north america western asia holdings , ( nawah ) is an investment firm founded in 2011 .

it was established by hyatt hotels executive chairman thomas pritzker and former pentagon official paul brinkley to build businesses in the middle east , central asia and north africa .

nawah currently has two primary business units based in iraq .

nawah port management and nawah supply & distribution , both are designed to help service the growing supply chain needs of a country with a rising demand for improved logistics .

north america western asia holdings

north america western asia holdings invests capital and links major private american corporations with partners throughout iraq and western asia to create enduring businesses and prosperous communities .
media : north america western asia holdings eric clark , + 1 . 571 . 419 . 4219 eric . clark @ urltoken
north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) has won a contract to modernize and then run a port in south iraq .
nawah port management ( npm ) , a business unit of north america western asia holdings , has entered into a formal . . .
tags : mrc global , north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) , paul brinkley , pipelines , steel , u . s . steel tubular products , united states steel corporation
july 17 - shanghai headquartered worldwide logistics group has forged an alliance with dubai based nawah ( north america western asia holdings ) to expand both companies ' capabilities in southern iraq .
north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) will modernize basra , iraq ' s maqal port . american company will invest more than $ 14 million to bring heavy - lift crane and container handling capabilities .
latin america includes all of our beverage , food and snack businesses in latin america .
iraq’s ministry of transportation and the general company for the ports of iraq have agreed a multi - million dollar deal with a consortium led by north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) to modernize basra’s maqal port .
offering solutions in water , wastewater and resource recovery across north america . learn more .
) - - pipeline engineering and construction leader china petroleum pipeline , along with distributor and logistics service provider north america western asia holdings , today announced that the two companies have entered into an agreement to jointly pursue potential energy sector development projects in iraq .
north america western asia holdings is dedicated to the communities it invests in through its strategic , long - term local partnerships , while maintaining rigorous international standards of transparency and accountability . more information about nawah and its lines of business can be found at urltoken , urltoken and urltoken .
north america western asia holdings eric e . clark senior vice president + 1 . 571 . 419 . 4219 ( u . s . ) + 971 . 52 . 645 . 4902 ( uae ) + 964 . 781 . 333 . 4474 ( iraq ) eric . clark @ urltoken
) - - north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) announced today that it has entered a formal agreement with iraq’s ministry of transportation and the general company for the ports of iraq to modernize maqal port , a historic port located in basra’s urban center on the shatt al arab waterway .
nawah port management ( npm ) , a business unit of north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) , in partnership with the general company for ports of iraq , launched a state - of - the - art containerized terminal at al maqal port , also known as the port of basra .
the electrolux group is organized into six business areas . there are four major appliances sectors covering north america , latin america , europe / middle east / africa and asia pacific and two global business areas , home care & sda . . .
with a 16 - year tenure at western union , almeida most recently ( 2016 ) was the president of the americas and european union , leading 98 countries and territories across north america , latin america , the caribbean and european union .
worldwide logistics ( wwl ) , headquartered in shanghai , is a leading logistics player in the chinese market with 30 branch and representative offices throughout china and the greater far east . nawah , also known as north america western asia holdings , is a leading distribution and logistics service provider with headquarters in dubai .
dubai , united arab emirates , march 24 , 2015 - - ( business wire / me newswire ) - - marking yet another milestone for a growing distribution and logistics service provider , north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) announced that the company has achieved iso 9001 : 2008 quality management standard certification .
about nawah north america western asia holdings is dedicated to the communities it invests in through its strategic , long - term local partnerships , while maintaining rigorous international standards of transparency and accountability . more information about nawah and its lines of business can be found at urltoken , urltoken andwww . nawahportmanagement . com .
) - - nawah port management ( npm ) , a business unit of north america western asia holdings , announced today that it has been granted official approval by the iraq government to discharge and move a full spectrum of food cargo at its terminal at the port of basra ( also known as al maqal port ) .
north america western asia holdings is dedicated to the communities it invests in through its strategic , long - term local partnerships , while maintaining rigorous international standards of transparency and accountability . more information about nawah and its lines of business can be found at www . nawah . com , urltoken and www . nawahportmanagement . com .
previous positions : senior management positions within electrolux including head of professional products in north america and senior management positions in electrolux professional products .
north america western asia holdings is focused on high - return frontier market opportunities . dedicated to the communities it invests , nawah establishes and maintains strategic , long - term local partnerships , while maintaining the most rigorous international standards of transparency and accountability . more information about nawah and its port management business can be found at urltoken and urltoken .
under the 10 - year agreement with a consortium led by north america western asia holdings , the companies will invest in a new heavy - lift crane as well as container handling capabilities and build a modern container yard in one of the 14 berths in the maqal port on shatt al - arab waterway , the company said in a statement .
asia , middle east and north africa ( amena ) includes all of our beverage , food and snack businesses in asia , middle east and north africa . either independently or in conjunction with third parties , makes , markets , sells and distributes a number of leading brands including
by john lee . china petroleum pipeline ( cpp ) and north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) have announced that the two companies have entered into an agreement to jointly pursue potential energy sector development projects in iraq . under the agreement signed during a formal ceremony in cpp’s global headquarters in china , cpp and nawah will seek an [ … ]
nawah port management ( npm ) , a business unit of north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) , has completed the offloading of the third container vessel running weekly service between the united arab emirates and the company’s container terminal at al maqal port in urban basra . historic al maqal port , also known as the port of basra and [ … ]
bloomberg reports that paul brinkley ( pictured ) , the former u . s . defense department official who sought to attract companies to iraq and afghanistan , has started an investment and advisory firm with backing from billionaire hyatt chairman thomas pritzker . nawah llc – short for north america western asia holdings – will initially seek to invest in iraqi companies [ … ]
north america western asia holdings is focused on high - return frontier market opportunities . dedicated to the communities it invests , nawah establishes and maintains strategic , long - term local partnerships , while maintaining the most rigorous international standards of transparency and accountability . more information about nawah and its port management business can be found at urltoken and www . nawahportmanagement . com .
dubai - headquartered companies transworld group and nawah [ north america western asia holdings ] have announced that the two firms have entered into a formal agreement to service iraq’s growing demand for imports , linking their considerable shipping , logistics , marine services and port capabilities . as part of their agreement , transworld group and nawah port management , nawah’s port operations business [ … ]
holdings in ab electrolux ( publ ) : 4 , 425 b - shares .
by john lee . north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) , u . s . steel tubular products , a subsidiary of united states steel corporation , and mrc global inc . have announced an alliance to bring critical oil well equipment into the natural resources - rich region of southern iraq . the consortium will serve an international lineup of leading oil and gas companies [ … ]
the roots of north america beverages ( nab ) , which includes all of our beverage businesses in the united states and canada ( north america ) , go back to 1898 , when caleb bradham , an innovative entrepreneur from new bern , north carolina created pepsi - cola , offered it to his pharmacy customers , and started a movement that would quench consumers’ thirst for generations to come .
dubai , united arab emirates , march 24 , 2015 - - ( business wire / me newswire ) - - marking yet another milestone for a growing distribution and logistics service provider , north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) announced that the company has achieved iso 9001 : 2008 quality management standard certification . bureau veritas , which conducted the comprehensive review of the company ' s operations , today
by john lee . iraq signed a $ 14 - million deal with a u . s . consortium on tuesday to modernise the maqal port on shatt al - arab waterway . the consortium , led by north america western asia holdings ( nawah ) , will invest in a new heavy - lift crane as well as container handling capabilities , and will build a modern container yard in one [ … ]
nawah port management ( npm ) , a business unit of north america western asia holdings , announced today that it has entered into a formal agreement with iraq’s ministry of transportation and the general company for ports of iraq to quadruple the size of its terminal operations at the port of basra ( also known as al maqal port ) , iraq’s historic port located in basra’s city center on the shatt al arab waterway .
williams joined western union in 2009 as the vice president of human resources for the americas region . prior to joining western union , richard worked for fullerton financial holdings ( a wholly owned subsidiary of temasek holdings ) as its senior vice president of human resources for central and eastern europe , middle east and africa , based in dubai .
territorial expansion , filibustering , and u . s . interest in central america and cuba ,
nawah would aim at
building enduring businesses in the middle east and central asia .
