The European Patent Office last week said that Alison Brimelow has taken over as president of the EPO effective July 1.
Brimelow succeeds Alain Pompidou, who headed the EPO since July 2004. Brimelow was elected president in December 2003 by the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organization, the EPO's governing body. Her term of office was set at three years.
Before joining the EPO, Brimelow was deputy chair of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organization, from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, she was chief executive and comptroller general of the UK Patent Office, and head of the UK delegation on the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organization. Brimelow joined the UK Patent Office in 1991 as head of the Trademarks Registry.
The EPO also said last week that Peter Vermeij has begun his term as vice-president of the office.
Vermeij succeeds Pantelis Kyriakides, who retired on June 30. Vermeij will be responsible for Directorate-General 2, Operational Support, which looks after quality management, information systems, and patent administration, EPO said. Vermeij previously served as deputy secretary-general in the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Nancy Munder Gray has been named vice president of corporate development at Southern Research Institute.
Gray will lead SRI’s efforts to evaluate and pursue corporate development opportunities including mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, minority investments, technology licenses, and divestitures, SRI said.
Prior to her appointment at SRI, Gray was a business development consultant at Beijing Med-Pharm, where she was responsible for negotiating licensing agreements and identifying portfolios of in-licensing candidates in oncology and women’s health for introduction into the Chinese market. Prior to this, Gray served as vice president of corporate development and operations at VaxInnate. She has also served as vice president and general manager and vice president of corporate development at Delsys Pharmaceutical, a division of Elan. She holds a BS in chemistry from BucknellUniversity, and a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the University of Illinois Medical Center.
The Siouxland Initiative last week said that Joseph Wright has been named vice president of technology transfer.
Wright will be responsible for implementing portions of a comprehensive economic development strategy prepared by the Regional Economic Development Partners group, which represents a consortium of economic development professionals from Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. As such, he will be responsible for identifying and linking technology transfer opportunities from universities and research institutions in the Siouxland area.