Jim Skippen is President & Chief Executive Officer of Wi-LAN Inc. (“WiLAN”). He is responsible for all operations at WiLAN, including the development and implementation of the company’s strategic and operating plans. Since assuming this position in June 2006, Mr. Skippen has assembled a world-class technology licensing team, strengthened WiLAN’s balance sheet from less than one million dollars in cash on hand to approximately $190 million. Since he joined WiLAN, its market capitalization has increased from approximately $25 million to over $700 million, making it Ottawa’s most valuable public company. In addition, he has led WiLAN’s licensing efforts, which have generated record revenues and patent licensing agreements with over 250 companies, including agreements with technology leaders Broadcom, Fujitsu, Intel, LG, Motorola Mobility, Nokia, Panasonic, RIM and Samsung.
A seasoned licensing executive, Mr. Skippen has managed several large and complex patent licensing negotiations and litigations. Prior to joining WiLAN, he worked for two of Canada’s largest law firms and held a number of senior management positions, including Senior VP Patent Licensing and General Counsel at MOSAID Technologies. While leading the patent licensing program at MOSAID, he closed deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In December 2011, Mr. Skippen was named Canadian Tech Stock Executive of the Year in the second annual Cantech Letter Awards.
Mr. Skippen is on the Board of The Ottawa Art Gallery and Elmwood School, and is a member of the Governing Council of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance. He is a former Vice-Chairman and Board member of the Canadian Diabetes Association. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and has delivered numerous papers and articles concerning topics such as management of intellectual property, patent licensing and technology law.
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Shaun is responsible for all financial and fiscal management aspects of WiLAN’s operations including business planning, accounting, budgeting and financial reporting efforts.
Shaun has more than 20 years experience in finance and executive leadership positions in public and private high technology companies.
Prior to joining WiLAN, he held the position of Chief Financial Officer at BreconRidge Manufacturing Solutions (where he was responsible for overall financial management. His many accomplishments while at BreconRidge included leading private placement transactions that raised more than $40 million and completing numerous corporate acquisitions.
Prior to BreconRidge, Shaun served in increasingly senior positions at Calian Technologies Ltd, first as Chief Financial Officer and then President and Chief Executive Officer. During his tenure at Calian, Shaun was responsible for all financial affairs of this publicly traded company, completed several corporate acquisitions and divestitures, assisted in growing revenues to more than $125 Million and served as corporate secretary and as a Director.
Shaun also held senior executive positions at Microstar Software Limited and led the company’s Initial Public Offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1993.
Shaun is a Chartered Accountant.
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Andrew Parolin, Senior Vice President, Licensing
Andrew Parolin is Senior Vice President, Licensing of WiLAN. He is responsible for the licensing of WiLAN’s portfolio of Wireless, Wireline, V-Chip and other technologies.
Since assuming his prior role of Vice President, Wireless Technologies, in November 2007, the business unit negotiated license agreements with over 95 companies including global technology leaders ASUSTek, RIM, Sharp and Samsung.
Prior to joining Wi LAN, Andrew worked at SiGe Semiconductor, a fabless semiconductor company specializing in next-generation integrated circuit designs, where he served as Director of Wireless Data Products.
Andrew has an MBA from the University of Ottawa, a Master of Applied Science from Queen’s University, and a Bachelor of Engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia.
Andrew is a member of the Licensing Executive Society.
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As Senior Legal Counsel, Mr. Lerner will play an influential role across all aspects of the business. In particular, his expertise will support the growth of WiLAN’s partnership licensing business that is championed by its subsidiary, Gladios IP (“Gladios”). Gladios was established in 2010 and works with patent owners to help them derive value from their patent assets.
Prior to joining WiLAN, Mr. Lerner was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of General Patent Corporation (“GPC”), a leading patent licensing and enforcement firm, founded in 1987. During his 11 years with GPC, Mr. Lerner led licensing activities for hundreds of inventor-owned patents. He is also co-author of two books, Essentials of Licensing Intellectual Property (John Wiley & Sons, 2004) and Essentials of Intellectual Property (John Wiley & Sons, 2002).
Before joining GPC, Mr. Lerner was a partner in the Hartford, CT business law firm of Pepe & Hazard LLP. He has led IP law departments at Olin Corp., Black & Decker Corp., and multi-national electrical construction giant Asea Brown Boveri, Inc.