-
its business model includes both advisory services and direct investment in the middle east and central asia region .
* the number of shares reflects holdings as per december 31 , 2017 , and includes holdings by related persons , as well as holdings of ads , if applicable . for members new appointed to the executive team after the year - end , the number of shares reflects the holdings at the time of appointment . for information on transactions made since december 31 , 2017 , please refer to the website of the swedish financial supervisory authority .
ratings back validus reinsurance , ltd . lloyd’s validus reinsurance ( switzerland ) ltd . western world insurance company
previous positions : executive vice president at husqvarna ab . president and chief executive officer at char - broil llc . president and chief executive officer at murray group . various senior management positions in asia - pacific and north america at whirlpool . marketing director at a whirlpool jv , consul , in brazil . product management positions at whirlpool corporation .
bill is a geologist with over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry . he has worked on exploration projects in australia , central and south - east asia , north africa , the middle east and south america , with sun oil , kufpec , exxonmobil and ampolex . he joined santos after working for exxonmobil in indonesia .
previous positions : head of group staff human resources at husqvarna ab , 2005–2011 . various senior positions within electrolux including head of human resources for electrolux major appliances north america and head of electrolux holding a / s in denmark .
as senior vice president and general manager for western union digital , khalid fellahi is responsible for ensuring the continued growth and expansion of western union in the digital space globally . he is based in san francisco .
as executive vice president and managing director of the americas , marissa geist is responsible for the leadership for all sales , delivery and operations in the americas , which encompasses the north america and latin america regions . promoted to the managing director role in january of 2017 , marissa was chosen based on experience driving positive change during times of significant investment .
fellahi , who joined western union in 2002 as regional director for north africa , was previously head of the mobile transaction services group ( 2010 ) . he also held several senior regional positions at western union , including the role of senior vice president for africa from 2005 to 2010 , where he was responsible for 51 countries .
chris houghton senior vice president and head of market area north east asia ( since april 1 , 2017 ) born 1966 . bachelor of law , huddersfield polytechnic , united kingdom . nationality : united kingdom . board member : none . holdings in ericsson : * 27 , 066 class b shares . background : head of region north east asia ( 2015 – march 2017 ) . has also previously held management positions within ericsson , including head of region india and head of customer unit uk and ireland and various management positions within ericsson in china , hungary , india , ireland , japan , sweden and the uk .
with more than 30 years of executive experience in financial services , ersek joined western union in 1999 and became ceo in 2010 . under his leadership , western union has successfully diversified and evolved its business to become a global payments company .
peter laurin senior vice president and head of business area managed services ( since april 1 , 2017 ) born 1971 . master of technology , chalmers university of technology , sweden , and master of business administration , gothenburg school of economics and commercial law , sweden . nationality : sweden . board member : byggvesta ab . holdings in ericsson : * 8 , 086 class b shares . background : previously head of region northern europe and central asia . previous management positions within ericsson include head of ericsson’s global customer unit vodafone ( 2013 - 2016 ) and various positions in north america , asia and europe . previous positions include positions in arthur d . little and mediatude ltd .
in addition to holding a senior executive role with western union , a fortune 500 company , farah is a thought leader in corporate responsibility and shared value . he is an active member on the board of directors of the western union foundation .
with a career spanning more than 30 years in global financial , fintech , telecom and fast - moving consumer goods sectors , western union global money transfer president , odilon almeida leads western union’s global consumer business across more than 200 countries and territories .
ogn group , the north east - england offshore engineering , procurement and construction ( epc ) specialist , has secured . . .
previous positions : various senior positions within electrolux including senior vice president , product line laundry major appliances emea and president small appliances asia pacific .
as chief compliance officer , jacqueline molnar is responsible for spearheading western union’s compliance and anti - money laundering ( aml ) programs .
previous positions : ceo and president of lixil corp in greater china . president of american standard asia pacific ( lixil corp subsidiary ) . china ceo of decorative paints , within ici / akzo nobel . various management positions in philips electronics in asia pacific , china and australia / new zealand .
bruce joined santos in 2016 and is vice president responsible for santos’ narrabri gas project , asian assets in indonesia , vietnam and malaysia , and the company’s western australian oil assets . in december 2017 , he was promoted to his current position of executive vice president conventional oil & gas , to focus on building and growing santos ' conventional assets across papua new guinea , northern australia , western australia and asia .
in addition to quaker’s brands , our quaker foods north america division also makes , markets and sells cereals , rice , pasta , dairy and other branded products , such as aunt jemima mixes and syrups , cap’n crunch cereal , life cereal and rice - a - roni side dishes .
williams also spent more than 17 years with american express , holding senior human resources roles in europe , asia , latin america and the u . s . in his last role with american express , williams was the vice president of human resources for the latin america , caribbean and canada region . williams also has held senior - level roles with dunia finance in the uae , a joint venture between fullerton financial and mubadalla , and with acnielsen .
“combining its western business know - how with its deep respect for iraq , its people and its culture , nawah truly stands apart . ”
prior to serving as cfo , agrawal was executive vice president and president of western union business solutions . agrawal has been with western union since 2006 and has held roles of increasing responsibility with the company , including treasurer and senior vice president for finance in the emea / apac region .
philip has over 35 years ' experience in the international oil and gas industry , starting his career as a petroleum geologist in the north sea with hamilton brothers oil & gas . he subsequently spent 14 years with the bg group in senior commercial and exploration leadership roles in the uk , europe , tunisia and india . he spent a further seven years with bhp petroleum including general manager pakistan , president gas marketing asia / australia , and country manager petroleum australia . philip was then seconded as president of the north west shelf australia lng organisation , which is the marketing arm of the north west shelf lng project .
the westward expansion of the united states during the 19th century was not limited to north america , but rather included an ongoing push to establish a stronger u . s . presence in and across the pacific ocean . this maritime expansion , driven mostly by commerce , had important implications for u . s . foreign policy .
at azure consulting angus supported companies in developing strategy and driving organisational change . at bcg angus set up the perth office , led the australian operations practice and was a core member of both the mining & metals practice and the energy practice . he served clients in australia , new zealand , asia , europe and north america building strong capabilities in strategy , operational efficiency and running transformation programs . as a supply chain manager angus was accountable for procurement , planning , logistics and product delivery .
molnar also serves as board chair of the western union foundation , an organization that supports education and disaster relief efforts as pathways toward a better future . since its inception in 2001 , the western union foundation has paid more than $ 111 million in charitable giving across more than 137 countries and territories .
his global business leadership and board experience at western union , millicom , bankboston ( now bank of america ) , the coca - cola company and colgate - palmolive , has given him deep knowledge of corporate governance , general management , technology platforms , regulatory and compliance as well as consumer insights of developed and emerging nations .
u . s . firms to help iraq modernize port at basra special to urltoken baghdad — iraq has selected a u . s . consortium to modernize the nation’s leading port . iraq hopes that the modernization of maqal port will improve investor confidence in the country . / iraq business news the government of iraqi prime minister nouri al maliki has signed a $ 14 million contract for the modernization of a port in the southern province of basra . under the 10 - year accord , the consortium , led by north america western asia holdings , would construct a container yard in one of 14 berths in the 93 - year - old maqal port on the shatt al arab waterway . “modernizing maqal port is one step in iraq’s greater vision to improve and expand our country’s shipping and port capabilities , ” iraqi transportation minister hadi al amiri said . under the contract , the consortium would dredge shatt al arab — which leads to the northern gulf — to at least nine meters to accommodate deep - water vessels . north america , led by a former u . s . defense department official , would work with other american firms , triton container international and marmon crane services .
mr goh has more than 30 years’ experience in the global oil and gas industry , having spent 25 years with schlumberger limited , including as president of network and infrastructure solutions division in london , president of asia , and vice president and general manager of china . he previously held managerial and staff positions in asia , the middle east and europe .
