About PatentCore
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PatentCore was founded by patent attorney Christopher Holt. The PatentCore online information tools are built upon database technologies with which Mr. Holt has been experimenting for many years.
During the second half of 2012, PatentCore entered into a co-sponsorship arrangement with Reed Technology and Information Services Inc., part of the LexisNexis® family and a leading provider of content management services. Then, in January of 2013, PatentCore announced the launch of Reed Tech Patent Advisor™ information services, a family of on-line data intelligence tools for patent professionals.
PatentCore Leadership
Christopher L. Holt, CEO and Founder
Mr. Holt is a registered patent attorney who has practiced patent law with Westman, Champlin and Kelly in Minneapolis since graduating from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2000. He has experience preparing and prosecuting U.S. and foreign patents in the electrical and mechanical fields, as well as for computer hardware and software inventions. Mr. Holt has extensive experience working with start-up firms as a patent attorney. He is the primary inventor of the PatentCore information system.
Joseph R. Kelly, Director of Operations
Mr. Kelly has practiced patent law since graduating from the William Mitchell College of Law as valedictorian in 1989. He is experienced in all aspects of patent preparation, prosecution, licensing and enforcement in the electrical, electronic, computer software and mechanical areas. Mr. Kelly co-founded Westman, Champlin and Kelly in 1993. The firm has grown from three lawyers to twenty five lawyers and represents several Fortune 100 companies.
Board of Directors
Tony Abena
Mr. Abena serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Deloitte Investments. Previously, he worked as President and General Manager of the legal solutions department at Thomson Reuters. Abena has extensive experience in technology executive management and business growth creation. He served as the Senior Vice President of Law Firms for Thomson West, where he was responsible for driving profitable revenue growth through program execution and product launches. Abena received his M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota.
Advisors
Ken Holec
Ken was the CEO at Jobs2Web (~5 years), Lawson Software (8 years), ShowCase (8 years) and Peopleclick (interim 15 months). His specialties include shareholder valuation creation, strategic advisory support, executive team build out, capital raising assistance, business development and M&A.
Andrew W. Torrance
Mr. Torrance is a professor of law at the University of Kansas School of Law. Torrance is often featured by prominent news outlets, including the Seattle Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and National Public Radio. He received his Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University in 1997, and is a 2000 graduate of Harvard Law School.
Shine Tu
Formerly an associate with Foley & Lardner as part of the patent law group, Dr. Tu is currently a professor of law at West Virginia University. A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Dr. Tu has extensive publication credits in scholarly legal journals, and served as a research assistant for Judge Richard A. Posener of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Court.
Michael E. Zeliger
Mr. Zeliger is a commercial litigator at the law firm of K&L Gates. He primarily focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation. He received his J.D. from Vermont Law School in 1999, his M.S.E.L from Vermont Law School in 1996, (magna cum laude)
and his B.S. from Cornell University in 1992.