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 associate 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.

Amanda Coulter

Amanda Coulter has over 13 years of experience working for higher education, hospitals, and managed care organizations. At the University of Michigan Amanda supervised contracts and grants staff, negotiated research agreements, developed templates and internal staff training, and represented the pre-award research administration office in a variety of compliance matters, as well as on multiple institution-wide committees.

Leveraging that deep knowledge of research administration, Amanda led a team of professionals to design and implement a university-wide training program for research administrators, including how to draft budgets, develop and find funding, interpret awards, navigate and ensure compliance, and financial reconciliation.

Amanda has significant experience negotiating research agreements including clinical trial agreements, industry agreements, data use agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and material transfer agreements. Amanda has significant experience with health care providers particularly related to research and finance issues. Amanda advises current clients on compliance matters including Conflicts of Interest, Institutional Review Boards, and HIPAA. She has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Wayne State University. Amanda is “Lean” certified, and is licensed to practice law in the State of Michigan.

Marvin G. Parnes

Marvin G. Parnes served on staff at the University of Michigan for 40 years, in a variety of leadership roles in the Office of Research, including as Associate Vice President for Programs and Operations, Executive Director of Research Administration, and Interim Director of the Office of Technology Transfer. In these roles, he was responsible for the development of policy and operational standards for research infrastructure and administration, information systems, technology transfer, liaison with industry, and day-to-day administration of units reporting to the Vice President for Research. Additionally, he coordinated “seed funding” for new scholarly projects and special needs in the research community and advised Deans and Academic Officers on the establishment of new interdisciplinary units and programs. Marvin worked extensively with the University’s executive officers and state officials on the role and strategy of the University in regional economic development (resulting in the formation of SPARK, a partnership between universities, government, and businesses to promote innovation in the Ann Arbor area.) As Principal Investigator of the Michigan Initiative for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MIIE), Marvin formed a statewide consortium of public universities that served as an exemplar for promoting regional economic development and entrepreneurism. For his last few years at U-M, he was the Managing Director of the Institute for Social Research (ISR), where he provided oversight of finance, human resources, administration, communication, and research development.

Parnes has served on many committees and boards, including, the advisory board for the University of Michigan Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurship, and the Board of Directors of Fraunhofer USA. He is the past Chair and Treasurer of the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and served as Chair of the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR), a national association of research universities based in Washington, D.C. as well as on the Executive Committee of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness & Economic Prosperity, and as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Deputy Director for Intramural Research, National Institutes of Health, where he guided a review and change strategy for its commercialization activities.

Parnes has served on many committees and boards, including, the advisory board for the University of Michigan Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurship, and the Board of Directors of Fraunhofer USA. He is the past Chair and Treasurer of the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and served as Chair of the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR), a national association of research universities based in Washington, D.C. as well as on the Executive Committee of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness & Economic Prosperity, and as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Deputy Director for Intramural Research, National Institutes of Health, where he guided a review and change strategy for its commercialization activities.

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.