1 , 030 , 760 class b shares , 2 , 000 , 000 call options , and 24 , 789 synthetic shares ( reflects holdings as per february 21 , 2018 ) .
a turnaround specialist with a track record in transforming underperforming operations , kevin commenced his career as a drilling engineer with mobil north sea , before joining woodside in 1998 .
farah joined western union in 1999 as marketing manager , middle east & north africa . he has held a variety of progressively responsible positions with the company , including regional director , regional vice president , senior vice president for the middle east , pakistan and afghanistan ( mepa ) region and senior vice president , middle east & africa .
caroline tsai is executive vice president , general counsel and corporate secretary for western union and a member of its executive leadership team . tsai is responsible for the overall strategic leadership and oversight of western union’s global legal affairs , compliance and corporate secretarial functions . tsai also oversees the global public policy team , ethics and privacy functions .
“nawah serves as an exemplary model for western investment and joint - operating agreements in iraq , ” said captain omran thani , director general of iraq’s port authority , the general company for ports of iraq . “combining its western business know - how with its deep respect for iraq , its people and its culture , nawah truly stands apart . ”
founded more than 166 years ago , western union has become one of the world’s most global companies , serving customers in 200 countries and territories , with a diverse base of agents , frontline associates , and wu employees . a purpose - led company , a remarkably high 80 percent of wu employees contributed to the western union foundation in 2016 .
he graduated from the university of cape town , located in the western cape province of south africa , with his bachelor of commerce in dual majors , economics and accountancy .
previous positions : management positions at franke in brazil . various senior positions at electrolux brazil , including president small appliances latin america , sales and marketing director major appliances . positions in volvo brazil .
mr spence is currently chairman of base resources limited ( since 2015 ) and a non - executive director of independence group nl ( since 2014 ) and murray and roberts holdings limited ( since 2015 ) .
hikmet ersek is president , chief executive officer and director of the western union company , a fortune 500 global leader in digital and retail cross - border money transfer and payments services .
with more than 25 years of technology industry experience , sheri rhodes is chief technology officer of western union , one of the largest digital money transfer and payments companies in the world .
niklas heuveldop senior vice president , head of market area north america ( since september 12 , 2017 ) born 1968 . master of science in industrial engineering and management , the linköping institute of technology , sweden . nationality : sweden . board member : the swedish - american chamber of commerce new york . holdings in ericsson : * 13 , 368 class b shares . background : senior vice president , chief strategy officer and head of group function technology & emerging business ( april 2017 – march 2018 ) . previously chief customer officer and head of group function sales ( july 2016 – march 2017 ) . previous positions include head of global customer unit at & t and a series of senior leadership positions across ericsson , including head of market unit central america and caribbean . previously ceo of servicefactory and coo of watercove networks .
as cto , rhodes defines and leads western union’s technology vision and digital transformation , directing strategy and technology investments in the company’s global money movement and payments platform . in this role , she oversees western union’s engineering resources , fintech agenda , technology infrastructure and operations across the firm’s major innovation centers in denver , san francisco , montvale , new jersey and pune , india .
july 6 - two bridge sections with a combined weight of almost 2 , 000 tonnes have departed the port of lowestoft , uk , destined for maersk oil’s culzean offshore energy project in the north sea .
kevin joined santos as managing director and chief executive officer on 1 february 2016 , bringing more than 25 years’ experience in managing oil and gas operations in australia , the usa and north and west africa .
kevin joined santos as managing director and chief executive officer on 1 february 2016 bringing more than 25 years ' experience in managing oil and gas operations in australia , the usa and north and west africa .
as executive vice president and chief financial officer , raj agrawal is responsible for the leadership and direction of the finance organization . he is based in englewood , colorado , at western union’s global headquarters .
prior to joining western union , rhodes served as chief information officer at efi , a global provider of products , technology and services leading the transformation of analog - to - digital imaging and printing .
prior to this role , hochstadt served in various capacities within western union’s cfo organization , most recently serving as senior vice president - head of financial planning and analysis . hochstadt has been with western union since 2004 and has held roles of increasing responsibility , including director of strategic investments and vice president of corporate strategy . he also played a key role in re - launching the urltoken business in san francisco .
born 1961 . master in electronic engineering , sapienza university , italy . nationality : italy . board member : none . holdings in ericsson : * 32 , 653 class b shares background : previously head of region mediterranean . previous management positions within ericsson include head of sales networks for western europe within business unit networks , head of business operations in market unit south east europe and key account manager for wind italy , vodafone italy and other customers .
, helped expand the conflict to spanish possessions in asia . after a swift victory over spain , the united states set up a temporary military administration to govern the islands and promote their political , economic , and social development . the
he oversaw the development of innovative programs to improve safety and drive productivity and also executed an m & a and international expansion strategy which saw clough enter five new regions including the us , uk , canada , africa and asia .
farah started his career in 1995 with renault sa , where he gained extensive experience in marketing . prior to joining western union , he was area manager for orangina pernod ricard , one of the world’s leading beverage brands .
today , frito - lay north america ( flna ) makes some of the most popular and high - quality snacks in the united states and canada including lay’s and ruffles potato chips , doritos tortilla chips , cheetos cheese - flavored snacks , tostitos tortilla chips and branded dips , santitas tortilla chips , sun chips multigrain chips and fritos corn chips . in addition , flna , through a joint venture with strauss group makes , markets , sells and distributes sabra refrigerated dips and spreads .
dean is a director of infinisource , kana software , layered technologies and north plains . dean is a former director of the endurance international group ( sold to a private equity consortium in 2011 for $ 1 . 0 billion ) .
’s advice to avoid “entangling alliances” while pursuing foreign relations based upon trade . by 1900 , the united states was a recognized world power with substantial commercial , political , and military interests and territorial holdings throughout the pacific region . maritime expansion led to the proclamation of an
before joining western union in 2013 as senior vice president and deputy chief compliance officer , she served as vice president , associate global anti - money laundering officer at toronto dominion bank group in toronto , canada . prior to joining td , molnar was vice president , assistant general counsel at wells fargo & company in charlotte , north carolina . she also practiced law at gibson dunn and at latham & watkins llp in california , and at herbert smith freehills in sydney , australia .
prior to working at western union , fellahi held roles within sis - groupe compagnie bancaire ( paribas ) and price waterhouse management consultants . in addition , he has held senior leadership positions at small and medium enterprises in the service industry .
a turnaround specialist with a track record in transforming underperforming operations , kevin commenced his career as a drilling engineer with mobil north sea , before joining woodside in 1998 . during his 13 year tenure with woodside , kevin led the drilling organisation through rapid growth , delivering several australian and international development projects and exploration campaigns . he also led the australian oil business and was the ceo of the north west shelf venture at woodside , where he was responsible for production on australia ' s largest resource project .
born 1958 . masters of digital communications engineering , imperial college of science and technology , university of london , united kingdom . nationality : malaysia . board member : none . holdings in ericsson : * 27 , 989 class b shares background : previously head of region middle east ( july 2016 – march 2017 ) . she has held management positions within ericsson , including head of customer unit etisalat , head of marketing business line broadcast services , global customer unit for warid , head of ericsson in bangladesh and head of market unit north africa .
previously position as partner in mckinsey & company , with focus on growth strategy , marketing and sales , high tech , and telecommunications , across europe , the u . s . , and latin america . she has been based in mckinsey’s stockholm , san francisco and sao paulo offices .
earlier in her career , tsai served as senior vice president & associate general counsel at bank of america corporation where she was responsible for a broad range of issues , including litigation , bank regulatory matters and business transactions . she began her legal career at the global law firm , jones day .
he was previously a non - executive director of bph energy ltd ( 2007 to 2015 ) , an operating partner of baird capital partners asia , based in china , ( 2007 to 2012 ) , and a non - executive director of xaloy holding inc in the us ( 2006 to 2008 ) .
in his previous role as president , middle east , africa , asia pacific , eastern europe and cis , farah was responsible for driving rapid growth in the company’s consumer - to - consumer money - transfer business , adopting innovative delivery channels and making strides in payments to address emerging market opportunities across the region .
as president , global payments , jean claude farah is leading the expansion and growth of innovative delivery channels of the company’s business payments portfolio , enabling western union’s transformation from a consumer money transfer provider to a full - service cross - border payments leader for consumers and businesses around the world .
