PTAB Committees

Committees are the lifeblood of the PTAB Bar Association and critical to advancing the mission of the Association. Committee leaders and members work to set and accomplish goals, sometimes spawning additional committees. The collaboration among the PTAB Bar Association committees enhances member engagement and enriches the value of the Association.

All members are encouraged to participate in the committees. Members may designate their committee preferences by contacting the committees directly at the committee email address or by accessing the committees from the Engagement tab on the Member Menu and selecting the desired committee sign-up.

Conference Committee

This committee collaborates with the other PTAB Bar Association committees to develop, plan, and coordinate topics, speakers, and sponsors for the Association's Annual Conference and Thought Leader Summit each year. These are unique events that bring together leading PTAB practitioners, judges, and other thought leaders for substantive programming and valuable networking.

Contact us: conference.committee@ptabbar.org

Gene Lee	Usman Khan	Fahd Patel	Dana Louttit	Hon. Janet Gongola	Sarah Geers	Jad Mills	Gilbert Smolenski
Committee Co-Chair	Committee Co-Chair	Committee Co-Chair, Emeritus	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Communications Committee

This committee is responsible for the Association’s newsletter, the PTAB Roundup, the Association’s law journal, and the Association’s social media accounts. It also coordinates with other committees to provide content for the website, prepare communications about Association activities, etc. This committee also ensures the Association uses our logos in a consistent way and that we maintain our brand.

Contact us: comm.committee@ptabbar.org

Jonathan Bowser	James Stein	Jordan Rossen	Jennifer Huang	Jessica Marks
Committee Chair	Committee Vice-Chair (Operations)	Committee Vice-Chair (Social Media)	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Diversity Committee

This committee encourages diversity of thought and perspective through recruitment and retention of diverse lawyers, agents, and law students, including diversity based on religion, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and age for active involvement in the overall mission and leadership of the Association. This committee is expected to coordinate with other committees, including the Membership Committee, Women’s Committee, and the Young Lawyers/Agents Committee.

Contact us: diversity.committee@ptabbar.org

Ashley Cheung	Saurabh Gupta	Matthew Berntsen	Inge Osman	Marshall Schmitt
Committee Co-Chair	Committee Co-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Ex Parte Pro Bono Committee

This committee collaborates with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to serve as a clearinghouse for the PTAB Pro Bono Program, which assists financially under-resourced inventors with obtaining free legal representation for proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Contact us: exparteprobono.committee@ptabbar.org

Jonathan Knight	Ryan Klima	Karan Jhurani	Kara Specht	Jennifer Chagnon	Kristi L. R. Sawert, Ph.D.
Committee Co-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Industry Committee

This committee is composed of in-house counsel. It meets to discuss and develop PTAB matters of interest to those in industry. It proposes topics and events for the Association’s annual conference and for the Association’s continuing legal education panels.

Contact us: industry.committee@ptabbar.org

Mita Chatterjee	Mark Taylor	Andrew John ("A.J.") Sutton	Melissa Brand
Committee Co-Chair	Committee Co-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Membership Committee

This committee leads membership recruitment and proposes membership dues, categories, and amounts. This committee is expected to coordinate with other committees, including the Women’s Committee, Diversity Committee, and the Young Lawyers/Agents Committee.

Contact us: membership.committee@ptabbar.org

Alison Baldwin	Phillip Citroen	David McCombs	Gwilym Attwell	Ben Everton
Committee Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Program Committee

This committee arranges logistics for regional meetings, CLEs, and webinars. It also arranges program speakers and topics, and it develops and coordinates sponsorship opportunities related to these programs. The Program Committee is aligned with the Annual Conference Committee, Industry Committee, PTAB Trials Committee, Committee on Appeals to the PTAB, and Committee on Appeals from the PTAB to coordinate substantive programming and topics, and is expected to coordinate with other committees to identify program speakers throughout the year.

