Our management staff is as follows:

CORPORATE MANAGEMENT
PAUL RYAN
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer 		Mr. Ryan has served as a Director since August 1995, as Chief Executive Officer since January 1997 and as Chairman since April 2000. He also served as President of the Company from January 1997 until July 2000. Prior to being named Chief Executive Officer, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Acacia Research from 1996 through 1997 and Vice President, Capital Management, of Acacia Research from 1995 through 1996. He was formerly co-founder and general partner of the American Health Care Fund, L.P., held positions with Young & Rubicam, Ogilvy & Mather, and Merrill Lynch and was a private venture capital investor. Mr. Ryan holds a B.S. from Cornell University and attended the New York University Graduate School of Business.
ROBERT L. "CHIP" HARRIS
Director & President		 Mr. Harris has served as a Director since April 2000 and as President since July 2000. Prior to joining Acacia, Mr. Harris founded Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE: EPR) and was President and Director from 1997 to July 2000. From 1993 to 1997 Mr. Harris led the International Division and served as Senior Vice President of AMC Entertainment. From 1984 to 1992 Mr. Harris served as President of Carlton Browne and Company, Inc., a holding company and trust with assets in real estate, insurance and financial services. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University and on the Board of Directors of True Religion Brand Jeans.
CLAYTON J. HAYNES
Chief Financial Officer 		Mr. Haynes joined Acacia in April 2001 as Treasurer and Senior Vice President, Finance. In November 2001, Mr. Haynes was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Acacia Research. From 1992 to March 2001, Mr. Haynes was employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, ultimately serving as a Manager in the Business Advisory Services practice. Mr. Haynes received a B.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles, is a Certified Public Accountant and is a Certified Public Accountant.
DOOYONG LEE
Executive Vice President		 Mr. Lee joined Acacia in 2005 as Executive Vice President. He has over 20 years of experience in patent licensing and technology management with a track record of success. He was previously Chief Operating Officer of Global Patent Holdings/TechSearch, which was acquired by Acacia. Prior to Global, he was President of LPS Group, a patent licensing company he founded under Information Holdings Inc. (now part of The Thomson Corporation, NYSE:TOC), that achieved profitability in less than two years. Prior to LPS Group, he co-founded FRI, an intellectual property consulting firm, then under the sponsorship of Fish & Richardson, PC and previously was a licensing executive at AT&T Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies. Mr. Lee received a B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.S. (under a full fellowship) from the University of California at Berkeley.
ROBERT STEWART
Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance		 Mr. Stewart joined Acacia in 1997 as Vice President of Corporate Finance. He was appointed to Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance and Investor Relations in 1999. Mr. Stewart was formerly President of Macallan, Dunhill & Associates, general partner of a private investment fund. Mr. Stewart has a bachelors degree in economics from the University of Colorado/Boulder.
BRAD BRUNELL
Senior Vice President		 Mr. Brunell joined Acacia in October 2007 as Senior Vice President. Mr. Brunell joined Acacia from Microsoft, where during his 16 years, he held a number of management positions, including General Manager of Intellectual Property Licensing, responsible for inbound and outbound patent licensing. He created and managed a team of negotiation, financial and legal experts which developed outbound intellectual property licensing programs and brought in intellectual property via acquisitions, strategic partnerships and licensing. Previously, as a Senior Director he was in a strategy role focusing on digital media adoption including key deals with partners and putting together the Content Guard ownership structure between Microsoft, Time Warner and Thomson and serving on the board of Content Guard, a digital rights management patent licensing company. Mr. Brunell holds a B.A. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
MARVIN E. KEY
Senior Vice President		 Mr. Key joined Acacia in 2005 as Senior Vice President. From 2000 to 2005 he was involved in sales and trading as well as capital market activities with Thomas Weisel Partners, LLC, a San Francisco based investment bank. He also spent three years as a Portfolio Manager with hedge fund, Hermes Advisors, between 1998 and 2000. Prior to that, over a ten year period, Mr. Key held various positions with New York Investment banks, Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers. Mr. Key is a Chartered Financial Analyst, attended Clemson University and holds an MBA from Southern Methodist University.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & LICENSING
ERIK AHROON
Senior Manager		 Mr. Ahroon joined Acacia in July 2007. Prior to joining Acacia, Mr. Ahroon was President of Cadis Design Group and Co Founder of two start up companies in the Orange County Area. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ahroon was Program Manager at Argo-Tech Carter Cryogenics, Project Engineer at Quantum Technologies, and Product Development Engineer at Star Trac Fitness. Mr. Ahroon holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine.
