A message from Deputy Lab Director for Research Horst Simon
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce a leadership change in the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). After a nationwide search, we have appointed Russell Carrington as the Lab’s Chief Technology Transfer Officer (CTTO) and Deputy Head of IPO. In this position, Russell will oversee the Lab’s technology transfer activities, including patent and software disclosures, patents, licensing, NDA/MTA, and commercialization programs, and will be the outward facing leader for industry, DOE, and our PI community.
Russell is very well suited to succeed in this capacity. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, specializing in energy science and technology, and over the four years he has been with the IPO department, he has learned and mastered the tech transfer business in our DOE/University environment. Before joining Berkeley Lab, Russell was co-founder of a startup and worked as a business consultant in the energy and health care fields. He has very good ideas on ways to improve our IP pipeline at Berkeley Lab that I’m sure you will be hearing more about over time.
Russell will be joined in IPO by Chris Lundell, who will serve as Interim Head of IPO. Chris is currently a senior member of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, as the Budget Officer and Interim Field Finance Manager. He has over 20 years of experience in finance and business systems, and is a proven successful manager.
Chris will be focusing primarily on reviewing, revamping, and revitalizing the business systems and operations side of the department. He will also be responsible for organizing the department and setting strong management expectations for performance.
I would also like to give my very special thanks to Jeff Blair, who not only led the search that resulted in this excellent outcome, but who in the interim was managing IPO. I appreciate all the extra personal effort that Jeff invested in this transition to help Berkeley Lab.
We are very excited about this development and are confident that Russell and Chris are the right choices to lead and improve the IPO department into the next decade.
Horst