James Gerard Conley, an inventor and award-winning business and IP educator, has been named to the board of directors of the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding.
Dr. Conley is Clinical Professor of Operations at the Kellogg School of Management. He is on the faculties Kellogg School of Management, McCormick School of Engineering and the Kellogg Center for Research in Technology & Innovation, and serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Northwestern University Segal Design Institute. He is also a Charter Member of the National Academy of Inventors.
“I am delighted to serve the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding and work with thought leaders like fellow board colleagues who have a record of engagement across a range of IP audiences,” said Dr. Conley. “CIPU activities, including the annual Awareness Summit, draw challenges and opportunities to the surface,and raise the efficacy of IP as a tool of market competition.”
He received the Professor of the Year award from the Master of Product Development program at Northwestern University in 2004, 2007, 2014, 2015 and 2016. In 2011 and 2013 he received the Professor of the Year award from the Master of Science program at the WHU in Germany where is a guest professor.
Global Activity
Dr. Conley’s academic research investigates the strategic use of intangible assets and intellectual properties to build and sustain competitive advantage. Research sponsors have included the World Intellectual 
Property Organization (WIPO), U.S. Department of the Treasury, the IRS, The Chicago Biomedical Consortium, Microsoft, National Science Foundation, NASA, FAA, NIST, the Department of Defense, among others.
His publications have been recognized with “Best Paper” commendations from the Society of Automotive Engineers, and others. Mainstream outlets for his scholarship include the Wall Street Journal, the Sloan Management Review and the California Management Review.
Beyond Northwestern, Dr. Conley serves as an expert and author for the UN based World Intellectual Property Organization and has served as an appointed member on the United States Department of Commerce Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC) to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He also serves on the board of several companies and the U.S. Intellectual Property Alliance and the Illinois Intellectual Property Alliance. He is a Principal at the Global Economics Group.
“CIPU activities, including the annual Awareness Summit, draw challenges and opportunities to the surface,and raise the efficacy of IP as a tool of market competition.”
Dr. Conley has been called to provide testimony on intellectual property related matters in legal and policy forums including the International Trade Commission, U.S. Federal District Court, U.S. Federal Tax Court and at International Tribunals in Asia.
“An inventor, entrepreneur and scholar, Dr. Conley brings a innovative approach to business and IP education,” said Bruce Berman, Chairman and Co-Founder of CIPU. “His ideas about communicating IP skills and identifying assets are game-changing. It’s impossible to ignore his contribution.”
The Center for Intellectual Property Awareness (CIPU) is a non-profit celebrating its 10th anniversary. It produces the annual, multi-disciplinary IP Awareness Summit® and the acclaimed video and audio series, Understanding IP Matters.
Pictured above: Wayne Stacy, Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (BCLT) and former Director of the USPTO’s Silicon Valley Office and James G. Conley at IPAS 2026.
Image source: Anna Ortiz-Katrinka for COSI
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