Wayne Sobon
Wayne Sobon leverages a wide-ranging legal and business background and skill set to deliver results-oriented solutions to clients. With over 30 years of technology, business, and legal experience across a range of corporate and client settings, from start-up to Fortune 500 global companies, Wayne connects the key drivers of organizational success in a global virtual and digital marketplace. Wayne combines a
particular focus on intellectual property, corporate process, and finance, with demonstrated leadership skills, entrepreneurial mindset, and deep corporate and not-for-profit board experiences. Named one of the top 300 Intellectual Property Strategists in the world for the 3rd year in a row by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM).
Wayne graduated from Stanford University with bachelor degrees in Physics and German Studies, with honors and distinction. After working as an optical engineer in Southern California at Hughes Aircraft, Wayne returned to the Bay Area to complete his joint JD law and MBA business degrees at University of California, Berkeley (Boalt School of Law and Haas School of Business) in 1992, graduating in the top of his graduating JD and MBA classes. Working first as a technology attorney at several Silicon Valley law firms, where he practiced an interdisciplinary mix of patent development, litigation, and corporate law, Wayne was recruited to found Accenture's global intellectual property department, helping then-Anderson Consulting transform itself from private partnership to global public corporation, and structure and manage Accenture's global team of intellectual property legal and business professionals.
After leading Accenture's IP team for over 10 years, Wayne was brought to Rambus as its Vice President, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel to manage Rambus' considerable patent and intellectual property portfolio, a core set of assets driving over $200
million in licensing revenue annually. And most recently, Wayne was one of three founders of Inventergy Global, Inc., a Silicon Valley intellectual property licensing start-up company, focused on bringing better, corporate-style licensing to the global intellectual property marketplace. Wayne served as Senior Vice President and General
Counsel, advising Inventergy's CEO, senior leadership team, and board of directors, and helped take Inventergy public in 2014.
In addition to reporting to and directly advising the boards of Accenture, Rambus and Inventergy on the intersection between intellectual property and business strategy objectives, Wayne has had crucial board experience and leadership in the not-for- profit realm as well. Wayne served on the board of directors, the executive committee, and was elected President of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), a global IP legal association of nearly 14,000 law, business and technology members. As AIPLA's President, Wayne traveled around the world, leading delegations, summits and collaborations with key business and IP government and NGO policy makers across Europe, Asia, and North & South America, building lasting business and personal relationships. Wayne also served as a board member for the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), the foremost non-profit organization devoted to corporate developers and owners of IP. Wayne also served on the executive committee of the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel (ACPC). Nominated by the Secretary of Commerce, Wayne has served two consecutive terms on the United States Patent & Trademark Office, Patent Public Advisory Committee (USPTO PPAC), and proudly earned a Commerce Department Gold Medal as part of a small interdisciplinary team of government and private advisors to the USPTO. And Wayne continues to serve as board member for the National Inventors Hall of Fame (Invent Now). All of these board positions and advisory roles have sharpened Wayne's business and legal acumen, knowledge of board structures and processes, and honed his emotional intelligence and institutional skill set.
Wayne lived in Berlin Germany during college, and combining that experience with his many years managing global professional teams, his extensive business and personal travels, and his broad set of international personal and professional relationships, Wayne brings a unique perspective and mindset to the challenges and opportunities of
modern global organizations.
Wayne lives in San Francisco, and is a frequent and sought-after lecturer on intellectual property and business issues. Outside of his professional life, Wayne is an avid traveler, skier, and singer-songwriter, and has produced a collection of his original songs.
Wayne P. Sobon
1-415-425-9055