Mr. Lerner’s education includes a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University, an M.B.A. from Loyola University, a J.D. from DePaul University, and post-graduate legal studies at John Marshall College of Law.
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Daniel Henry, Vice President, Business Development
In his role as Vice President, Business Development Mr. Henry focuses on building WiLAN’s business by leading acquisitions of intellectual property (IP) assets and developing new business initiatives.
Before joining WiLAN, Mr. Henry held the position of Senior Vice President with ICAP Patent Brokerage where he advised clients on the sale and acquisition of valuable IP assets.
Prior to ICAP, he was a Partner with Altitude Capital Partners where he conceived and executed the business development program as well as the firm’s strategic relationships with corporate IP holders and other IP professionals.
He has additional experience as an IP litigation specialist with Baker Botts LLP, Darby & Darby and Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto.
Mr. Henry is a practiced speaker regarding IP and value generation at conferences internationally and has been recognized by Intellectual Asset Magazine as one of the top 250 IP Strategists in the world for the past three years.
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Matt Pasulka, Vice President, Patent Litigation
Mr. Pasulka brings over 14 years’ experience in corporate and intellectual property (“IP”) law in both private sector corporations, law firms and the U.S. military. In his role as Vice President, Patent Litigation, Matt manages the Company’s patent litigations and assist in licensing support. In addition, Mr. Pasulka will assist with the negotiation and drafting of patent acquisition and licensing agreements.
Prior to joining WiLAN, Mr. Pasulka held the position of Senior Counsel at St. Jude Medical / AGA Medical Corporation where he managed complex patent litigations in U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. Mr. Pasulka also served in senior legal positions at Sikorsky Aircraft Company and with Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. where he was responsible for all aspects of the company’s IP including the negotiation and drafting of licenses, identification of patentable technology and the management of outside law firms.
He has a distinguished record of service with the U.S. military since graduating from the West Point Military Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. Mr. Pasulka is a registered U.S. Patent Attorney and obtained his law degree from the George Mason University School of Law. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from Fairfield University.
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Rob Scott, Vice President, Patent Administration
In his role of Vice President, Patent Administration, Mr. Scott is responsible for managing the group that oversees preparation and prosecution activities relating to WiLAN’s expanding international patent portfolio and R&D operations. He will also support licensing and litigation activities and provide senior level insights concerning due diligence efforts in patent acquisition matters.
Mr. Scott is a Registered U.S. Patent Attorney and brings over 15 years of international patent law and practical engineering experience.
Mr. Scott joins WiLAN from ATMD Bird & Bird, an international full-service law firm where he managed patent group activities and substantial patent portfolios in the firm’s Singapore offices. He has also served in senior prosecution, litigation and management roles with high profile in-house patent operations and law firms in the United States, Japan and elsewhere in Asia.
Mr. Scott holds a Juris Doctorate with a Patent Track specialty from George Mason University School of Law and an Electrical Engineering degree with emphasis on network architecture and protocols from GMU’s Volgeneau School of Information Technology and Engineering.
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Prashant Watchmaker, Vice President, Corporate Legal & Corporate Secretary
As Vice President, Corporate Legal & Corporate Secretary, Prashant oversees all of WiLAN’s corporate and securities legal requirements and assists with licensing and other commercial matters.
Mr. Watchmaker practiced corporate, securities and technology law and tax litigation with the Ottawa law firm of LaBarge Weinstein Professional Corporation for 10 years, developing extensive experience and negotiating many significant transactions for clients in Canada, the US and the United Kingdom. Prashant has also practiced banking law as Legal Counsel with the Canadian Payments Association.
Prashant holds an LLB and a BA from the University of Ottawa and an MA from the University of Toronto. Prashant is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales as well as the Law Society of Upper Canada.
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Christian Dubuc, Vice President, Licensing Technologies
As Vice President, Licensing Technologies, Christian oversees the technical analysis required for WiLAN’s acquisition, licensing and litigation of patents.
Prior to joining WiLAN in 2007, Mr. Dubuc held different positions in Engineering, Sales and Product Management with multiple companies developing products in the area of wireless technologies. Among his achievements, Christian led Nortel’s proposal of the 4th-Generation (4G) evolution in the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that resulted in the creation of the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard. He is a named inventor on several Nortel 4G patents.
Christian holds a B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from Université de Sherbrooke, an M.Eng. in Systems and Computer Engineering from Carleton University and an MBA from the University of Ottawa. Christian is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec and a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES).
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