Lori Pressman
Lori is an engineer, inventor, license negotiator, business value proposition identifier and quantifier, and intellectual property strategist. She uses all of the above on behalf of her clients and the Deshpande Center.
Early in her career, Lori designed and built semiconductor lasers and detectors for AT&T Bell Labs and Lasertron, an MIT startup. She was assistant director at the MIT Technology Licensing Office negotiating a wide range of deals to startups, small companies, and large companies, from medical devices to semiconductor devices, and from optical components and measurement systems to drug delivery. She was a director of a publicly traded investment company, Harris & Harris, as well as an advisor to Axsun technologies, prior to its acquisition by Volcano.
Recently, she has been working with local nonprofits, including Harvard teaching hospitals, on out licensing and business development for biotech assets. Lately, she has taken on AI/ML business development assignments.
Lori received the AUTM Bayh-Dole award in 2017, and has spoken before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on patent policy and subject matter eligibility. As a member of the AUTM legal task force, she has co-written AUTM responses to tech transfer and IP requests for information from National Institute of Standards and Technology and the USPTO. She has published empirical studies on the outcomes, including jobs and contributions to gross domestic product, of nonprofit technology transfer and intellectual property licensing.
Lori has an SB in physics from MIT, and an MSEE from the Columbia School of Engineering.
Catalyst Spotlight on Lori
“You don’t have to be right the first time, you just have to keep at it.”
Read our interview