BRADLEY BOTSCH
Vice President		 Mr. Botsch joined the company in December 2007 as Vice President. He has extensive experience in licensing and intellectual property law and previously held the position of Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Officer at ON Semiconductor from 2004 to 2007. Previously he was Associate General Counsel of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) from 2000 to 2004. Mr. Botsch was Motorola's Division Patent Attorney for the Ground System Division from 1995 to 2000. Earlier in his career he was a Senior Design Engineer for Motorola from 1986 to 1989 and was a Patent Agent with Motorola from 1990 - 1994. Mr. Botsch holds a B.S.E.E. from Purdue University and M.S.E.E. and J.D. degrees from Arizona State University.
ERIC BROWN
Vice President		 Mr. Brown joined Acacia in February 2006 as Vice President. Prior to joining Acacia, Mr. Brown was President of TechnoView, Inc., a firm that developed medical products, scientific instruments and database systems. Previously, he founded Remote Medical Corporation, I-Flow Corporation (NASDAQ:IFLO), and Offsite Computers. Earlier, Mr. Brown worked at USC School of Medicine, Hughes Aircraft Company, and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. He is an inventor on 16 U.S. patents and one Taiwan patent. Mr. Brown holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also a USPTO Registered Patent Agent.
CRAIG BURNETT
Vice President		 Mr. Burnett joined Acacia in January 2008 as Vice President. Prior to joining Acacia, Mr. Burnett worked at Discovision Associates where he was involved in licensing Discovision's patent portfolio for optical disc technology, since joining the company in 1993. Mr. Burnett also worked on assignment in Tokyo, Japan, from October 2002 through October 2006, with Discovision's parent company, Pioneer Corporation, to assist with the licensing of Pioneer's patent portfolio for DVD optical disc technology. Prior to Pioneer Corporation, Mr. Burnett was an attorney with Arnold, White & Durkee, and held engineering and marketing positions with Hewlett-Packard, Silvar-Lisco, Texas Instruments, and Harris Corporation. Mr. Burnett holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering from the University of Illinois, an M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Dallas, and a J.D. degree from the Catholic University of America.
KARLTON BUTTS
Vice President		 Mr. Butts joined the company in June 2003 as Vice President. He has extensive experience in licensing and intellectual property law and previously held the position of Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs for Intertainer Inc. from 2000 through 2002. He practiced law at the Los Angeles law firms Riordan & McKinzie and Loeb & Loeb from 1998 to 2000 and the Washington law firms Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner and Sixbey, Friedman, Leedon & Ferguson from 1992 to 1998. Mr. Butts received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina A & T State University and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School.
JON EASTMAN
Vice President		 Mr. Eastman joined Acacia in December 2002 as Vice President. He was formerly Director of Strategic Business Planning for Pioneer North America and led the company into the XM satellite radio business. Prior to Pioneer North America, he held various positions at DIRECTV and played a pivotal role in the startup of DIRECTV. Earlier, Mr. Eastman held program management positions at Hughes Electronics. Mr. Eastman received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine and a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.
MARC FRECHETTE
Vice President		 Mr. Frechette joined Acacia in November 2006 and was promoted to Vice President in June 2007. Prior to joining Acacia, Mr. Frechette was employed as an associate attorney with Crockett & Crockett P.C. and as an in-house attorney for Discovision Associates, a patent licensing and enforcement division of Pioneer Electronics. Earlier in his career, Mr. Frechette worked as an engineer for several companies including The Boeing Company, Ducommun and Conexant. Mr. Frechette is a registered patent attorney and holds a B.S. in Manufacturing Engineering from Boston University, a J.D. from Whittier Law School and a M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
JOSEPH GRANARA
Senior Contract Manager		 Mr. Granara joined Acacia in August, 2007 as Senior Contract Manager. He has over 20 years of experience in contract management, primarily in the technology sector. He previously held contract management positions in the legal departments for Broadcom Corporation, Conexant Systems, Inc. and for Rockwell International Corporation. Mr. Granara hold a B.S. degree in Business Adminstration from California State University, Northridge and an MBA from the University of LaVerne.