jill serves on the board for the aha coalition to protect america’s health care , an advisory board member of the women business leaders of the u . s . health care industry ( wbl ) and is an active member of young presidents’ organization ( ypo ) . additionally , jill serves on the executive committee for the ypo / wpo healthcare network .
mr shi has more than 20 years of professional experience , including five years in management consultancy and 15 years in senior management roles . his industry experience covers energy , health care , retail and finance in europe and asia - pacific . his specialties include capital operation , m & a and restructuring , strategy , value management , and cost optimisation .
during his 13 - year tenure with woodside , kevin led the drilling organisation through rapid growth , delivering several australian and international development projects and exploration campaigns . he also led the australian oil business and was the ceo of the north west shelf venture at woodside , where he was responsible for production on australia’s largest resource project .
born 1968 . bachelor of engineering ( electronics ) , university of jiwaji , india , and postgraduate diploma in marketing , indira gandhi national open university , india . nationality : india . board chairman : ericsson nikola tesla d . d . board member : opcom cables sdn bhd , malaysia . holdings in ericsson : * 38 , 063 class b shares . background : senior vice president and head of business unit network products ( july 2016 – march 2017 ) . joined ericsson in 1995 and has held various senior positions in the company , including senior vice president and head of business unit radio , head of region south east asia and oceania and country manager in indonesia and bangladesh and has worked in malaysia and usa .
fredrik jejdling executive vice president ( since november 7 , 2017 ) and head of business area networks ( since april 1 , 2017 ) born 1969 . master of science in economics and business administration from stockholm school of economics , sweden . nationality : sweden board member : teknikföretagen . holdings in ericsson : * 11 , 245 class b shares . background : senior vice president and head of business unit network services ( july 2016 – march 2017 ) . has held a variety of positions in commercial operations and financials , including head of region sub - saharan africa , head of region india , and head of sales and finance for business unit global services . previous positions include senior positions with lux asia pacific and tele2 group .
in his role as managing director of europe and asia pacific , seb o ' connell leads the organization’s creation and delivery of customized , innovative solutions to clients seeking transformational change . as a member of the cielo global executive team , he plays a key role in shaping the strategic direction of the organization as it expands its footprint in europe and beyond .
as executive vice president and chief human resources officer , richard williams oversees all aspects of western union’s human resources functions around the globe . he is also the global lead for the “wu way , ” a program designed to transform the company’s operating model to better enable innovation , improve the customer experience , and drive productivity .
carl mellander senior vice president , chief financial officer and head of group function finance and common functions ( april 1 , 2017 ) born 1964 . bachelor of business administration and economics , university of stockholm , sweden . nationality : sweden . board member : none . holdings in ericsson : * 27 , 203 class b shares . background : acting chief financial officer and head of group function finance and common functions ( july 2016 – march 2017 ) . has previously held various positions within finance and business control within ericsson , including vice president and group treasurer and head of finance in region western and central europe . previous positions include head of finance / cfo positions within the telecom operator space and defense industry .
rob is a director of applied predictive technologies , infinisource , layered technologies , paymentus and north plains . rob was formerly a director of intrinsiq research ( sold to amerisourcebergen holding corporation in 2011 ) , saber ( sold to eds in 2007 for $ 460 million ) and systems & software . rob holds an a . b . from princeton university .
“over the past 15 years , from west africa and throughout asia , cpp has constructed more than 40 long - distance pipelines totaling 50 , 000 kilometers and installed tank farms capable of storing 20 million cubic meters of oil and gas , ” said cpp president zhao yujian . “we have the credentials and the commitment to assist iraq in its accelerated , unparalleled development efforts . ”
prior to joining western union , he served in a dual role of treasurer and vice president of investor relations for deluxe corporation . agrawal started his career in the automotive industry at general motors corporation in michigan , and later worked at gm as a manufacturing engineer . he also held several roles in finance at chrysler corporation and at general mills , inc . , including assistant treasurer .
under her leadership , many state , national and international regulators and law enforcement bodies have commended western union for its technology innovations , aml and other compliance programs , such as developing custom algorithms to help combat money laundering and terrorist financing , and for assisting with numerous investigations . in 2016 alone , her department prevented 400 , 000 fraudulent transfers , representing a 794 percent increase from 2010 .
prior to joining western union , tsai was deputy general counsel and chief regulatory officer at bmo financial group . while at bmo financial group , tsai advised on advocacy and policy initiatives , as well as all bank regulatory and supervisory issues for bmo’s global operations , including personal and commercial banking , wealth management and capital markets . she also served as chief legal officer , u . s . personal and commercial banking .
jan karlsson vice president , acting head of business area digital services ( since february 1 , 2018 ) . born 1966 . bachelor in business administration , essec business school , france . nationality : sweden . board member : none holdings in ericsson : * 4 , 149 class b - shares . background : head of solution area bss within business area digital services since february 2017 . before joining ericsson jan karlsson was the ceo of digitalroute , an isv focusing on data collection & pre - processing across telco and non - telco verticals
born 1968 . master of science in electrical engineering , kth royal institute of technology , stockholm , sweden . nationality : sweden . board member : atis and the swedish - american chamber of commerce san francisco . holdings in ericsson : * 22 , 030 class b shares background : group cto and head of technology and architecture group function technology and emerging business ( july 2017 – march 2018 ) . joined ericsson in 1993 and has held various management positions in the company , including head of technology strategy , cto americas in santa clara us , and head of standardization and industry .
helena norrman senior vice president , chief marketing and communications officer and head of group function marketing & corporate relations ( since february 1 , 2018 ) born 1970 . master of international business administration , linköping university , sweden . nationality : sweden . board member : none . holdings in ericsson : * 35 , 740 class b shares . background : senior vice president , cmo and head of marketing & communications between 2014 until january 31 , 2018 . senior vice president and head of group function communications 2011 - 2014 . previously vice president , communications operations at group function communications . has held various positions within ericsson’s global communications organization since 1998 . previous positions as communications consultant .
majbritt arfert senior vice president , chief human resources officer and head of group function human resources ( since april 1 , 2017 ) born 1963 . bachelor of human resources , university of gothenburg , sweden . nationality : sweden . board member : none . holdings in ericsson : * 20 , 485 class b shares . background : acting head of group function human resources ( november 2016 – march 2017 ) , head of human resources ericsson sweden ( september 2015 – march 2017 ) . previously vice president and head of human resources business unit support solutions ( 2007 - 2015 ) . previous positions include various human resources positions , including head of human resources for sony ericsson in germany ( 2001 - 2004 ) .
born 1964 . master of laws ( lic . jur . ) from ku university of leuven , belgium , and master of laws ( ll . m . ) . from new york university school of law , usa . bachelor in law , facultés notre dame de la paix , belgium nationality : belgium board member : none holdings in ericsson : * none background : previously , group general counsel at lafargeholcim ltd ( 2013 – 2018 ) with responsibility for the legal and compliance functions based in switzerland . vice president international for legal and external affairs and has held other senior management positions at verizon business ( 2004 – 2013 ) based in the uk and hong kong . prior to that , various senior legal positions in the telecoms , banking and power industries based in the uk and switzerland . he started his career in private practice in new york .
greg williams is a managing director at accel - kkr focused on the firm ' s structured minority equity and debt investments . prior to joining accel - kkr , greg was a managing director at capitalsource , a leading middle market debt provider , where he ran the technology & communications group . previously , he worked in venture capital with the sturm group where he co - managed a $ 500 million fund focused on technology and communications , and from 1995 to 2000 with jp morgan’s investment banking practice in new york , first as an associate in mergers & acquisitions and next as a vice president in technology investment banking . prior to graduate school , he worked with bond corporation in perth , western australia and with fleet financial group as analyst in media & communications .
