The Center for Research Innovation is pleased to announce, as part of its commitment to being a high-service organization for the Northeastern community, the recent addition of several new staff members whose expertise includes intellectual property, commercialization and marketing communications.
“The Center for Research Innovation’s mission is to grow a University-wide ecosystem to support and foster innovation and entrepreneurship among students, faculty and alumni at Northeastern,” said Tracey Dodenhoff, Director of the Center for Research Innovation. “Fulfilling our mission demands a team with professional depth and a strong customer service imperative. We are fortunate to have engaged a team that encompasses both, and are excited about deepening our service offerings to the Northeastern community.”
Anne-Marie Dinius, Esq., Intellectual Property Manager
A “Double Husky” (with degrees in engineering and law), Anne-Marie Dinius manages the intellectual property for the University, as well as serving on University Counsel. Licensed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Anne-Marie has been practicing IP law for 13 years, working at large, international law firms, in house for Sony PlayStation, and as a sole practitioner. This diverse background enables Anne-Marie to be an agile and adaptable resource for the Northeastern community. She prides herself on digging into the heart of an invention by collaborating with inventors to ensure that they seek patent protection for the broadest claims of their inventions.
Prior to attending law school, Anne-Marie was an electrical engineer at M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory. She believes that law and engineering have a great deal in common because they are both founded on creative problem solving.
“Northeastern is the perfect campus for innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Anne-Marie. “The innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives at Northeastern are natural outgrowths of a culture built on the premise the best training includes real-world experience.”
“In today’s economy, start-ups allow students to take their experience, combine it with their ideas, and take a chance on becoming the next great success story,” she said. “It’s a great time to be a part of Northeastern.”
Annie Le Guern, Ph.D., Director of Commercialization
Annie joined Northeastern to manage life science commercial activities, after nearly seven years of experience in licensing and partnership management and 20 years of life science research. During her career, she has served in various commercialization roles for renowned entities such as Dana Farber Center Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, where she evaluated, protected and commercialized inventions; negotiated, structured and managed contracts to ensure maximum commercial impact from innovations; and worked at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where she contributed to strategic alliance programs.
Annie also has significant research science experience. She was Senior Scientist and a Project leader of Biotransplant Inc., where she spearheaded therapeutic antibodies for the conditioning of organ transplant recipients and the monitoring of bone marrow engraftment. She then pioneered a new strategy for the porcine stem cell platform that was able to repopulate deficient hematopoietic system, achieving a major company goal.
“Helping Northeastern’s research community maximize the commercial impact of their work is a unique opportunity to leverage both my science and business strategy background,” said Annie. “It is the best of both worlds, and I’m excited to support their success.”
Joel Bresler, Director of Commercialization
An accomplished technology and publishing executive with years of experience at both leading corporations and new ventures in general management, business development and commercializing new technologies, Joel manages the engineering commercialization efforts for CRI.
Joel has managed multi-million dollar projects – including marketing and development teams, contract negotiations and strategic partnerships – while spearheading the development of best-selling media and software products. He has raised millions of dollars in investment funds and assisted clients in their own fundraising efforts. Joel also co-founded two firms sold to public companies, including one to Microsoft Corporation.
“I have spent my entire career commercializing new technologies – for me, that’s the aspect of entrepreneurship I find most enjoyable and exciting,” said Joel. “At Northeastern, I have a chance to work with inventors in many different disciplines as we design strategies and campaigns for taking their inventions out into the marketplace. There’s something new every day of the week!”
Jessie Pellegri, Intellectual Property Associate
Jessie Pellegri came to Northeastern from Suffolk University Law School and is responsible for the intake of new disclosures, filing provisional patent applications, trademark and copyright issues, and government compliance on technologies involving federally funded research. She is involved in joint institutional agreements, and works with the Intellectual Property Manager on patentability searches. She is also involved in faculty and student outreach around campus.
“I love working with the inventors at Northeastern to get the ball rolling on protecting their intellectual property,” Jessie said. “Their enthusiasm for their technology is contagious; you can’t help but get excited along the way.”
She is a 2010 graduate of Suffolk University Law School and a 2007 graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she double majored in Political Science and Psychology.
Rhonda Kivlin, Administrative Coordinator
Rhonda joined Northeastern after several years of running a successful small business representing manufacturers of children’s apparel and accessories. There she handled everything from sales, to public relations, to business development. Now serving as Administrative Coordinator for CRI, Rhonda uses her multi-tasking capabilities to support the mission of CRI, and coordinates the marketing communications for the Center.
“I love that the University recognizes that entrepreneurship looks very different depending on the entrepreneur,” Rhonda said. “There’s a terrific energy here on campus surrounding entrepreneurship, in technology, in business, in social enterprise and across the board. What an amazing time to be a part of this!”
For more information, please contact Rhonda Kivlin at 617-373-8810 or [email protected].