2023 Black Innovation and Entrepreneurship program, part one: Protecting your IP

Ivie Baker is an entrepreneur and intellectual property advocate. He brings a wealth of entrepreneurial experience to his current position, having established a food startup while pursuing his Juris Doctorate/Master of Business Administration at Howard University. He is also a former trademark examiner. Having worn multiple hats in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, Ivie offers innovative insight and creative problem-solving skills to entrepreneurs. He also helps small enterprises focus on building sustainable business models developed through an experiential learning approach. He is passionate about seeing pivotal growth opportunities by utilizing technology and intellectual property to push beyond limitations.

Gwendolyn Blackwell is a Supervisory Patent Examiner in the Chemical and Material Engineering Technology Center 1700 at the USPTO, also currently on detail as a Senior Advisor to the Deputy Commissioner for Patents. Blackwell began her career examining applications in areas such as semiconductors, nonstructural laminates, and artificial flora and fauna. She has worked in various parts of the USPTO, on temporary assignment, including periods at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, in the office of Patent Cooperation Treaty, as well as completing a detail in the Office of Enrollment and Discipline with the Patent Pro Bono Program. While on temporary duty assignment at the Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Office in Detroit, Michigan, Blackwell created and organized intellectual property educational outreach culminating in the All About STEM!! program.

Blackwell received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

Hellen Bryan-Johnson serves as the Senior Trademark Policy Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property (IP) and Director of the USPTO, where she advises and confers with senior leaders on a variety of topics concerning trademark operations and policy. In addition, she provides strategic leadership on several initiatives that advance the Administration’s priorities, including providing greater economic assistance to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring that entrepreneurs and innovators from traditionally underrepresented groups have equitable access to the USPTO's resources and services.

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Cornell “Chico” Conaway is the CEO and founder of Gainz Sportsgear, a fitness athleisure brand. Dissatisfied with the workout grip devices available on the market, Conaway started Gainz in 2017 to create something better, designing and patenting Load N Lock Grips to be longer and thicker than traditional grips. The brand has expanded its product line to include a wider range of workout training and lifting equipment, including knee sleeves and wrist wraps approved by the United States Power Lifting Association.  

As a proud graduate of historically black college and university (HBCU) Bowie State University, Conaway and Gainz Sportsgear have begun acquiring HBCU licensing agreements to create eye-catching HBCU athleisure apparel.

Grant Corboy joined the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) as a Patent Attorney in 2016. As a member of the Patent Pro Bono Team, he is dedicated to making sure that all inventors have access to the patent system, including those who are financially under-resourced. In addition to his Patent Pro Bono responsibilities, Corboy also serves as a Staff Attorney investigating discipline and enrollment matters. Corboy was a Primary Patent Examiner for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and, prior to joining the USPTO in 2010, he worked for 15 years in industry as a design engineer, project manager, and government contracts manager with DuPont and Lockheed Martin.

Corboy is a member of the Maryland bar, and he is registered to practice before the USPTO. He graduated cum laude from The University of Baltimore School of Law and received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and his Master of Science in Structural Engineering from the University of Delaware.

Shymaine Davis serves as the Director of Entrepreneurship with the Greater Washington Urban League, an organization that provides education and training to entrepreneurs and small business owners.

She previously worked in financial management for over 20 years, specializing in the government and nonprofit sectors. Her experience includes tax planning, accounting practices, budgeting, financial planning, interfacing with the financial community, financial analysis, acquisitions, and monitoring of financial performance.

Some of Davis's career highlights include: the $1 purchase of a 43,000-square foot building from the City of Baltimore; securing a $3.3 million five-year federal grant; testifying before the Judiciary Committee and Budget and Tax Committee in support of Maryland State Senate Bill 304 (Taxpayer Protection Act); and serving as the Campaign Treasurer for Senator Jill Carter during the 2018 election. Davis earned her Master of Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in Management Information Systems and a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting.

Portia L. Deans has been employed at the USPTO since January 2017. She currently serves as an Innovation Outreach Program Specialist in the Office of Innovation Outreach. Prior to joining the USPTO, she supported multiple federal agencies, including the Defense Threat Reduction Agency; Headquarters, Department of the Army; the Office of Small Business Programs - Pentagon, and the National Guard Bureau.

Deans has over 20 years of acquisition and program management experience within the Department of Defense and civilian agencies. Her acquired knowledge, skills, and abilities include the career fields of contracting, program management, contracting officer’s representative, small business specialist, and industry liaison.

Ray Dizon currently serves as the Associate Director for Morgan State University’s Office of Technology Transfer. In his role, he guides faculty, staff, and students through the intellectual property process, from filing initial disclosures to issuance of a patent. He is also responsible for licensing technologies created at Morgan State, focusing on startups interested in locating their businesses in Baltimore City, and helping to incubate them towards successful outcomes.

Prior to his current role, he served as a Maryland Innovation Initiative Site Miner for Morgan and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He was previously a Director of Technology Transfer at MITRE Corporation and was a Managing Director and Principal at the Maryland Venture Fund, which was a part of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development at the time. He recently worked with the Maryland Momentum Fund doing due diligence on prospective investments and interacting with existing portfolio companies.

Ray also has experience in the defense sector as an engineer and in finance-related positions in the credit card and telecommunications industries. He also operated a fantasy sports service before the emergence of the internet. Ray earned his Master of Business Administration from Loyola University and his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University.

NaThanya Ferguson serves as the manager of the USPTO’s Office of Innovation Outreach, which focuses on outreach to independent inventors, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and underrepresented communities of innovators across America.

