ELAINE L. BROCK

President & Senior Partner

ELAINE L. BROCK, has experience in research administration and compliance spanning years of service and a wide variety of organization and clients. Most recently Elaine has provided training, organizational support, process and policy review, complex project support, and agreement review and negotiation for several universities, healthcare organizations, non-profits and small businesses.

Elaine was the University of Michigan Senior Associate Director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects. There she was responsible for the University-wide pre-award office, oversight of all aspects of sponsored projects administration, management and oversight of processes and policies related to the submission of proposals and acceptance of awards, collaboration and coordination with all units on the University’s three campuses, direction and assistance in resolving issues related to administration and conduct of research, including; conflict of interest, intellectual property, contract performance, export control, data management, human subjects, use of animals, fiscal compliance, and federal oversight of sponsored activity, advice on and coordination of use of electronic research administration tools.

Elaine was the inaugural Director of the Medical School Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Research charged with facilitating technology transfer, corporate research, and related agreements by bringing together resources from the Medical School, the central technology transfer office and research administration. Responsibilities included management of faculty technology transfer initiatives, peer review of invention disclosures, seeking emerging opportunities for corporate interaction; education of faculty and staff about technology transfer.

As Director of the caBIG® Data Sharing and Intellectual Capital Knowledge Center supported by the National Cancer Institute Elaine sought to expand discussion about data sharing and develop approaches to reduce barriers. The DSIC Knowledge Center provided a centralized, authoritative repository of processes, model agreements, and other resources to encourage and facilitate data sharing to advance scientific discovery, consistent with applicable legal, regulatory, ethical and contractual requirements.

Elaine has served on statewide, regional, and national committees developing policies and procedures affecting university-industry interactions. She is a frequent presenter on conflict of interest, federal regulation issues and various aspects of industry-university relationships. She was appointed to the Contracts and Intellectual Property Committee and to the Board of Directors of the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR). She is a Senior Fellow of the University Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP).

Brock earned a B.A. from the University of Buffalo (SUNY), an M.H.S.A. from the University of Michigan, and a J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law. She is licensed to practice law in the State of Michigan.

Catherine Innes

Senior Associate, Technology Transfer Expert

Catherine Innes has over 20 years of experience in university technology transfer. Most recently Cathy directed the 13-member Office of Technology Development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this role Cathy oversaw a portfolio of 2000 issued and pending patents, 400 license agreements, 60 startup companies and 1000 active biotechnology and physical science innovations. Prior to this role, Cathy spent 14 years in the technology transfer offices at the University of Washington and the University of California where she managed a software and engineering portfolio and served as the university copyright officer. She has a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley and spent ten years in business development and engineering roles in aerospace and computer industries before joining the field of academic technology transfer.

Cathy served on the Contracts and Intellectual Property Committee for the Council on Government Relations (COGR) from 2005-2012 and has previously served on the board of trustees for the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) as Vice President for Communications. She is also active in the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and is the incoming president of the RTP Chapter of the Licensing Executive Society (LES). She is a frequent speaker on intellectual property management and licensing issues at conferences and events throughout the country and internationally.

Her publications include: AUTM Educational Series No. 4: Copyright Protection of Software, Multimedia and Other Works: and Author’s Guide, with Charles C. Valauskas; AUTM Educational Series No. 5: Development and Deployment of Digital Works in Universities: A Guide for Authors and Licensing Officers, with Charles C. Valauskas; and AUTM Educational Series No. 6: Academic Technology Transfer: Driving Public Use of University Research Results, with Howard Bremer and Christopher McKinney.

Hideaki Sano

Hideaki Sano is an attorney who specializes in advising clients regarding a variety of compliance and governance matters. During his years in practice, he has worked at a number of prominent national and Michigan law firms representing and advising clients ranging from large profit and non-profit entities to the individuals who run them. His practice areas include corporate and non-profit governance, labor and employment, government procurement, and investigation and administrative proceedings.

Corporate and non-profit governance: Hide (pronounced “He day”) has counseled and advised both for-profit and non-profit clients regarding a broad range of governance issues. These include director, trustee, and officer fiduciary duties and obligations; oversight, supervision, and disclosure requirements imposed by federal and state law; best practices for board policies and procedures; and proper implementation and management of activities, including lobbying and political activity that may affect entities’ legal status. His focus is on developing processes and procedures that permit organizations to satisfy their legal and ethical obligations and in a manner consistent with their overall business goals and objectives.

Employment and Labor Law: Hide has provided compliance advice to clients related to a variety of employment and labor law issues. These include adoption of appropriate policies and handbooks; drafting of employment contracts and noncompetes; development of proper performance and compensation policies; creating complaint reporting and investigation procedures; ensuring legal compliance with employment-related statutes (e.g., FLSA, WARN, FMLA); and oversight of medical staffing decisions.

Government Procurement: Hide has provided advice and guidance to clients involved in government procurement at the federal, state and local level. He has assisted bidding clients in meeting solicitation and bidding requirements, in ensuring that awarding entities engage in an appropriate and compliant awards process, and in challenging improper awards. He has also assisted awarding entities in ensuring that they follow proper procedures for soliciting and awarding public contracts. He has also advised clients in various aspects of the bidding process including WBE/DBE/MBE certification and in surety-qualification and related issues.

Investigations and Administrative Proceedings: Finally, Hide has also counseled clients involved in investigations and civil infractions. Such matters include discrimination investigations, civil infraction administrative proceedings or investigations (for example, OSHA or health care fraud-related matters), corporate malfeasance investigations, professional licensing investigations, and tenure discipline proceedings. He has advised both institutional and individual clients and draws from his broad compliance and litigation background in counseling clients in such matters.

Sano earned a B.A. from Stanford University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He is admitted to practice law in Michigan and California.

Christine Urwin

Christine Urwin has over ten years’ experience working with non-profit, government and education institutions in the US and Europe. At Boise State University, Christine launched and supervised process improvement projects including organization of information for web pages, facilitation of team process improvement activities, review of solutions to comply with business requirements, and mentoring and training research administrators.

Earlier in her career, Christine was responsible for negotiating research-related agreements and carrying out various project life cycle activities, from proposal development through post-award management, for both private and federally funded research projects at the University of Michigan. She later became responsible for the design, implementation and oversight of organization-wide compliance and quality improvement initiatives related to research administration, including analysis of workflow and process, cross-training programs, and effective management of projects involving compliance issues.

Christine is a lean certified higher education consultant specializing in performance and compliance issues, complex project management, and stakeholder engagement. Christine is also a mediator specializing in conflict resolution to improve communication and processes in decentralized environments.

Christine earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan, a M.A. from the Brussels School of International Studies, and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in the State of Michigan.