copyright Legislation Committee for two years. She has served as a member of the Copyright Law Reform Task Force for 4 years.
MaCharri Vorndran-Jones, Indianapolis, IN. Ms. Vorndran-Jones has served as Chair of the Patents Division for two years, was Vice Chair for two years prior, and served as Special Advisor to the Patents Division for two years. She served as Chair of the Specialized IP Issues Division for two years, and as Vice Chair of that Division for one year. She served as a member of the CLE Board for three years. She has been a member of the Patent Section 101 Task Force for two years. She was a member of the ABA Special Committee on Bioethics and the Law for two years. She has also served as Chair of the Patent System Policy Planning Committee, the USPTO Affairs – Patents and Ex Parte Practice Committee, the Patent Legislation Committee, and the International Patent Treaties and Laws Committee. She served as a Special Advisor to the Trade Secrets and Interferences with Contracts Committee for two years.
Young Lawyer Council Member: (for a one-year term expiring in 2024)
Eliana Torres, Chicago, IL. Ms. Torres is a current Young Lawyer Fellow of the Section. She has served on the Membership Board for ten years. She was Vice Chair of the Young Lawyers Action Group for three years. She has served as Chair of the Advertising and Marketing Law Committee for the past two years. She served as the Section Liaison from the ABA Law Student Division.
Council Member-at-large to fill the remainder of the term of Richard Stark: (term ending in 2024)
Christina Frangiosa, Philadelphia, PA. Ms. Frangiosa previously served as a member of Council for a four-year term from 2018-2022. She was re-elected in the fall of 2022 to fill the vacancy of Richard Stark for the balance of the association year through 2023. Ms. Frangiosa served two years as Division Chair of the Trademarks Division prior to her first election to Council. She served as Division Vice Chair of the division for two years prior to that. She served as Chair of the Federal Trademark Legislation Committee for four years, and as the Section representative to the ABA Cybersecurity Task Force for two years. She Chaired the Section’s Anti-Piracy Task Force for two years and was instrumental in the publication of the Section White Paper “A Call for Action for Online Piracy and Counterfeiting Legislation.” She has served on the Section’s Membership Board and CLE Board as well as the Nominating Committee.
Section Chair: According to Section bylaws, Steven Caltrider, Indianapolis, IN, current Chair-Elect, automatically assumes the office of Chair for 2023-2024. Mr. Caltrider was previously Section Vice Chair. He served as a member of the Section Council for 7 years. He is a current member of the Amicus Briefs Committee. Mr. Caltrider has served on the Content Advisory Board since 2014. He served as the Chair and Vice Chair of the Patents Division. He was chair of four different committees in the Patents Division prior to that. He has also served as a Liaison to the ABA Section Health Law and as a member of the ABA Health Law Coordinating Group.
Financial Officer: According to Section bylaws, Paul Morico, Houston, TX , current Financial Officer, automatically continues in that position for a second year. Mr. Morico served as the Financial Officer-Elect prior to becoming Financial Officer. Prior to becoming the Financial Officer-Elect, he served as Chair of the Patents Division for two years, as Vice-Chair for two years prior to that, and as Special Advisor to the Patents Division for two years before that. He has been a member of the Continuing Legal Education Board since 2010. He has served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Patent Litigation Committee.
The Section’s Nominating Committee, appointed by Section Chair Thad Chaloemtiarana, is composed of:
- George W. Jordan, III, Houston, TX, Chair
- June M. Besek, New York NY
- Jonathan Bowser, Washington, DC
- Shruti Chopra, New York, NY
- Eric Perrott, Washington, DC
Additional nominations for this new position or for any position may be made by petition signed by not less than 100 members of the Section, listed by their ABA ID number. The 100 names must be representative of at least three states and must indicate that the individual has agreed to the nomination. The petition must be sent to the Chair and the Secretary of the Section and must be received by these individuals not less than four months before the elections held at the Annual Meeting. The Business Session with Elections will be held on Friday, August 4, 2023.
