Innovative Programs for Diversifying the Patent Bar

Michelle Bugbee is a Senior Counsel in the Intellectual Property group of Eastman Chemical Company in the Springfield, MA office supporting the Advanced Interlayers business.  Michelle has over 20 years of patent experience in the chemical industry and with sporting goods.  Prior to attending law school, Michelle worked for over ten years in various engineering and supervisory roles.  Michelle is currently a co-chair of the IPO Women in IP committee as well as a co-chair of the Women Inventors subcommittee of the Women in IP committee and assisted in the development of IPO’s Gender Diversity in Innovation Toolkit (launched in September 2019).  

Prior to obtaining his J.D. from Georgia State, Braxton Davis earned undergraduate degrees in physics and electrical engineering from Morehouse College and Georgia Institute of Technology, respectively. After obtaining his J.D., Braxton began his career in patent law working with the AT&T Intellectual Property Patent Development and Innovation Team, and was later named partner at Amin, Turocy, and Watson patent law firm. He now serves as in-house counsel at Facebook.

Davis founded the Patent Institute of Training, which teaches promising engineers how to be successful patent agents and attorneys. Davis also established the National Council on Patent Practicum, a nonprofit that focuses on increasing quality within the patent profession via a certification program and increasing the number of women and minority patent practitioners within the profession. Additionally, Davis founded a tech startup Metric Mate, a mobile platform for tracking workouts and performance data in the fitness space.

Ayana Marshall is a Trinidad and Tobago born patent data analyst who has 11+ years experience in the patent field. She has a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering. At Harrity & Harrity, she serves as a Patent Data Analyst, Chair of the Patent Pathways subcommittee, and is a member of the Diversity Committee. She is also a member of the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s (IPO) Diversity & Inclusion Committee as well as the association’s Outreach Committee. She is very passionate about increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in the patent field. Ayana enjoys cooking and baking for her family of six, her husband, two sons, and two pups.

Tim Wilson is Director of Patents in the Legal Division at SAS Institute Inc., the world’s largest private software company, where he leads the patent practice.  He also provides advice on all types of intellectual property law matters and competitive intelligence issues. Prior to joining SAS, Tim was an associate at Brown Raysman in New York, where he advised clients on all manner of licensing and outsourcing transactions.  Tim began his legal career as a patent and intellectual property litigator with Jones Day in Cleveland.  Tim received his JD from Syracuse University College of Law in 1992 and a BS from Pennsylvania State University in 1989. Tim is a member of the Editorial Board of Intellectual Property Magazine.