Members of the Council for Inclusive Innovation

Federal government

Gina M. Raimondo, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Chair

As Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Secretary Gina M. Raimondo focuses on a simple but vital mission—spur good-paying jobs, empower entrepreneurs to innovate and grow, and help American workers and businesses compete. Under her leadership, the Department of Commerce announced the largest investment to support minority and underserved businesses, including $40 billion in grants to connect every American to quality, affordable internet.

Secretary Raimondo was formerly the 75th Governor of Rhode Island and its first woman governor. During her time as Governor, Secretary Raimondo kick-started the state’s economy and made record investments in infrastructure, education, and job training.

You can learn more about Secretary Gina M. Raimondo on her full bio page.

Kathi Vidal, Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Vice Chair

As the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Director Kathi Vidal leads one of the largest intellectual property (IP) offices in the world, with more than 13,000 public servants and an annual budget of more than $4 billion. She is the principal IP advisor to the President and the Administration, through the Secretary of Commerce, and is focused on incentivizing and protecting U.S. innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity.

She leads an agency whose mission is to help American workers and businesses compete and collaborate, especially in ground-breaking technologies and across all demographics. As Director of the USPTO, Vidal is working to expand American innovation for and from all, and to bring more ideas to impact.

You can learn more about Director Kathi Vidal on her full bio page.

Alejandra Castillo, Co-Vice Chair
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development

Laurie Locascio, Co-Vice Chair
Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, Director, National Science Foundation, Co-Vice Chair

The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan is a computer scientist and engineer and the 15th Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Panchanathan was nominated to this position by the President in 2019 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate on June 18, 2020. NSF is a $9.06 billion independent federal agency, and the only government agency charged with advancing all fields of scientific discovery, technological innovation and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

Panchanathan is a leader in science, engineering, and education with more than three decades of experience. He has a distinguished career in both higher education and government, where he has designed and built knowledge enterprises that advance research innovation, strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship, global development, and economic growth.

Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights and Director, U.S. Copyright Office, Co-Vice Chair

Appointed as Register of Copyrights in October 2020, Perlmutter advises Congress and executive branch agencies on copyright policy, and directs the administration of important provisions of the U.S. Copyright Act, leading a workforce of nearly 500 employees. Prior to her appointment, Perlmutter had served since 2012 as Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She previously held senior positions at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in London, and at Time Warner in New York. Perlmutter also worked at the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva as a consultant on copyright and electronic commerce. While on the faculty at the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America from 1990-1995, she was the copyright consultant to the Clinton Administration’s Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure.

Earlier in her career, she practiced law in New York City, specializing in copyright and trademark counseling and litigation. She is a co-author of a leading casebook on international intellectual property law and policy and has published numerous articles on copyright issues. She is also a research fellow at the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre at Oxford University. Perlmutter received an AB from Harvard University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania.

Isabella Casillas Guzman
Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration

Academia

Dr. Wendy Wintersteen, President, Iowa State University

Dr. Wendy Wintersteen became the 16th president of Iowa State University on Nov. 20, 2017, after a nationwide search, followed by a unanimous vote of the Iowa Board of Regents. The first woman to hold the university’s highest office, Dr. Wintersteen has served Iowa State for more than 40 years in several capacities. The university’s brand platform, “Innovate at Iowa State,” captures Dr. Wintersteen’s vision of students and faculty using creativity and innovation to develop entrepreneurial approaches to solving problems and creating new business opportunities.

Iowa State has established global prominence in innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education – named the 2023 Entrepreneurial University of the Year for the Americas and ranked among the top 12 undergraduate entrepreneurship programs out of 300 public and private universities by the prestigious Princeton Review. A national research powerhouse, Iowa State is ranked in the top 3% for research out of nearly 500 universities without a human medical school and continues to set new records for external research funding. Iowa State consistently ranks in the Top 100 universities in the nation and worldwide for number of U.S. patents as ISU faculty and staff excel at transferring their research, technology, and innovation to the marketplace to address complex challenges and accelerate the state’s economic progress.

Industry

Cristiano R. Amon, President and CEO, Qualcomm Incorporated

Cristiano Amon is President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualcomm Incorporated, and also serves on the Company’s board of directors. Amon assumed the role of CEO on June 30, 2021. Amon began his Qualcomm career in 1995 as an engineer, and during his tenure, has helped shape the strategic direction for the Company in several leadership roles.

