Officers
Liisa Thomas President Winston & Strawn LLP	Liisa Thomas is an intellectual property partner in the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn LLP. She provides privacy law counseling to major consumer brands, advertising agencies, and consumer research companies. She is vice-chair of the ABA Intellectual Property Law Section’s Annual Report Editorial Board and is active in the International Trademark Association. Liisa also serves as an adjunct professor in The John Marshall Law School’s Information Technology LLM program; counsel to the Women’s Foodservice Forum; and a governing member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Stacey Tutt Vice President University of Illinois College of Law	Stacey Tutt is the an Assistant Clinical Professor and the Director of the Community Preservation Clinic at the University of Illinois College of Law, her alma mater. She previously served as Managing Attorney for Prairie State Legal Services Inc.'s Bloomington office. Stacey has received both the Illinois Women's Bar Association Public Service Scholarship and the Rickert Award for Excellence in Public Service, and served as the president of the Public Interest Law Foundation.
Gerald Richardson Treasurer The Claro Group	Jerry Richardson is a Certified Public Accountant (licensed in Illinois) with more than twenty years of experience advising clients with regards to forensic investigations, litigation matters and preparing and negotiating insurance claim settlements. Since 1991, he has been devoted exclusively to assisting clients in forensic investigation, litigation and insurance claims matters. Jerry graduated with Honors from University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign in 1986, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy.
Michelle Burke Secretary McDermott Will & Emery LLP	Michelle C. Burke is counsel in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. She is a member of the Firm’s Intellectual Property, Media & Technology Department and has practiced for over 25 years in the area of trademark, copyright and unfair competition counseling and litigation, including the protection of intellectual property in cyberspace. Michelle received a B. A. (with honors) in history from Lake Forest College in 1980, and a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School in 1983.
Tim Abrahams PricewaterhouseCoopers	Tim Abrahams is a Director in PricewaterhouseCoopers' Advisory Services Practice. He directs the Forensic Technology Solutions practice in Chicago and the Midwest region. Prior to joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, he served as a Corporate Auditor for Sony Corporation of America performing licensee, royalty, financial, and operational audits as well as special investigations for all divisions of Sony in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
John Cashman Major Lindsey & Africa	John A. Cashman is a partner and regional practice manager for the western region of Major, Lindsey & Africa. His practice focuses on representing individual partners in the lateral marketplace, practice group acquisitions, and law firm mergers. Previously he was a corporate partner in the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn. Before receiving his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, John was a vice president at City National Bank in Beverly Hills, California.
Susan Curry The University of Chicago Law School	Susan Curry is the Director of Public Interest Law and Policy at The University of Chicago Law School. Admitted to the bars of both Illinois and Minnesota, she has served as the Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI), AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, Minnesota Justice Foundation and P-Fund Foundation. She began her legal career in Chicago as an associate with the law firm of Gardner, Carton & Douglas, then served as a staff counsel for the Better Government Association and, later, for the Illinois Guardianship & Advocacy Commission’s Legal Advocacy Service.
Todd Flaming KrausFlaming LLC	Todd Flaming is a founding partner with KrausFlaming LLC in Chicago, where he concentrates primarily on intellectual property and technology litigation. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the John Marshall Law School Center for Information Technology and Privacy Law, and is a member of its Adjunct Faculty. Todd has previously served as Chair of the Illinois Bar Association's Standing Committee on Legal Technology and as Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Litigation Section's Technology for the Litigator Committee. He received his J.D. in 1993 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review, and his B.A. magna cum laude from Loyola Marymount University in 1988.
Véronica Gómez Exelon Corporation	Verónica Gomez is Associate General Counsel at Exelon Corp. She has been practicing commercial litigation since 1994, when she graduated from the University of Chicago Law School. Previously Verónica was a partner at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg and Schopf & Weiss. She received an A.B. in Political Science and Economics, with departmental honors, from Stanford University. She lives in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood with her husband and three children, and their two dogs.
Marcelo Halpern Perkins Coie LLP	Marcelo Halpern is a partner in the Chicago office of Perkins Coie LLP and is a member of its Licensing and Technology Practice Group. His practice focuses on transactional, strategic and corporate representation of global "Fortune 100" companies, start-up and emerging growth companies, as well as domestic and foreign governments and non-profits. Marcelo is a frequent speaker on technology and intellectual property legal issues and serves on the Board of Editors for The Internet Newsletter and for The E-Commerce Law Report.
Bill Hardin Navigant	Bill Hardin is a Director in the Disputes and Investigations practice at Navigant. In this role, Bill advises audit committees, boards, counsel, and management in complex business issues pertaining to business disputes, anti-corruption investigations, corporate misconduct, and forensic accounting matters. He also helps companies with emerging issues related to enterprise risk management, privacy and data security, complex data breaches, shale gas, and theft of trade secrets and performs strategy/operational consulting for clients and serves in interim management positions. Bill is a CPA/CFF, CFE, PMP, and has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a frequent speaker on financial and litigation risks and acts on behalf of the Turnaround Management Association to provide pro-bono services to financially distressed clients.
Ruth Schoenmeyer McDonald's Corporation	Ruth Schoenmeyer is currently Senior Counsel at McDonald’s Corporation. Prior to joining McDonald’s, Ruth was Of Counsel in Jenner & Block’s Chicago office. Ruth has extensive experience representing landlords and tenants in leasing transactions, including leases relating to office, industrial and retail properties. Ms. Schoenmeyer is currently Chair of the Assignment and Subleasing Committee of the Real Property Trusts and Estates Section of the American Bar Association and Co-President of the Parent Teacher Organization at her daughter’s school in Oak Park.
Jon Wasserman Equity Group Investments	Jon Wasserman is responsible for overseeing all of EGI’s legal activities, and for working closely with the investment team and outside counsel on transactions. Wasserman also serves on the boards of directors for two EGI portfolio companies, East Mediterranean Gas, an Egyptian natural gas transmission company, and VIA Wines Group, a Chilean wine producer and marketer. Prior to rejoining EGI in 2009, he served as a partner at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg in the Corporate and Securities, Private Wealth Services and Life Sciences practice groups. Earlier in his career, Wasserman served as an attorney at EGI affiliate Rosenberg & Liebentritt, as general counsel of an AlliedSignal subsidiary, and as an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Joleen Willis JP Morgan Chase	Joleen S. Willis is head of the Chase Technology and Intellectual Property Practice Group for Legal and Compliance at JPMorgan Chase & Company. As an attorney, Joleen’s practice primarily deals with Intellectual Property licensing, strategy and management, matters relating to the Information Technology field, governance of Outsourcing and Offshoring and issues specific to the Internet. She has a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, and her J.D. from Chicago Kent College of Law. Prior to practicing law, she had a career in the information technology field with various positions ranging from Software Engineer to Marketing and Sales Management.

Last update: 05/21/2013