a geologist and geophysicist by training , mr spence commenced his career as an exploration geologist with woodside petroleum limited in 1977 . he subsequently joined shell ( development ) australia , where he worked for 18 years . in 1994 he was seconded to woodside to lead the north west shelf exploration team . in 1998 , he left shell to join woodside . he retired from woodside in 2008 after a 14 - year tenure in top executive positions in the company , including chief operating officer and acting chief executive officer . upon his retirement he took up several board positions , including clough limited , where he served as chairman from 2010 to 2013 , geodynamics limited where he served as a non - executive director from 2008 to 2016 ( including as chairman from 2010 to 2016 ) and oil search limited , where he served as a non - executive director from 2012 to 2017 . mr spence is also a past chair of the national offshore petroleum safety and environmental management authority board and led the commonwealth government’s carbon storage taskforce reporting to the minister for resources , energy and tourism .
was the source of some of the world’s most sought after commodities—tea , porcelain , and silk—and western merchants had sought access to this highly lucrative trade since at least the 17th century . following u . s . independence , u . s . - based merchants continued to seek opportunity in china . in february 1784 the empress of china became the first ship to sail from the united states to china , and in its wake came a steady flow of merchants in search of wealth . during the first decades of the 19th century , u . s . merchants amassed sizable fortunes that they subsequently invested in the development of their homeland . as this trade grew , u . s . traders built a small outpost in china and their interactions with chinese subjects became more complex and occasionally contentious . the u . s . government realized that it had to establish formal diplomatic ties in order to protect the interests of its citizens . in the wake of war between britain and china , and the subsequent opening of diplomatic relations between those two countries , the united states moved to negotiate its own treaty with the chinese government . the resulting agreement ,
the task force for business and stability operations ( tfbso ) was established in june 2006 to aid in the revitalization of iraq ' s economy and in creating jobs for the iraqi people . in 2010 , tfbso began working in afghanistan , helping the afghan government achieve economic sovereignty by increasing access to international markets , improving domestic commerce connectivity and enhancing agribusiness practices . mr . brinkley has traveled to iraq every month since may of 2006 and has traveled to afghanistan every month since july 2009 .
paul a . brinkley serves as deputy under secretary of defense and director of the task force for business and stability operations . prior to joining the department of defense , mr . brinkley held a number of senior executive roles with technology companies in silicon valley . paul brinkley joins the council to discuss the tfbso’s efforts to spur economic growth in afghanistan’s challenging security environment .
keep up on the latest videos and activity by subscribing to vimeo’s daily digest email .
hutchison ports and the pritzker family business interests ( “pfbi” ) , advised by the pritzker organization , l . l . c . ( “tpo” ) , announced today that the leading hong kong - based port operator has agreed to partner with nawah port management , l . l . c . ( “npm” ) to manage existing and future operations at the historic port of basra in southern iraq . hutchison ports will assume oversight [ … ]
by john lee . nawah port management ( npm ) has reportedly won approval from the iraqi government to import food cargo at its basra port container terminal . nicholas kunesh , npm’s president and ceo , said : “this is an important moment for basra and iraq writ large . given iraq’s growing disposable income , particularly within the expanding middle class , demand [ … ]
cnn’s fareed zakaria speaks with paul brinkley , former u . s . deputy under secretary for business transformation with the department of defense , about his efforts to get major american companies to set up in iraq : ( source : cnn )
george ibraheem yokhana : to : iraq - business news about the a / m article re . . .
habib : many thanks for your comment . please address any c . . .
by expanding its operations to a second terminal , nawah is building upon its commitment to modernize the port of basra , revitalizing the shatt al arab as a major trade lane for industrial and commercial cargo alike .
“basra is one of the most dynamic , fastest growing cities in the arabian gulf , ” said ali hazim , a leading business owner and major trader of basra . “having state - of - the - art , customer focused shipping and logistics capabilities conveniently located in downtown basra will be key to supporting our city’s continued growth . nawah has delivered upon and continues to fulfill its far - reaching commitment to our city . ”
npm’s first modernized container terminal , opened in october 2013 , is already proving to be an important gateway for a full spectrum of cargo – from consumer goods to meet the needs of iraq’s burgeoning middle class to critical equipment and materiel fueling iraq’s massive oil and gas development efforts . imported and exported goods are moving smoothly between the gulf and npm’s container terminal into the city of basra and throughout basra province . a significant scale of cargo is also moving to the holy cities of najaf and karbala , capital city baghdad and beyond .
beyond a full array of imported goods , npm has helped spur the export of one of iraq’s quintessential products – dates . in the past two months , npm exported more than 4 , 100 metric tons in 250 containers from its terminal at the port of basra to the united arab emirates to reach markets throughout the middle east .
“we are immensely proud to be working hand in hand with our iraqi partners to further basra’s growth and reemergence as a strategic trading center , bridging east and west , ” said paul brinkley , nawah’s president and ceo . “beyond our goal to create a world - class port operation , we are deeply committed to building local talent and we’ve already demonstrated that through our staff – a team comprised of iraqi managers , professionals and operators , trained in world - class technology and equipment operation . ”
as part of this most recent 10 - year agreement between nawah and the iraq government , npm will rehabilitate berth # 13’s 150 - meter waterfront and its 40 , 000 - square meter cargo laydown yard . once construction culminates on the berth , it will join npm’s berth # 14 operations as the only fully containerized terminals at the port of basra .
“the demands on iraq’s ports continue to grow significantly every month , ” brinkley said . “nawah port management is committed to providing a viable alternative for local traders and international companies to move time - sensitive , high - demand cargo into iraq . recent announcements by the governments of iraq and iran regarding the upcoming restoration of the shatt al arab to full deep draft only increase the importance of our operation in basra’s city center . as the market demands continue to increase , our expansion to berth # 13 will help us support that growth . ”


article one partners , l.l.c. ( aop ) is a venture-funded online prior art search community based in new york city , new york .

aop provides crowdsourced prior-art-search services by utilizing an online research community .

the company 's president stated that , as of june 30 , 2016 , aop comprises " more than 37,000 in over 170 countries . "

since launching in late 2008 , aop states that , as of october 2016 , it has rewarded more than us$ 7,487,672 to its researchers .

article one partners

glassdoor has 3 article one partners reviews submitted anonymously by article one partners employees . read employee reviews and ratings on glassdoor to decide if article one partners is right for you .
article one partners and aop are service marks of article one partners , llc . all other product and company names are the trademarks and property of their respective owners . © 2011 . article one partners , llc . all rights reserved .
article one partners : how a bunch of amateur sleuths are stamping out patent trolls .
is article one partners a scam or not ? see this for two conflicting opinions .
it would seem that article one partners is growing and thriving , and that my initial reaction to the article one partners business model was incorrect . in fact , article one partners is likely just scratching the surface of its potential and demonstrating the power of coordinated crowd sourcing solutions .
glassdoor gives you an inside look at what it ' s like to work at article one partners , including salaries , reviews , office photos , and more . this is the article one partners company profile . all content is posted anonymously by employees working at article one partners .
each article one patent study leverages the success of article one ' s global crowdsourcing community to identify evidence predating patent claims , known as
prior art .
article one incentivizes researchers with cash prizes of
the canonical url of the article page . specify mainentityofpage when the article is the primary topic of the article page .
correction , march 29 , 2012 : this article originally stated that stacey anderson - redick was article one partners’ top earner . she is one of the top earners and was highlighted by article one because her latest winnings put the firm over $ 2 million in contributions to researchers . ( return to the corrected sentence . )
article one partners is one of several efforts to improve patent quality and help fix an overburdened patent system that is often accused of granting too many patents of dubious merit that wind up in court .
to date , article one has paid out $ 8 , 594 , 044 to the researchers .
and in one part said : ” i have a feeling that article one might be more successful than i originally anticipated . ” was that an understatement ! article one has been extremely successful . on monday , march 7 , 2011 ,
u . s . per study for the highest quality research . to date , article one has awarded over
article one partners is pleased to have conducted research on this patent . we want to congratulate the defense parties for obtaining a stay of the litigation in this case ,
said
article one partners today announced that it has launched a new request for research of patent held by interval licensing llc on behalf of operating companies . with its unique crowdsourcing model , article one partners’ research requests are distributed to three million scientists and technologists worldwide who are conducting research to discover evidence predating the patent claims , widely known as “prior art . ” that evidence can be used to challenge the validity of a given patent . article one partners has conducted similar high profile requests for research , known as patent studies , including patents held by ntp incorporated .
