PIERRETTE BRETON has over 20 years of experience in the field of semiconductor technology. Before founding Global Intellectual Strategies in August 2000, she spent eight years with Northern Telecom’s Semiconductor Group in wafer fabrication and device testing, followed by ten years in integrated circuit design analysis; four years with Semiconductor Insights, and six years with Chipworks. This extensive and functional experience has laid the foundation for her work in support of Intellectual Property Management.

Since 1994, Pierrette has consulted in patent matters involving licensing strategies and claim application. She has been deposed on numerous occasions in support of Patent Litigations and has testified at trial as an Expert Witness within the semiconductor discipline.

Pierrette Breton is a registered U.S. and Canadian Patent Agent and is a named inventor in two U.S. and corresponding Canadian patent applications. She holds a diploma in Electro Mechanical Engineering from Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

DR. MARC PEPIN holds a PhD in Physics. His doctorate and post-doctorate work was related to polymer science. He conducted simulations of polymers in melts and solutions, and he studied single chain dynamics. His research was directed to a large number of applications including plastic materials (blends), micelles, thin films, polymer brushes, bio-materials, DNA sequencing, and lab-on-a-chip devices, for example.

Marc has over six years of work experience in IP (Intellectual Property), which includes drafting and prosecuting patent applications for inventions in the Hi-tech sector. His drafting experience has provided him with extensive exposure to the telecommunications sector. As an Intellectual Property Analyst for the GIS team, Marc has been involved in a number of IP related activities including Patent Portfolio analyses, Patent Licensing, Prior Art searches, and in Infringement and Validity analyses.

ALFIO FERRARA started his career as a hardware designer. He spent nine years at Harris Farinon where he led a H/W design team. Alfio joined Alcatel (formerly Newbridge) in 1997 where he continued his career managing hardware and ASIC design groups.

Prior to joining GIS, Alfio was Director of Engineering at GenieView, Inc. where he led a small team of R&D engineers in new product development.

Alfio holds a B. Eng. (Communications).

Dr. Roger Gallant is an Intellectual Property Analyst with over 5 years experience in various aspects of IP including drafting and prosecuting patent applications, infringement opinions, and due diligence analyses for venture capital. Prior to joining GIS, Dr. Gallant worked at a leading Canadian IP law firm.

Dr. Gallant received a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Prince Edward Island, a M.Sc. in Theoretical Chemistry from the University of Ottawa for his thesis entitled Implementation of parallel and divide-and-conquer algorithms in DeFT (LCGTO-DF), an M.B.A. from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Western Ontario for his thesis entitled Thermodynamics of Tetrahedral Intermediates in Amide Reactions.

Dr. Gallant is an affiliate of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) and a member of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC).

Stephen Powell joined Global Intellectual Strategies as an IC design analyst. He comes to us with over seven years of experience across several fields, including RF design, DSP and Software, and has been involved in the top-to-bottom design of several communication/GPS products at different companies.

Stephen holds a B.Eng, M.A.Sc in Electrical Engineering, and a B.Sc in Physics/Math.

ELLEN BRAYTON brings a broad range of knowledge and experience in her role as Operations Manager with more than 20 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. Before joining GIS in May 2004, she spent five years with SiberCore Technologies in a Marketing Communications role. Prior to this, Ellen spent 18 years with Zarlink (formerly Mitel Semiconductor) where she held various positions from a technical documentation specialist to a managerial role in marketing communications.

Ellen is responsible for overall management of the day-to-day operations for the Company including the following functions: human resources, documentation, research, marketing, purchasing, facilities management, and IT.

ASSOCIATE GIS PERSONNEL

M. LAMINE SYLLA is a Patent Analyst with more than 8 years of experience in various aspects of Intellectual Property including portfolio mining, patent search and preparation and comparative analysis of claims against products and standards. Lamine has been with GIS since November 2004 and has previously worked for BTG International and TPL (Technology Patent and Licensing) in the USA.

Lamine has B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in EE from Laval University with a solid background in communication-related technologies (Digital Communication, telecom, networking, broadband access systems). Lamine has published various papers in IEEE and CCECE and is co-inventor of more than 10 issued and pending patent applications in areas spanning from Location-Based Services, Targeted Marketing to IP Telephony over the HFC Network.

DAVID FRANK has 28 years of engineering experience in semiconductor design, analysis, measurement, debug and failure analysis. An Ottawa consultant since 1994, his clients have included Nortel/ST Microelectronics, Chipworks, Taeus, Mosaid, Atmos, SiGe, and MuAnalysis. Prior to freelancing, he was an engineering manager at Mosaid for the semiconductor division, having participated in DRAM evolution from 64K to 16M.

David’s most recent paper describes joint work with the NRC on sub-pS time-resolved light emission from semiconductors, and was presented at ISTFA 2004.

WALTER KUZMENKO specializes in analog electronics. Prior to joining Global Intellectual Strategies as a consultant in 2004, he spent seven years as a Senior Design Analysis Engineer at Chipworks where he was involved in reverse engineering and patent analysis.

Walter holds an Electronics Engineer Degree from Kharkiv Institute of Radio-Electronics and a Master Degree in Microelectronics from Kiev Polytechnical Institute in Ukraine. He also holds nine invention certificates in Analog IC Design.

DR. YONGHUA LIU is a technical expert consultant specializing in reverse engineering and patent analysis. He began his career in Mosaid Technologies and his experience over the last 9 years as a Senior Design Analysis Engineer with Semiconductor Insights included RF/Microwave circuit analysis, mixed signal and analog IC and system design analysis as well as RF Antenna and telecommunication patent evaluation.

Dr. Liu has published a number of articles and papers and holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from Beijing University of Aeronautics and astronautics as well as a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba.

ALEXEI IOUDOVSKI has 24 years of experience in Electro-Optics, Imaging and Video Systems and Software development. Prior to establishing Vega Imaging Technologies in 2003 as a technology consultancy company he worked as a VP, Product Development with Noble Vision Robotics Corporation. Alexei spent 7 years with Semiconductor Insights and Symagery Microsystems as a Manager, Software Development and Optical Engineering, and as a Project Leader, Optical Quality Inspection Systems with PressTech Controls Ltd. Prior to his industrial experience Alexei was involved in scientific research and published 11 papers on computer simulation of video and imaging systems.

Since 2004 Alexei has consulted in the Intellectual Property field, providing technical support for licensing, technology and patent evaluation, and reverse engineering working under contract with Global Intellectual Strategies.

DAVID YORK is a consultant with over 27 years of knowledge and experience in semiconductor process analysis and intellectual property support. His diverse experience includes 21 years with ICE Corporation, an independent consulting and technical analysis firm, where he held such positions as VP of Intellectual Property Analysis Services and VP Laboratory Analysis Services. David has testified as a technical expert as well as authoring and contributed to thousands of semiconductor-related technical reports and intellectual property support documents. He has extensive experience with a variety of semiconductor products and fabrication processes from multiple manufacturers dating back to 1979.

ASHOK SOMESHWAR, an independent consultant, brings with him over 31 years of experience in the semiconductor industry working with microprocessor architecture, circuits, systems and applications. Before becoming a consultant, Ashok began his career with Texas Instruments, followed by 19 years with Motorola and three years with Intel. He was involved in the design of products based on Intel's XScale micro-architecture, Strong-ARM core, and Motorola's ColdFire. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of India as well as a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas. In addition, Ashok holds 14 patents and has two defensive publications.