PETER KIM
Senior Manager		 Mr. Kim joined Acacia in December 2007 as Senior Manager, Business Development. Mr. Kim was previously Founder/President of a patent investment search fund, working on fund-raising and patent deal sourcing. He was formerly an Associate with IPVALUE Management, helping develop/manage patent licensing programs for Xerox Corporation and Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Prior to IPVALUE, he was an Inventor and Head of Financial Services at Walker Digital Corporation, an incubator that invented the Priceline.com patent portfolio. Mr. Kim holds a B.S. degree from New York University’s Stern School of Business, double-major in Finance and Information Systems. He is a co-inventor on 6 U.S. issued patents.
JOSEPH LEE
Vice President		 Mr. Lee joined Acacia in July 2006 as Vice President. Mr. Lee was formerly Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for Conexant Systems. Prior to Conexant, Mr. Lee was Division IP Counsel for Gateway, Inc.'s Enterprise Division, and IP Counsel for Callaway Golf Company. He also practiced law at the IP law firm of Lyon & Lyon. Mr. Lee is a registered patent attorney and holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and J.D. degree from the University of California Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law.
MOSES MARES
Vice President		 Mr. Mares joined Acacia in June 2005 as Vice President. Mr. Mares was formerly senior corporate counsel with Siebel Systems, where he managed a wide variety of intellectual property matters including advising on intellectual property asset purchases and the licensing of intellectual property rights. He previously held positions with Baker & Mckenzie, in both the Intellectual Property and Corporate Groups, where he advised clients regarding intellectual property licensing and litigation strategies, and with Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear in their patent prosecution and intellectual property licensing practice. Earlier in his career, Mr. Mares was a Program Manager with Intel Corporation and an R&D Engineer with IBM Corporation. Mr. Mares is a registered patent attorney who holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas Austin, an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California San Diego and a J.D. degree from Santa Clara University.
TISHA STENDER
Vice President		 Ms. Stender joined the company in September 2005 as Vice President. Ms. Stender has extensive experience in the worldwide commercialization of intellectual property. She previously was managing attorney with Alea Global Law and formerly held positions with David International Trading Company and with Pillsbury Winthrop. Ms. Stender received a B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.S. from Loyola University Chicago and received her J.D. from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
JONATHAN TAUB
Vice President		 Mr. Taub joined Acacia in July 2007 as Vice President. Prior to joining Acacia, he was Director of Strategic Alliances for Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices division and Business Development Manager for Microsoft's Security Business Unit. Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Taub was Director of Business Development at Nortel Networks. He joined Nortel following the company's $450 million acquisition of software infrastructure developer Epicon, Inc., where he headed business development. He previously was an intellectual property and corporate law associate with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. and an analyst at Santander Investment in Madrid. Mr. Taub holds a B.S. from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
EDWARD TRESKA
Vice President		 Mr. Treska joined the company in April 2004 as Vice President. Mr. Treska was most recently General Counsel, Director of Patents and Licensing for SRS Labs, Inc., a technology licensing company specializing in audio enhancement. Prior to joining SRS Labs, Mr. Treska was an associate attorney with the intellectual property law firm Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear and a design engineer with the TRW Space & Technology Group. Mr. Treska holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University and a J.D. degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.
JAMES TRUEMAN
Vice President		 Mr. Trueman joined Acacia in December 2006 as Director and was promoted to Vice President in June 2007. Mr. Trueman was formerly a Managing Partner for M1 Partners. Prior to M1 Partners, Mr. Trueman was Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company, and Product/Business Development Manager for Oracle Corporation. He also worked as Senior Product Manager for Integrated Decision Systems and was CEO of Computer Solutions. Mr. Trueman holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton School.