Prior to becoming CEO, Amon served as president of Qualcomm. In that role, he steered development of a leading and differentiated product roadmap, spearheaded Qualcomm’s 5G strategy – as well as its acceleration and global roll out – and drove the expansion and diversification of the business to serve multiple industries, including automotive, computing, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), networking, and industrial. Additionally, he has overseen the successful execution of mergers and acquisitions to augment Qualcomm’s capabilities in areas such as advanced driver assistance (ADAS), spatial computing, advanced CPU, and RF Front End. Amon holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and an honorary doctorate from UNICAMP – Universidade Estadual de Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. He is a member of the President’s Export Council, vice chair of the US-China Business Council.

Mary T. Barra, Chairman and CEO, General Motors Company

Mary Barra is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors. She was elected Chair of the GM Board of Directors in 2016 and has served as CEO of GM since 2014. Under Barra’s leadership, GM envisions a world with zero crashes, to save lives; zero emissions, so future generations can inherit a healthier planet; and zero congestion, so customers get back a precious commodity – time. She is focused on creating the best customer experience and strengthening GM’s core vehicle and services business, while also working to deliver transformative technologies such as electrification, autonomous driving and software.

Prior to becoming CEO, Barra served as GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, and as senior vice president, Global Product Development. In these roles, Barra and her teams were responsible for the design, engineering and quality of GM vehicle launches worldwide. Previously, she served as vice president, Global Human Resources; vice president, Global Manufacturing Engineering; plant manager, Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly; and in several other executive engineering and staff positions. Barra began her career with GM in 1980 as a General Motors Institute (Kettering University) co-op student at the Pontiac Motor Division. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1985, followed by a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1990. Barra serves on the Board of Directors of the Walt Disney Company, the Duke University Board of Trustees and the Detroit Economic Club.

Dr. Christopher Boerner, Ph.D.
Chairman and CEO, Bristol Myers Squibb

Safra A. Catz, CEO, Oracle Corporation

Safra A. Catz has served as CEO of Oracle Corporation since 2014 and a member of the company’s board of directors since 2001. She previously served as President of Oracle and has served as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Prior to being named President, Catz held various other positions since starting at Oracle in 1999. She previously served as a Director of The Walt Disney Company and HSBC Holdings plc.

Scott Frank, President and CEO, AT&T Intellectual Property, LLC

Scott Frank is the President and CEO of AT&T Intellectual Property LLC. He is responsible for the identification, development, protection, management, marketing, licensing, and sale of all company-wide intellectual property for AT&T, one of the world’s largest communications companies and the owner of one of the world’s most valuable intellectual property portfolios.

Frank was named President and CEO of AT&T Intellectual Property in March 2007, following the December 2006 merger of AT&T and BellSouth, where Frank had previously been the President of Intellectual Property. Frank joined BellSouth in 1998 and led the effort in forming the BellSouth Intellectual Property companies.

Dr. Jeffrey Welser, Chief Operating Officer, IBM Corporation

Dr. Jeffrey Welser is Chief Operating Officer for IBM Research and Vice President, Exploratory Science and University Collaborations. He oversees IBM Research Labs based in California, Brazil and Japan, as well as the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab in Cambridge. He oversees exploratory and applied research to advance data technology and analytics for Hybrid Cloud and AI systems and software, with a strong focus on advanced computing technologies for AI, neuromorphic devices and quantum computing.

After joining IBM Research in 1995, Dr. Welser worked on a broad range of technologies, including novel silicon devices, high-performance CMOS and SOI device design, and next generation system components. He has led teams in both development and research, as well as running industrial, academic and government consortiums, including the SRC Nanoelectronics Research Initiative.

Dave A. Ricks
Chairman and CEO, Eli Lilly and Company

Michael Roman, Executive Chairman and CEO, 3M Company

Michael Roman is Executive Chairman of 3M’s Board of Directors. Roman became Chairman of the board in May 2019. He served as CEO of 3M, a science and manufacturing company that improves lives around the world, from 2018 to 2024. He previously served as 3M’s Chief Operating Officer, led 3M’s largest business group, and was Chief Strategist. Throughout Roman’s career, he lived and led businesses around the world, including the United States, Europe, and Asia. He joined 3M in 1988 as a senior design engineer.

Roman holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota. He serves on the board of Abbott Laboratories and on the University of Minnesota Foundation Board of Trustees.