and international affiliate websites for patent research in exchange for premium compensation . the article one community has been paid over
non - video objects must be based on one of the following urltoken types : article , newsarticle , blogposting .
on top of this , article one is building its own team of internal researchers , with one of their top performing advisors coming in - house . she explained :
in addition to the previously mentioned studies , article one partners currently has 46 open and active studies . some that may be of particular interest may include those that follow . to participate as a researcher to submit prior art to these or any other aop study you can register by visiting article one researcher overview .
in addition to the aformentioned stec ip studies , article one partners currently has 43 open and active patent studies . some that may be of particular interest may include those that follow . to participate as a researcher to submit prior art to these or any other aop study you can register by visiting article one researcher overview .
but there is one key difference . unlike peer - to - patent , article one partners offers people a financial incentive to donate their time and expertise . “we feel people should be compensated for the value of their information , ” ms . milone said .
that might sound like some kind of riddle , but milone’s insight has transformed patent litigation . in 2008 , she founded article one partners , a firm that invites amateurs to look for prior art and rewards successful researchers with cash . over the last few years , article one partners has helped hundreds of companies discover prior art to defend against “nonpracticing entities”—jargon for patent trolls—and to protect themselves in new areas of innovation .
ipcreate announced today that it has completed its merger with article one partners ( aop ) , a global leader in patent quality services . ipcreate previously completed a minority investment to acquire 31 % of article one partners in cash and this transaction marks the completion of the remaining 69 % via stock - swap merger . the merger is expected to be immediately accretive to ipcreate and positions the combined company as the leading provider of strategic invention services to premiere technology companies throughout the world . following the merger , article one partners will continue to maintain its own brand and business operations , while operating as a wholly - owned subsidiary of ipcreate .
about article one partners article one partners ( aop ) is the world ' s largest patent research community . the company posts crowdsourced requests for patent research to its global community in exchange for premium compensation . aop clients include 18 of the top 25 companies most frequently targeted by non - practicing entities , 57 forbes global 2000 , 14 fortune 100 companies , 7 of the top 10 u . s . patent filers and premier international law firms .
now , the two companies have declared that they are “preferred partners” for projects going forward .
men and women who had other sexual partners before marrying each other reported less marital satisfaction than those who slept only with each other . in addition , marital satisfaction was higher for women who had fewer sexual partners , and marital dissatisfaction was greater in proportion to the number of partners .
the date and time the article was first published , in iso 8601 format .
all of these patents asserted by stec ip in these lawsuits were acquired by the company from the original assignee , symantec corporation . each of these patents is also the subject of an ongoing patent research study being conducted by article one partners .
, ceo of article one partners .
patent lawsuits can be costly , which is why there is no substitute for speed and global reach when conducting patent research . with a global network of researchers delivering results in as little as days , many of the most respected companies and law firms in the world are turning to article one to help them efficiently conduct the prior art search .
new york , ny - - ( marketwired - oct 22 , 2013 ) - article one partners ( aop ) , the world ' s largest patent research community , today announced marshall phelps as the company ' s new chief executive officer . cheryl milone , founder of article one partners and former ceo , will remain chairman and focus on company strategy . as the former corporate vice president of ip policy & strategy at microsoft and former corporate vice president of ip & licensing at ibm , in addition to his role as an aop director for the past three years , phelps is well positioned to lead article one as the company continues its evolutionary growth .
now the start - up article one partners is offering a reward to anyone who can turn up evidence to settle whether the patents at the heart of these cases - along with a handful of other valuable , high - profile patents - are valid .
article one partners ' prior art research is used to help companies defend against litigation , build their portfolios , conduct due diligence , facilitate monetization and improve the quality of patents . phelps will lead aop as it embarks on its expanding opportunities and growth .
the date and time the article was most recently modified , in iso 8601 format .
only a marked - up image that directly belongs to the article should be specified .
but is article one succeeding in attracting the attention of those who would utilize their services ? after all , to be successful the work product needs to be something desirable . the answer , according to milone , is yes . business is growing and article one has an impressive client base . milone said :
company founder cheryl milone said article one partners plans to focus on “patents that have the greatest economic impact , ” particularly those that cover valuable products , are involved in costly infringement lawsuits or are in the hands of holding companies that reap royalty payments from others .
what is the one club for creativity ? the one club for creativity exists to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community .
as a supporter of article one partners , i think it’s fantastic that they’re now so successful that they can sponsor ipwatchdog . com ! their network provides a great service to the patent law community , and i hope they endure for many more years to come . urltoken
is a global online community leveraging crowdsourcing to deploy more than 1 million scientists and technologists who can research prior art for patents . article one presents research requests on
see json - ld code for an article object example in the structured data testing tool .
my change of heart in december 2008 was largely due to the fact that article one partners did have in place a plan based on objective criteria in order to determine under what circumstances to pay a reward . in fact , milone promised that article one would have submitted prior art references reviewed by independent experts and that would form the basis of their determination on whether to issue a reward . on top of that milone seemed genuinely interested in running the business without any pro - patent or anti - patent agenda , but rather to just create a human infrastructure capable of finding the best prior art available . that alone would separate article one partners from some with an obvious patent busting and / or anti - patent agenda .
to date . article one has been described as social media for patents . with researchers from 176 countries and projects translated into 8 languages , the community identifies key foreign language evidence and non - patent literature . article one counts as clients 14 of the fortune 100 , 24 of the global fortune 500 , 5 of the top 10 u . s . patent filers and 12 of the top 30 companies targeted most frequently by npes . in 2010 , article one received institutional funding and investment from board members including
the url to an image that is representative of the article . only a marked - up image that directly belongs to the article should be specified . images should be at least 696 pixels wide .
throughout this article i’ve provided a variety of links to my previous writing on aop so you can see for yourself that the nice things i say about them are not just because they are a sponsor . i have had a high opinion of article one partners for quite a while , and think it is pretty clear that cheryl has put together a first rate management team and board of directors .
all those searches have resulted in a great deal of winnings . article one recently announced that it has paid out $ 2 million in rewards to researchers . the researcher who put the company over that threshold is a former computer network administrator named stacey anderson - redick , who has made $ 75 , 000 in total patent - search winnings through article one . *
come up with five names you like , and test market it with prospective employees , partners , investors , and customers .
rhoades and stanley hypothesize in the report that
more experience may increase one’s awareness of alternative partners .
in other words , people who have a number of prior relationships may become dissatisfied more easily .
shortly after my initial reaction i received a call from cheryl milone , the president of article one partners . she offered to try and change my mind by giving me more details . i took her up on her offer and we had our first of many conversations over the last two - plus years . as a result of my conversation with milone in december 2008 , i wrote : “i do get the sense that she and article one are trying to do something quite valuable , so to the extent that any comments i may have made in the past question her or article one i think it wise to retract those comments . i have a feeling that article one might be more successful than i originally anticipated , and even if that is not the case at least they are trying to do something productive about the growing problem of bad patents . so i applaud article one for the effort and wish them well . ” if facts and measurables are any indication of reality this second impression is far more accurate , as borne out by the company reaching the $ 1 million milestone .
we are proud to announce that article one has now paid over $ 1 , 000 , 000 to our research community ! for just over 2 years , article one has been working with excellent researchers , and this milestone is an excellent indicator of the strength of our community . this marks a huge step for the company and community , and we plan to keep growing even faster .
article one partners is situated at the cross roads of crowdsourcing and patent quality , which allows us to provide assurance that issued patents are of high quality ,
said phelps .
aop has already proven its ability to resolve patent quality issues for hundreds of clients , from microsoft and philips to many small and medium sized businesses .
for example , people who tend to avoid commitment in general may have more sexual partners and be less happy when they settle down . it’s not the fact that they have more sexual partners that leads them to be less happy , it’s the fact that they don’t really like commitment . i would be very surprised if having multiple sexual partners before marriage , independent of any other factor , has a direct causal influence .
the average respondent had five sexual partners before marriage . only 23 percent of those who got married had had sex only with the future spouse .