Ferguson joined the USPTO in 1989. During her 33-year tenure at the agency, she has worked as a contracting officer representative, lead patent analyst for the Patent Process Reengineering initiative, strategic planning project manager for the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, and project manager for the National Council for Expanding American Innovation.

Ferguson has received numerous awards, including a Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 2015 for her contribution to the innovative and collaborative implementation of the First Inventor to File statutory provisions of the America Invents Act, a Department of Commerce Distinguished Career Award in 2011 for continued outstanding service, and a Silver Medal Award in 1999 for her contribution to the development and implementation of the Patent Process Reengineering initiative.

Ferguson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business and management from Johns Hopkins University and a Master’s Certificate in project management from Management Concepts and Regis University.

Spruce Fraser joined the USPTO’s Patent and Trademark Resource Center Program as a Librarian in 2017. Previously, she worked as a Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) Representative with the Saint Louis Public Library for 15 years. Besides conducting free workshops, she did PTRC outreach to schools, business groups, entrepreneurs, and inventor organizations.

She is a past-President of the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Association, where she also held several Executive Board positions. She holds university degrees in Geography, Environmental Studies, and Library Science.

As Deputy Commissioner for Patents, Ms. Martin Wallace manages and leads the Patents organization’s efforts related to international intellectual property (IP) harmonization and provides executive oversight over patent-examining functions in technology centers that examine in the technologies of communication, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and medical devices and processes. Regarding international IP harmonization, she specifically provides executive leadership on international patent legal issues and various worksharing efforts with international partners. 

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Dr. Willie E. May currently serves as Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Morgan State University, where he works to increase the quality and quantity of research outputs, facilitate increased tech transfer, and better connect research to community needs.

Prior to his current position, Dr. May served as Director of Major Research and Training Initiatives for the College of Computer, Mathematical and the Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Dr. May previously served as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NITST) and Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology. Dr. May began as a bench Chemist at NIST and went on to work at every management level within the organization. He conducted research in the areas of trace organic analytical chemistry and physico-chemical properties of organic compounds, where his work is described in more than 90 peer-reviewed technical publications.

Dr. May currently serves on the Board of Directors for Consumer Reports and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation’s Innovation Initiative. He also serves on the NASA Advisory Council’s Science Committee.

Dr. May earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Knoxville College and his doctorate in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park. 

Tomeka Oubichon is the Eastern Regional Outreach Officer for the USPTO, a role in which she supports the strategic plans and goals of the agency with a focus on outreach and stakeholder engagement. She previously served in several roles at the agency, including Patent Searcher in the areas of Biotechnology and Computer Architecture and Software, and Training Specialist.

Oubichon has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Xavier University and a master's degree in Library and Information Science from Louisiana State University. In addition, Oubichon is an Alumni Associate of the post-graduate Associate Fellowship Program at the National Library of Medicine.

Zandra Smith started at the USPTO in June 1996 as Patent Examiner in Optical Measuring and Testing in Technology Center 2800, Semiconductors/Memory, Circuits/Measuring and Testing, Optics/Photocopying, Printing/Measuring and Testing. Prior to coming to the USPTO, Smith obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Virginia Tech.

In 2005, Smith became a trainer in the Patent Training Academy and trained new Patent Examiners as they were hired. Later that same year, she became a Supervisory Patent Examiner in the semiconductor art area, where she supervised more than 20 Patent Examiners who worked on a variety of patent applications related to semiconductors and the method of making semiconductors. Smith has also worked on creating career development opportunities for the Patents Technical Support Staff and currently serves as the Pro Se Assistance Center Coordinator assisting in the development of programs designed to help pro se applicants through the patent application process.

Smith is currently a Patent Training Advisor in the Office of Patents Stakeholder Experience.

Mariessa Terrell began her trademark law career as a trademark examining attorney at the USPTO in 2000. She went on to work as a solo trademark practitioner; in-house trademark attorney consultant for Lockheed Martin and Leidos Corporations; and trademark and fashion law professor at her alma mater, Howard University School of Law (HUSL). In 2015, Mariessa was recruited to manage the USPTO Trademark Law Clinic at HUSL and was instrumental in helping to develop a Patent Clinic at HUSL in 2019. Mariessa returned to the USPTO in 2020 and currently works as a trademark attorney in the office of Trademarks Customer Outreach, where she delivers educational content on advanced trademark topics to experienced practitioners. She earned her Juris Doctor from Howard University School of Law; her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Pace University in New York City; and is admitted to the Maryland and District of Columbia bar associations. In her free time, Mariessa volunteers with the High Tea Society, a life skills program for DC girls.

David Wilson, Ed.D., the 10th president of Morgan State University, has a long record of accomplishments and more than 30 years of experience in higher education administration. Dr. Wilson holds four academic degrees: a Bachelor of Science in political science and a Master of Science in education from Tuskegee University; a Master of Education in educational planning and administration from Harvard University; and an Ed.D. in administration, planning and social policy, also from Harvard. He came to Morgan from the University of Wisconsin, where he was chancellor of both the University of Wisconsin Colleges and the University of Wisconsin–Extension.

Dr. Wilson has authored two books and more than 20 articles in scholarly journals and other publications. Dr. Wilson’s achievements as leader of Maryland’s preeminent public urban research university have clearly been strong, but it is the character he brings to the presidency, a character shaped by the intangibles of his background, that is perhaps most impressive of all. Dr. Wilson grew up with 10 siblings on a sharecropper farm outside the small town of McKinley, Alabama. Through hard work, tenacity, and the encouragement of his father and his teachers, he became the first person in his family to attend college. Dr. Wilson’s educational philosophy is to put the students’ experience first. As a leader, he is a consensus builder and a strong believer in transparency of process.