Catherine Tornabene
Catherine Tornabene is the Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property at Aurora, a leading autonomous vehicle company. Catherine has been with Aurora since June 2017 and in her role works on all aspects of intellectual property. She has been an intellectual property attorney since 2007 and prior to Aurora, worked at Google Inc. and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a software engineer at a startup that was ultimately acquired by Netscape and then AOL. Catherine earned BAs in Computer Science and History at UC Santa Cruz, an MS in Computer Science from Stanford, and her JD at UC Hastings. She is also an inventor on two patents.
Steven Gong
Tara Stuart
Tara Stuart is Assistant General Counsel, IP at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where she is the IP lead for the Inflammation and Fibrosis Therapeutic Areas. She and her team focus on patent strategy, prosecution, and portfolio management in all stages of pharmaceutical development. As a registered patent attorney, Tara was previously in private practice where she specialized in patent prosecution, litigation, and counseling with an emphasis in pharmaceuticals. Tara received her JD from University of Illinois Chicago John Marshall, an MS in Chemistry from Indiana University, and formerly worked an oncology research scientist at Loyola University Medical School.
Karna Nisewaner
Karna Nisewaner is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. She is responsible for Cadence worldwide legal operations, covering matters such as corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, commercial transactions, employment, export compliance, government affairs, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and stock administration. Prior to this role, she was Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Cadence where she led many key functions in the legal department. Prior to joining Cadence in 2011, Nisewaner held in-house counsel roles at Intuit and IBM and was in private practice at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett, and Dunner, LLP focused on intellectual property. Nisewaner received her BSE in civil engineering and operations research from Princeton University and her Juris Doctor degree from UCLA Law School.
Patrick Flaherty
Patrick Flaherty is an experienced corporate lawyer with a proven history leading a global IP law and policy group, working with a wide range of business clients, and managing a diverse and inclusive team of legal professionals. Patrick advises Verizon’s business units worldwide on intellectual property and digital media law and policy issues and is charged with managing and protecting Verizon’s intellectual property rights. He received a Bachelor of Corporate Law and LL.B from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and LL.M in intellectual property law from the George Washington University School of Law, and is admitted to practice in the State of New York and is a Solicitor in England and Wales.
Tao Zhang
Lorie Goins
Lily Lim
Lily Lim leads worldwide intellectual property, software, and info-security legal strategies at Fortive, a $20B conglomerate of software, instrumentation, and medical device companies. Lily also provides legal strategies for the Fort, the artificial intelligence center at Fortive. She is a strategic partner to business, product, engineering, and security leaders at Fortive and its operating companies.
Before joining Fortive, Lily was at ServiceNow, where she served as the Legal Director for Intellectual Property, Strategic Initiatives, and New Products, partnering with cross-functional teams to drive innovation and new product releases to new levels and speeds. Prior to that role, Lily was a partner at Finnegan, Henderson LLP in Palo Alto, California, successfully representing clients in intellectual property, privacy, and cybersecurity matters. Lily also dedicated time to government service, serving as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable S. Jay Plager at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and serving as a spacecraft navigation engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Lily’s JD is from Yale Law School. Her MS in Mechanical Engineering is from MIT, and she earned a BS in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois. Lily has proficiency in Mandarin and counts a number of privacy, cybersecurity, and IP certifications and registrations among her credentials.
Bridget Smith