Intellectual property associations

Carmine Denisco, President, United Inventors Association

Carmine Denisco is a successful Entrepreneur, Inventor, Author, Podcaster, Investor, Patent and Trademark Holder. He has designed, developed and manufactured many products sold in retail stores, TV shopping channels, online and infomercials some have gone on to be licensed by major chain stores. Denisco is dedicated to helping inventors correctly navigate the invention and manufacturing process, giving each inventor their best shot at success.

Nonprofit organizations

Brennon Marcano, CEO, The National GEM Consortium

Brennon Marcano is the CEO of The National GEM Consortium. He has over 25 years of experience in the private and nonprofit sectors. His leadership experience spans multiple industries, primarily financial services, technology, and media and entertainment.

Prior to joining GEM, he was the Executive Director of the Council of Urban Professionals (CUP), a nonprofit whose vision is to seek parity at the highest levels of business and civic engagement. During his two-year stint at CUP, the organization grew its corporate partnerships by 50%, had its most financially successful gala, placed a record number of diverse individuals on boards, and had a promotion rate of over 40% within one year for program participants. Prior to CUP, he was the Executive Director of Workforce Opportunity Services, an innovative nonprofit. Under his leadership over a nine-year period, the organization grew to an entity with a budget of over $10 million and began operating in nine states (19 cities) and internationally in France (under the name SociaLift).

Dr. Sudip Parikh, Ph.D.
CEO and Executive Publisher, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Dr. Stephen J. Susalka, CEO, AUTM

Dr. Stephen J. Susalka is the Chief Executive Officer of AUTM, a 3,000+ member non-profit association, focused on supporting and enhancing technology transfer globally, and oversees a cooperative agreement with the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer to support technology transfer for more than 300 federal labs across the US.

Dr. Susalka earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Virginia and is a registered U.S. Patent Agent. He is a past Board member of multiple university-affiliated start-up companies and is both a Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP) and a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP).

Independent inventor

Dean Kamen, Inventor, Founder at FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and DEKA Research and Development

Dean Kamen is an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science and technology. His roles as inventor and advocate are intertwined—his own passion for technology and its practical uses has driven his personal determination to spread the word about technology's virtues and, by so doing, to change the culture of the United States. As an inventor, he holds more than 1,000 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide.

While still a college undergraduate, he invented the first wearable infusion pump, which rapidly gained acceptance from such diverse medical specialties as oncology, neonatology, and endocrinology. In 1976, he founded his first medical device company, AutoSyringe, Inc., to manufacture and market the pumps. Then, working with leading diabetes researchers, Kamen pioneered the design and adoption of the first portable insulin pump.

Venture capitalist

Mallun Yen, Founder and Partner, Operator Collective VC Fund

Mallun Yen has devoted the past 20 years to changing the status quo and shifting industry norms, as a founder, operator, investor, and category-creator. In 2019, she founded Operator Collective, a $150M venture firm and community, to make venture accessible to a group critical to a startup’s success but largely left out: top operators from diverse backgrounds who have built and scaled the most admired companies in the world. Its 200+ limited partner investors are 90% women, 40% people of color; most of whom had never invested in venture before.

Prior to founding Operator Collective, Mallun was a VP at Cisco and at the forefront of other category-creating companies also rooted in community, including RPX ($0-$100M and IPO in 3 years), SaaStr (world’s largest b2b software community), and ChIPsNetwork.org (5,000 members and 25 chapters around the world). She is also a member of Pure Storage Board of Directors and is executive co-chair of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women conference.

Small business

Dr. Javier Diez, Inventor, CEO, SubUAS, LLC and Co-founder and CTO at XTT

Dr. F. Javier Diez got his B.S. and M.S. from Saint Louis University and his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan. He is a Full Professor at Rutgers University in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering with a graduate faculty appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Diez is the head of the Applied Fluids Laboratory, where over 100 students have done research.

His expertise includes UAV/UUV, aerodynamics and propulsion, aviation, and sensors. He has been funded by NSF, ONR, DIU, AFOSR, FAA, and DARPA, among others. He is the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Engineering Faculty Award. Dr. Diez has given over 25 invited lectures and authored over 100 journal articles, conference papers, and technical publications. He is the founder, with his graduated Ph.D. students, of two Rutgers startups, SubUAS LLC and XTT LLC. Dr. Diez is the CEO and President of SubUAS LLC, which is commercializing the Naviator, the first unmanned vehicle that can fly, float, swim, dive, and transition between air and water in less than a second. He is also CTO of XTT LLC, which is commercializing aerodynamic flow deflectors for enhancing wind turbine performance.

Overview