Contact us: program.committee@ptabbar.org

Jeremy Monaldo	Fred Meeker	Joel Sayres	Gabrielle Higgins	Frank Bernstein
Committee Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Committee on Appeals from the PTAB

This committee relates to Federal Circuit and Supreme Court review of decisions by the PTAB, including appeals from ex parte appeals, reexaminations, IPR/CBM/PGR trials, derivations, and interferences. It collects and organizes appellate opinions and statistics for cases originating at the PTAB and proposes to the Board of Directors initiatives related to appellate review of PTAB decisions and comments on amicus briefs filed on behalf of the Association. This committee is also expected to coordinate with other committees to help with substantive communications, programs, and other needs that implicate appeals from the PTAB.

Contact us: appealsfrom.committee@ptabbar.org

Jihong Lou	Rachel Elsby	Theo Foster	Laura Vu
Committee Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Committee on Appeals to the PTAB

This committee relates to appeals to the PTAB, including ex parte appeals and reexamination appeals. It proposes to the Board of Directors responses to legislative proposals, modifications to appeal rules and procedures, and comments on amicus briefs that implicate PTAB appeals. It also collects and organizes ex parte/reexamination appeal statistics and PTAB opinions. This committee is also expected to coordinate with other committees to help with substantive communications, programs, and other needs that implicate appeals to the PTAB.

Contact us: appeals.committee@ptabbar.org

Grace Kim	Courtenay Brinckerhoff	Lora Green	Michael Shepherd
Committee Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

PTAB Trials Committee

This committee relates to IPR/CBM/PGR trials, derivations, and interferences. It proposes to the Board of Directors responses to legislative proposals, modifications to trial rules and procedures before the PTAB, and comments on amicus briefs that implicate PTAB trials. It also collects and organizes PTAB trial statistics and opinions in PTAB trials. This committee is also expected to coordinate with other committees to help with substantive communications, programs, and other needs that implicate PTAB trials.

Contact us: trials.committee@ptabbar.org

Brent Babcock	Aaron Barlow	Ben Haber	Mishima Alam	Jennifer Bush	Daniel Zeilberger	Angela Oliver
Committee Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Women’s Committee

This committee develops initiatives to encourage more women to get involved in PTAB practice and in the Association, including in leadership positions. This committee also supports the USPTO’s women’s initiatives including its Network of Executive Women. This committee is expected to coordinate with other committees, including the Membership Committee, Diversity Committee, and the Young Lawyers/Agents Committee.

Contact us: womens.committee@ptabbar.org

Lauren Robinson	Jessica Kaiser	Shannon Lentz	Alice Ho
Committee Co-Chair	Committee Co-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Young Lawyers and Agents Committee

This committee develops programming of interest to young lawyers and patent agents, including networking and mentoring programs. This committee is expected to coordinate with other committees, including the Membership Committee, Diversity Committee, and the Women’s Committee.

Contact us: young.lawyers.committee@ptabbar.org

Casey Kraning	Gracie Mills	Graham Phero	Michael Milea
Committee Co-Chair	Committee Co-Chair	Committee Co-Chair, Emeritus	Committee Vice-Chair

Amicus Committee

If you would like the PTAB Bar Association to consider filing an amicus brief, please complete the “PTAB Bar Association Request for Amicus Support” form linked here and submit the completed form by e-mail to amicus.committee@ptabbar.org. In considering whether to submit a request, please understand that the PTAB Bar Association will generally file in support of neither party and will generally take positions that balance the interests of the PTAB Bar Association’s diverse membership, which comprises and represents both petitioners and patent owners. To ensure enough time to retain counsel and draft the brief, we request that amicus requests be submitted at least six weeks (and preferably eight weeks) before the amicus filing deadline.

Contact us: amicus.committee@ptabbar.org

Jason Stach	Sara Tonnies Horton
Committee Chair	Committee Vice-Chair

Technology Committee

This committee is in charge of developing and updating the PTAB Bar Association's website and addressing all other technology requirements of the Association. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to request edits to the Association's website or have any other technology-related requests.

Contact us: technology@ptabbar.org

Kevin McNish	Josh Griswold	Rick Bisenius	Craig Deutsch
Committee Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair	Committee Vice-Chair