Jon Soderstrom

Jon Soderstrom is currently the Managing Director of the Office of Cooperative Research at Yale University. The Office manages the intellectual assets created at Yale to achieve the maximum benefit for the public and provide a financial return to support the University’s research efforts. He is responsible for managing the intellectual property portfolio of Yale faculty members, including (1) defining and executing commercialization strategies including negotiation of licenses and corporate-sponsored research agreements, (2) initiating strategic corporate partnerships, and (3) development and marketing of business concepts for new spin-off companies to the venture investment community.

Since joining the Office in 1996, he has helped form more than 25 new ventures including Molecular Staging (acquired by Qiagen), Agilix, Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASQ: ACHN), PhytoCeutica (acquired by Kadmon), Protometrix (acquired by Invitrogen), Iconic Therapeutics, Applied Spine Technologies, HistoRx (acquired by Genoptix), VaxInnate, Affomix, Kolltan Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Celldex), Arvinas and Artisan Bioscience. Collectively, these companies have raised over $500 million in professional venture capital.

In 2007, the Office created the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute to help undergraduate, graduate and professional school students at Yale to start scalable new ventures. Over 100 new ventures have been formed that have raised over $135 million in investment capital.

Prior to this position, Dr. Soderstrom was the Director of Program Development for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) after serving for ten years as Director of Technology Licensing for Martin Marietta Energy Systems. In the Office of Technology Transfer, he directed a group of ten professionals responsible for negotiating licenses and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs).

Dr. Soderstrom was a founding board member and past president of the Association of Federal Technology Transfer Executives as well as a member of the Licensing Executive Society and Association of University Technology Managers where he was, in 2008, President and, from 2003 – 2005, Vice President for Public Policy as well as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. He is frequently asked to lecture and teach seminars on various aspects of the technology commercialization process and economic development both within the United States and abroad. He has testified before Congress on technology transfer issues and served as an expert witness in patent infringement litigations.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Dr. Soderstrom was honored as the 87th “Point of Light” by President George H. W. Bush in March, 1990 for volunteer work with low-income families in East Tennessee to build and rehabilitate housing and provide other essential services.

Dr. Soderstrom received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1980 and his B.A. from Hope College in 1976.