Ralph H. Baer is a German-born American video game pioneer, inventor, engineer, known as “The Father of Video Games”, who is noted for his many contributions to games and the video game industry. In 2006, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology for inventing the home console for video games and spawning the video game industry. Baer started development of the “Brown Box” console video game system and several other prototypes in 1966 for the defense-electronics company Sanders Associates in Nashua, New Hampshire (now part of BAE Systems). In 1971, it was licensed to Magnavox, and after being renamed Magnavox Odyssey, the console was released to the public in 1972. For a time it was Sanders’ most profitable line, though many in the company looked down on game development. Baer created the first light gun and game for home television use, sold grouped with a game expansion pack for the Odyssey, and collectively known as the Shooting Gallery. The light gun itself was the first peripheral for a video game console. Another invention is Simon, an electronic pattern-matching game that was immensely popular in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Jason Chipman is one of the speakers this year at Utah Cyberlaw.
Mark Bonham is a partner at SageCreek. He has 20 years of experience working as a trusted advisor to high-tech/high-growth companies and the venture investors that support them. Most of his work was in California’s Silicon Valley, but he has also advised successful companies in his current home state of Utah (WordPerfect, LANDesk, Novell, Ancestry.com, Sonic Innovations), as well as growth companies in New England, Washington, New Mexico and Texas. Currently, he not only advises management teams, directors and investors, but also plays an active role as a director and committee chair of software company SolarWinds, Inc. (NYSE: SWI) based in Austin, Texas.
an Newman is a software entrepreneur with over 20 years of executive experience in the industry. He has a keen eye for technologies and teams that have the potential for greatness. His passion is working with small startup companies helping them focus on business strategies that will help them capture market share and grow their business. Jan has held executive level positions with multi-billion dollar companies as well as small start up ventures. He started his career as a software engineer with Novell, Inc. in 1986 and was instrumental in building the software testing methodology for the company. He went on to develop an industry leading technical support organization and eventually was promoted to Executive Vice President of the NetWare Systems group responsible for product development and marketing of the $1 billion business unit. n 1996 Jan left Novell and founded KeyLabs, Inc. an independent software testing and verification company. He sold the company to Exodus Communications for $42 million in 1999.
Rennie Muzii is presently the Managing Director of Marsh USA. Before accepting that position, he was with Chartis for over nine years acting as their Divisional Vice President. He graduated from Pace University in Finance in 1992.
Jon Christiansen is a founder of the new Technology Law Center in Utah and is the attorney/CEO of TechLaw Ventures, a venture and technology law firm. As a technology attorney, Jon has represented many of the best known companies and organizations in Utah in many “multi-million dollar” and “mission critical” technology deals, including software development and licensing, IT and data center outsourcing, strategic alliances, and cloud computing matters. Jon is also the founder of EscrowTech, a software, SaaS and technology protection company with offices in Utah, India and Singapore.
John Richards is an active angel investor, focusing primarily on Internet and software companies headquartered in the Wasatch Front area of Utah. He often mentors entrepreneurs on a regular basis, employing the combination of his experience and teaching skills to help new ventures achieve their goals. John was president of a publishing company in Seattle, Washington for several years and later had the experience of being part of a company that went from nothing to an initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock market. John is an associate professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in entrepreneurship and venture finance in the Marriott School of Management and the School of Technology. At BYU he also serves as Associate Director over Technology Entrepreneurship of the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology.
W. Scott Blackmer is one of the Founding Partners of InfoLawGroup LLP. He has practiced information technology law since 1982. Scott has been listed in several peer-reviewed directories of prominent IT lawyers, including the Legal Media Group’s Guide to the World’s Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers.
Formerly a partner in the Washington, DC and Brussels offices of the firm now known as WilmerHale, Scott is a founding partner of InformationLawGroup and serves on the executive management team of the First Law International legal network (Brussels). He also consults on privacy, data protection, and security issues in association with HR Privacy Solutions (New York) and Jeitosa Group International (San Francisco). Scott now works from a mountaintop home overlooking Salt Lake City (or from a laptop just about anywhere).
Benjamin T. Wilson began working with computers as an undergraduate at the University of Utah. He continued his interest in computers throughout law school and into public and private law practice. Having worked as a litigator and a transaction attorney, he has the broad-based legal experience necessary to give clients useful advice when it comes to computer issues that involve the law. Mr. Wilson has worked as in-house counsel at a Certification Authority where he has consulted on e-commerce matters involving Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and implementations of digital certificate technology. Mr. Wilson’s clients have also included numerous other groups who are interested in making e-business work, like healthcare organizations, application service providers (ASPs), and of course, businesses engaged in e-commerce. Mr. Wilson is past Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Information Security Committee and has been editor of several ABA publications. He is also Chair of the Utah State Bar Cyberlaw Committee and a Section Councilmember of the ABA Section of Science & Technology Law.
John R. is one of the speakers this year at Utah Cyberlaw.
Charles Mudd is the principal attorney at Mudd Law Offices which he founded in 2001. A core component of his practice focuses on both litigation and transactional issues arising from cyberspace, the Internet, and other emerging technologies. Since the late 1990s, Charles has held leadership positions in Internet and technology related sections of regional, state and national bar associations. He has taught Internet and privacy related courses at the University of Connecticut School of Law and Charles is presently an adjunct professor of law at the John Marshall Law School. He regularly guest lectures at DePaul University College of Law and speaks extensively on cyberspace related matters. Charles is a member of the Illinois, Indiana, Connecticut, and Utah state bars and maintains offices in Chicago and Park City, Utah. Beginning this Fall, he will serve as Secretary for the Illinois State Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section Council.
Ben understands undertaking a business, as the founder of Ben Holt Consulting, a co-founder of Akadi Technologies, a Lassonde Center Associate and an MBA. Ben was tapped by the Lassonde Center at the University of Utah as an associate to assist with the launch of the University’s inventions into the marketplace. This prestigious and competitive selection allowed Ben to interface with local inventors, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Ben’s experience includes leading a student group that evaluated business strategy for small companies and gave recommendations to lock in a competitive advantage.
Thomas R. Lee was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court by Governor Gary Herbert in July 2010. Before joining the Court, Justice Lee was the Rex & Maureen Rawlinson Professor of Law at the Brigham Young University law school, where he continues to serve on a part-time basis as Distinguished Lecturer in Law. Justice Lee graduated with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School in 1991. After law school, he served as a law clerk for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, III, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and then for Justice Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme Court. Justice Lee then joined the law firm now known as Parr, Brown, Gee & Loveless, where he became a shareholder before joining the law faculty at BYU. During his years as a full-time law professor, Justice Lee maintained a part-time intellectual property litigation practice with Howard, Phillips, & Andersen. He also developed a part-time appellate practice, arguing numerous cases in federal courts throughout the country and in the United States Supreme Court. In 2004 – 05, Justice Lee served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.