Jim Severson
James A. Severson is the owner and Principal of Pinnacle Reach. A consulting company that specializes in assisting organizations in the commercialization of early-stage technologies.
Prior to forming Pinnacle Reach, Jim was the Vice President Global Networks of Veratect Corporation where he was responsible for the development of collaborative relationships with NGOs, corporations, and academic networks to assist in the verification and assessment of events detected by Veratect analysts.
Jim was the Vice Provost for Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer at the University of Washington where he was responsibility for UW TechTransfer, the unit of the University that sought to commercialize discoveries made at the UW. Units reporting to Jim included Invention Licensing which licensed inventions and patents, and Digital Ventures which licensed software, related inventions, databases, and information products and projects, including associated copyrights, trademarks, and patent rights. Jim also was the President of the Cornell Research Foundation where he was responsible for technology transfer from Cornell’s Ithaca campus and the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. Jim also held technology transfer positions at the University of Minnesota, and held positions in new technology assessment and market development at Amersham Corporation.
Jim received a B.S. in zoology and a Ph.D. in physiology from Iowa State University, and did postdoctoral research at the University of Southern California. He also held a faculty appointment in the University of Southern California School of Medicine.
Jim is a Past President of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), a national organization of university technology transfer professionals. In 2005, AUTM awarded Jim its highest honor, the Bayh-Dole award, “in recognition of untiring efforts to foster and promote intellectual property activities on behalf of the university and nonprofit community”. Jim has served as member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR), a Washington-based association of over 170 research universities and research institutes that focuses on the policies and issues of federally sponsored research programs at universities, and he chaired its Contracts and Intellectual Property Committee from 2005 to 2008.
