Kevin Allison – Consultant

Mr. Allison is a private consultant who has an extensive background in solar energy and microelectronics research project leadership. He has held a variety of management and research positions in the microelectronics and solar industries with Ferro Corporation, E.C.N., AstroPower and General Electric. At Ferro Corporation's Electronic Materials group he was the Manager of Conductor Development. During this time he founded and led the successful solar metallization ink program for nearly 20 years. His experience also spans a 2 year materials development collaboration with ECN in the Netherlands and 4 years as Director of Strategic Technologies at AstroPower. He has also led Product Development at AstroPower and after AstroPower's acquisition by GE Energy spent 2 years as Marketing Manager for Solar Technology group at GE Energy.

Mr. Allison has a B.A. in Chemistry from U.C. Berkeley, California and is a holder of 7 US patents.

Dr. Eric Schiff - Syracuse University

Dr. Schiff brings an extensive background in thin-film semiconductors and solar cell device physics to Innovalight, primarily from his 25 years as a physics professor at Syracuse University and from several additional years as a researcher at the University of Chicago. He has also worked concurrently as a consultant and visiting scientist at Brown University, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Hewlett-Packard Corporation. Eric’s research has spanned several important photovoltaic systems, including amorphous and microcrystalline silicon, dye-sensitized solar cells, and CIGS. He is a widely recognized researcher who has published more than 100 scientific papers, advised more than fifteen doctoral students, and served frequently on organizing committees for Materials Research Society Symposia, for the International Conference on Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Semiconductors, and the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference.

Eric has a Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University and a BS from Caltech.

Stephen P. Fox – Foley & Lardner LLP

Stephen P. Fox most recently spent four years at Foley & Lardner LLP in the Silicon Valley office as a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Department and Electronics Practice Group.

Prior to joining Foley, Mr. Fox was vice president and deputy general counsel for intellectual property at Hewlett-Packard Company, where for 19 years he supervised the company’s intellectual property legal work worldwide and managed 100 professionals in Europe, Asia and the United States. In this capacity, he also oversaw the intellectual property aspects of several HP divestitures and acquisitions.

Mr. Fox’s consulting work focuses on all aspects of strategic IP counseling including management and licensing, best practices in patent procurement, and patent litigation.  He counsels on how to align patent rights with business strategy; effective patent portfolio mining and categorization; and how to convert human capital to intellectual property assets. While at HP,  he managed one of the largest patent portfolios in the world.

Mr. Fox received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Northwestern University and a law degree from George Washington University Law School. He is a federally registered patent agent and a member of the California State Bar.
Mr. Fox is past president and a current member of the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel, a past board member of Intellectual Property Owners Inc., and a current board member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He also served as a federal appointee to the USPTO Patent Public Advisory Committee.

Dr. David Jurbergs - Consultant

Dr. Jurbergs works for Bayer AG and has over 10 years of experience in applied research, invention, and commercialization of new technologies at W.L. Gore & Associates, Optical Switch Corporation, Schott, and Innovalight. During this time, he has successfully patented and taken waveguide-based photonic components from concept through pilot-plant production stages of development. He has been extensively involved with packaging and light out-coupling of lasers, optical switches, and passive fiber-optic components. While working on his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. John T. McDevitt, his research on the optoelectronic characteristics of molecular dye/high-temperature superconductor structures led to the discovery of an antenna effect and patenting of novel color-selective photodetectors. He holds 8 patents and has over 20 publications.

Dr. Jurbergs obtained a B.S. Chemistry and a Ph.D. Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.

Paul Dickerson - Former Chief Operating Officer
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
United States Department of Energy

Paul was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) from 2006 until his recent return to Haynes and Boone. He oversaw EERE’s $1.8 billion budget and is extremely knowledgeable on the pressing needs of the global energy market - from increasing efficiency, bio-fuels, solar and wind investments, to connecting venture capitalists with the cutting-edge scientific researchers in the field of sustainable energy.

Paul served as Chief of Staff for the United States and Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Department of Commerce. While at the Commerce Department, Paul was responsible for day-to-day management of the Commercial Service’s worldwide network of 1,700 employees in 260 offices and for directing the implementation of the Commercial Service’s worldwide priorities and policies.