MATTHEW VELLA
Senior Vice President		 Mr. Vella joined the company in November 2006 as Vice President. He was appointed Senior Vice President in October 2007. Formerly, Mr. Vella was Senior Intellectual Property Counsel for ATI Research, Inc. Prior to joining ATI Research, Mr. Vella was Lead Patent License Counsel for Nortel Networks, Inc and Counsel for Nortel Networks Corporation. Mr. Vella holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Carleton University and a J.D. degree from the University of Toronto Law School.
DAVID WHITE
Vice President		 Mr. White joined Acacia in February 2007as Vice President. Mr. White was formerly Vice President of Discovision Associates, a patent licensing company wholly owned by Pioneer Electronics. Mr. White was with Discovision from 1989 until 2006 where he managed all aspects of patent licensing and patent acquisition. He was most recently President of Intellectual Property Holdings, Inc. a patent brokering service company. Mr. White holds a B.S. degree in Engineering Arts from Michigan State University, and a J.D. degree from Michigan State - Detroit College of Law.
ENGINEERING
FAHIM AFTAB
Director		 Mr. Aftab joined Acacia in July 2006. Prior to joining Acacia, Mr. Aftab was a Senior Engineer at Semiconductor Insights, a leading semiconductor company specializing in IP support. At Semiconductor Insights Mr. Aftab was responsible for managing patent portfolios for semiconductor companies such as Texas Instruments, Phillips, Toshiba. Prior to Semiconductor Insights Mr. Aftab has held several design and development positions. Mr. Aftab holds a BSEE from University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, and MSEE from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
JEFFREY ANDERSON
Vice President		 Mr. Anderson joined Acacia in February 2008 as Vice President. Prior to joining Acacia, Mr. Anderson was Director of Software Development at Websense, where he directed a department developing enterprise security solutions. Previously, Mr. Anderson was Director of Software Development at Sun Microsystems and Manager of Software Development at Cray Research. Mr. Anderson is a named inventor of issued and pending patents and holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
MARC BOOTH
Vice President		 Mr. Booth joined Acacia in June 2006 as Vice President. Prior to joining Acacia, Mr. Booth was Director of Systems Engineering at Nicholas Laboratories, a privately held technology company owned by ex-Broadcom CEO, Dr. Henry Nicholas, III. Previously, Mr. Booth was Vice President of Engineering of In The Air Net; Senior Director Engineering of Powerwave Technologies; Vice President of Engineering and CTO of Comarco Wireless Technologies; and Vice President of Engineering, Sony Corporation. Mr. Booth holds a B.S. Physics, from the University of California Riverside and a MSEE degree from the University of Southern California.
ROBERT DEPIRRO
Vice President		 Mr. DePirro joined Acacia in January 2003 as Vice President. Before joining Acacia, Mr. DePirro was Senior Vice President of Media Technology at Intertainer, a pioneer in the video-on-demand industry. Previously he was a Senior Systems Engineer with Vanstar, one of the nation’s largest systems integrators and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.
PHILLIP MITCHELL
Vice President		 Mr. Mitchell joined the company in January 2008 as Vice President. Mr. Mitchell has held a number of positions in the technology industry including North American Marketing Manager of Polytec, Manager, Technology Development of Newport Corporation, Engineering/Business Manager for Laser Products of JMAR Technologies, Technical & Product Marketing Manager of Melles Griot and Senior Member of Technical Staff, Hughes Research Laboratories. He is a named inventor of a number of issued and pending patents and was awarded the Hughes "Recognition of Innovation & Excellence in Laser Technology & Applications". Mr. Mitchell holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University
AMY PEARSON
Director		 Ms. Pearson joined Acacia in May 2006 as Director. She was formerly Patent Attorney for Actown Electrocoil and Mechanical Engineer for Engineering Animation/EDS. Prior to Engineering Animation/EDS, she was a Mechanical Engineer at Motorola, Inc.. Ms. Pearson received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University and her J.D. from the John Marshall Law School.

 

 

 
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