in november of 2008 , article one partners announced the launch of what they characterized as a new global community to legitimize the validity of patents . community members , called advisors , would have the opportunity to send in previously hard to find evidence that challenges the validity of high profile patents . it was believed that by tapping the knowledge of advisors it would be possible to collect valuable publicly available prior art , particularly non - patent literature . i was initially quite skeptical of the plan , but it is hard to argue with results . on monday , march 7 , 2011 , article one partners announced that it had surpassed the $ 1 million milestone and has now distributed over $ 1 million in reward money to advisors .
as you may have noticed over the past several days , urltoken has a new super sponsor — article one partners . long time readers of ipwatchdog are likely familiar with article one partners , or aop as they are sometimes called , because i have written about their endeavors on many occasions in the past . until now , however , aop has not been a sponsor . i have written a lot of positive things about them in the past because i think what they are doing is innovative and serves a real need within the industry , regardless of whether you are one looking for prior art to challenge a patent , or you are looking to see if there is prior art you need to know about to sure up patent rights prior to licensing or enforcement activities . we are happy to have them as a sponsor and this article is to introduce the aop story to those who may not be intimately familiar with the company and its history .
at the time , schmidt suggested that dealing with patents in a way that is more systematic might be beneficial to the industry , even broadly making reference to the idea of crowdsourcing . the google chairman isn’t alone in thinking this approach could help make a difference in the ongoing patent wars , evidenced by the growing community that is article one partners’ global patent research platform .
the one club for creativity exists to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community .
as i was perusing the ongoing research studies being conducted by article one partners ( aop ) for this weekly article , i noticed that there are two studies ongoing relating to two european patents . specifically , there is an ongoing search for prior art relating to the controlling of movement of a virtual body , which corresponds with ep808484 . the other study relates to a user interface system based on a pointing device , which corresponds with ep1573498 . both of these patents are owned by koninklijke philips electronics .
the company has now raised over $ 8 million in total , including a $ 3 million series a led by general catalyst partners late last year .
copyright this is an open access article . authors own copyright of their articles appearing in the online journal of public health informatics .
a gatorade ad on snapchat , giving people the chance to play a game celebrating the achievements of serena williams , was one of many innovative executions honored at the latest one show . credit : gatorade
in essence , they provide valuable services . how great would it be to be able to say that after an exhaustive international patent search and an exhaustive non - patent literature search conducted by article one partners there were no references found that call into question the patentability of any claim ? so their services are not just for those seeking to defeat patents . i have in the past recommended patent owners commission an article one search as part of due diligence prior to filing a patent infringement lawsuit . it is better to know what is out there that can be found while you can still do something about it .
it’s a unique approach to the “spaghetti plate” mess that is bogging down the industry , and one that continues to be appealing to investors . in 2009 , general catalyst partners invested $ 3 million in article one , and today the startup is announcing that it has raised $ 7 million in institutional funding from alleghany capital corporation . this marks the second round of institutional funding by alleghany , which invested $ 5 million in 2010 , bringing the startup’s total funding to over $ 15 million .
for her charity ' s work . hear women has its office at one westminster ' s headquarters .
i love the further support for my patent troll myths article – look who originally got these patents – symantec , seagate , etc .
as partners , the pair will combine influential’s ibm watson ai technology with the story lab’s suite of proprietary strategy tools to inform content creation and to select influencers .
it seems to me the fact that article one is “ruthlessly agnostic” is what allows them to count as clients many fortune 500 companies , who themselves have significant patent portfolios . if they were just a bunch of patent haters looking to bust patents the innovation industry would not ever embrace them . they are , however , a service provider . if you want to know what prior art is out there that may otherwise be impossible to find you can do a study with article one .
leading up to the $ 1 million milestone i chatted with milone and this time marshall phelps , a member of the article one board of directors and former high ranking attorney with both ibm and microsoft , joined our conversation . at one point in the discussion i asked : “when do you think you turned the corner to have people understand that you were not anti - patent ? ” i went on to observe that , at least from my vantage point , article one is more like an umpire . i said : “you call balls when the pitch is outside and call strikes when the ball is over the plate . so many folks that operate in this space have an axe to grind , but it doesn’t seem that article one has any axe to grind . that would seem to add a tremendous layer of credibility . ”
to encourage people to take part , the company is offering both a profit - sharing program as well as payments of up to $ 50 , 000 to anyone who uncovers evidence that could be used to invalidate a patent . article one partners hopes to make money by selling the information it gathers to interested parties - often those involved in infringement suits - and by making market trades based on the information .
article based on a memo from paul allen described the company as under fire from allen to produce
less r and more d .
article partners ceo cherly milone said that the company will use the new funding to drive “go - to - market activities” and help meet the demand of current and future clients , as well as expand ( and compensate ) its growing community of patent researchers , which more than doubled in size in 2011 .
join us july 18th , 2018 for our 2nd san francisco intern and creative - summer networking event . representatives from butler , shine , stern & partners . . .
crowdsourcing refers to “the act of outsourcing tasks , traditionally performed by an employee or contractor , to an undefined , large group of people or community ( a “crowd” ) , through an open call . ” ( wikipedia ) . according to the article one website , “article one partners uses the power of the global online community to research evidence that relates to the claims of novelty of selected patents . ” essentially , what this entails is for a large number of researchers to sign up for a prior art search project whereby those who find the most relevant prior art are monetarily rewarded . the entire process is done online , and researchers from around the world may participate .
while it may seem logical to assume that oracle , amazon and apple are behind these article one patent studies , i would caution against jumping to conclusions . in may 2011 , article one launched what they refer to as their litigation avoidance program . litigation avoidance is designed to help companies analyze and act on patents of questionable quality . the program typically seeks to identify patents pre - litigation and distributes requests to its network of researchers — over one million scientists and technologists — to research the validity of the patents . litigation avoidance clients receive access to all of the collections that have been researched in the program .
he and rhoades speculate that having had more partners provides fodder for comparison and reminds one there are other choices . plus , someone with a greater history of relationships also has experienced breakups — and may have developed skills not only to cope with them , but to facilitate them .
the other reason aop has been so success is also eluded to in phelps’ quote above as well . article one runs a “human network . ” when i asked cheryl what made article one so successful she immediately responded “our researchers . ” indeed , their researchers are what makes the system work , and they have well over 1 million people registered as researchers and well over 23 , 000 active researchers who routinely submit prior art . these researchers are located all across the world , with roughly one - thrid in the united states , roughly another one - third in europe , about 10 % in japan and the rest spread elsewhere around the globe . in addition to this geographic diversity , nearly 50 % of researchers hold advanced degrees .
article one partners , which launches monday , hopes to use the internet to create a global community of experts to review patents issued by the u . s . patent and trademark office . the idea is to tap the wisdom of the online masses to unearth “prior art” - evidence that an invention is not novel and therefore doesn’t deserve a patent - that the patent office may not have known about when it approved the application .
“my name is oscar bruce , and i work for article one partners . we work closely with researchers in the field of computer peripherals , and we came across your name when searching for experts in this field . we recently launched a research competition related to the industry , and i believe that your interest , knowledge , and skills in this field can potentially earn you as much as $ 10 , 000 in rewards . ”
studies like this one could begin to make digital games more accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities .
in november of 2008 , article one partners announced the launch of what they characterized as a new global community to legitimize the validity of patents . community members , called advisors , would have the opportunity to send in previously hard to find evidence that challenges the validity of high profile patents . it was believed that by tapping the knowledge of advisors it would be possible to collect valuable publicly available prior art , particularly non - patent literature . i was initially quite skeptical of the plan , but on the heals of that initial article i was contacted by cheryl milone , who is the president and ceo of article one . she asked if i would be willing to talk about the business model and learn more . i accepted cheryl’s invitation and over the last nearly 4 years cheryl has become one of the people in the industry i reach out to on a periodic basis to help me keep my finger on the pulse of everything patents and intellectual property .
there are a wide variety of reasons that may lead people to have multiple partners before marriage and , independent of how many partners they have , also be less satisfied in marriage ,
dr . jim mcnulty , a social psychology professor from florida state university who has published a plethora of research on the topic , wrote in an email .
we cannot make any conclusions about cause - and - effect ,
says justin lehmiller , phd , sex educator and researcher at purdue university , adding ,
could it be that multiple premarital partners impacts marital happiness ? maybe . but it could also be that people who have more partners have different personalities or different attitudes toward marriage or relationships .
, who is both the chairman of ipcreate as well as former ceo of article one partners .
for our two companies , this is obviously a very strong move ,
said mr . phelps , who was previously the only person ever to lead the worldwide intellectual property operations of two of the world ' s most powerful technology companies , ibm and microsoft .
simply put , it gives our combined company an absolutely unmatched product platform .
has been a guest of the white house as one of the top 50 innovative ceos in the u . s .
make sure you have an experienced business lawyer doing the drafting , one that already has good forms to start with .
partners has become one of the world’s largest patent research communities , distributing requests for prior art research to more than one million scientists and technologists using a global , human - fueled search engine . basically , the startup has built a global research community of patent experts that respond to requests from individuals or corporations , taking those requests and building reports aimed at enabling the company to make better patent - related business decisions .
it also is apparent from our conversation that while article one partners has historically been involved in studies seeking invalidating prior art , the future will see them offering a variety of other services , including due diligence services . due diligence services seem a natural fit if you ask me . if there is a patent or portfolio that is a critical asset in a transaction what better way to guarantee ( to the extent possible ) that the claims are valid and strong ?
the mother tongue counselling service from wandsworth and westminster mind won the neighbourhood project award for its support to arabic and farsi speaking adults across the city by giving one - to - one support , group work and workshops in their native languages .
i actually became an article one advisor a while back , but had to abandon the project due to time constraints . another factor was indeed , as some commenters have pointed out , the low statistical likelihood of ever receiving a award . however , although i can certainly understand article one’s reasons for wanting in - house researchers , i do hope that they will continue to use the services of independent advisors . not only is it a great recruiting tool , but the use of independent researchers provides the company with previously - untapped resources and fresh perspectives . urltoken
according to researchers , the 23 percent of participants who only had sex with their spouse prior to getting hitched reported higher quality marriages versus those who had other past sexual partners as well .
“if ebay is successful , patent trolls will have one less weapon to use against legitimate firms , ” says university of chicago law professor douglas lichtman , one of 52 legal scholars who have signed a friend of the court brief supporting ebay’s position .
include a clause on how disputes will be resolved . our preference is for confidential binding arbitration in front of one arbitrator .
why does article one’s model result in better patent searches for clients ? milone cites several advantages . first , patent - search contests can attract researchers from all over the world , which is important because prior art found in any language anywhere on the planet is usually applicable in court . second , because article one’s search inquiries go out to a large crowd , there’s a good chance that someone in the group can solve a problem without needing to search for the solution . “that happens often , where people say , ‘hey , i know the answer—i invented it , ’ ” milone says . article one also encourages people of diverse professional and educational backgrounds to take part in its searches . “there’s a creative component—someone from a bio or pharma background might respond to a high - tech study , and they may come at the question very differently , ” milone says .
when you do a study with article one they harness the power of their system — the aop platform — to reach those 23 , 000 + active researchers and a million or more registered researchers . the aop platform offers tools for the researchers , and training as well . in a nutshell , article one is a technology company . they use their platform to leverage the knowledge and intellectual curiosity of their researchers to produce some of the most complete patent research you will find , with a particular focus on the most difficult to find relevant prior art — non - patent literature .
as reported in the wall street journal’s digits blog , a “crowdsourcing” company known as article one partners has been asked to help find prior art to invalidate patents owned by paul allen’s interval licensing . as previously reported , interval licensing has sued nine technology companies ( apple inc . , google inc . and its youtube subsidiary , facebook inc . , yahoo inc . , aol inc . , ebay inc . , netflix inc . , officemax inc . and staples inc . ) for patent infringment .
the 3 % conference and the one club ' s joint initiative to award outstanding creative women , returns for its third year .
since its founding in 2008 , article one partners ( aop ) has become the world ' s largest intellectual property ( ip ) research community . by leveraging a growing crowd of over 30 , 000 researchers , aop has revolutionized the transparency of ip - related data . through crowdsourcing and other techniques , aop provides clients with access to insightful information to help them make the best possible ip related business decisions whether they are innovating , defending or monetizing their ip portfolios . the company has paid their research community more than
more detailed analysis is available to gartner clients in the report
the enterprise app explosion : scaling one to 100 mobile apps .
it’s also possible , the study noted , that relationships that began as hook - ups may involve partners not as well matched on factors that promote happy marriages , such as shared values , interests and perspectives .
remember that good mobile sites are useful – they help visitors complete their tasks , whether that’s reading an interesting article or checking your store’s location . don’t get caught in the trap of only creating a mobile - formatted site ( one that looks pretty on mobile ) because it stripped away all useful functionality . instead , remember to build a mobile - friendly site ( one that’s truly useful for mobile customers and optimized for customers most common tasks ) .
so why has article one partners been more successful than the previous “bounty hunters” that tried and failed ? as far as i can tell it is due to two things , both of which i have written about in the past . first , aop is agnostic . this came to light when i spoke on the record with marshall phelps , a member of the aop board and himself something of a living legend in the patent community for his roles as the top patent man at both ibm and microsoft . phelps told me :
, known as a patent study , of a patent asserted by interval licensing llc . the patent was researched by the article one community . the us patent and trademark office now has agreed to reexamine this patent , having found that a
substantial new question of patentability
has been raised . as a result , judge
it might make for interesting cross examination of an officer of defendant to bring out before a jury that the defendant acting via article one scoured the world with efforts of many , up to a million , skilled researchers to come up with minimal value prior art for an obviousness defense … . after defeating defendant’s motion to bar such inquiry
they claim this finding is especially true for women , writing in the report ,
we further found that the more sexual partners a woman had had before marriage , the less happy she reported her marriage to be .
disclaimer : although article one partners is a major sponsor of ipwatchdog . com , no information non - public information about any study has been provided to me . while i do write a weekly article about interesting research studies aop currently has ongoing , i do not know who aop’s clients are that may have requested any particular study . likewise , i have no inside information related to why any particular study may have been undertaken . nevertheless , as i write this weekly column i do research and from time to time stumble across ongoing litigation . that does not suggest that aop has given me access to such information . it merely means i was able to find it through publicly available documents . furthermore , any speculation on my part is just that — speculation .
subscribe to none today to gain access to the daily newsletter , every none article we publish , exclusive data , first - look research and daily insights from joe mandese , editor in chief .
no idea – i don’t follow them – but it is several big name patentees to start with , so i don’t think it was one company .
article one lets corporations conduct cheap patent research by offering up assignments to freelancers , who $ 5 , 000 to $ 50 , 000 per project . the company has rapidly expanded its client base in the first half of this year , and now serves 12 fortune 100 companies , and 11 of the top 15 u . s . tech companies .
there were excellent technical hacks of social platforms on behalf of brands : one for bacardi that turned an instagram post into a dj deck , and another for gatorade that turned snapchat from a photo platform to a gaming one , giving users the chance to play a game celebrating the achievements of serena williams .
the local edition for global recognition . the one club for creativity denver invites you to a night of networking and celebration as we honor the . . .
this article is issued from wikipedia - version of the 12 / 4 / 2016 . the text is available under the creative commons attribution / share alike but additional terms may apply for the media files .
since its founding in 2008 , aop has broadcast its studies to over one million people and grown its research community to include more than 30 , 000 patent researchers from 170 countries . researchers have received more than $ 4 . 6 million in rewards to date for their work on over one thousand client patent studies .
non - amp web page with structured data : non - amp article pages that include structured data can increase the likelihood of appearing in search results with rich result features or appearing in a top stories carousel .
the community is incentivized by monetary rewards , and researchers can earn between $ 5k and $ 50k for top - notch research on each project . article one also offers $ 100 prizes for the most valuable submissions on each project , and allows researchers to participate in its profit - sharing program by earning points based on their involvement and activity in projects on the site .
, ceo of ipcreate said :
when i was ibm ' s top inventor and ran its
patent factory
in the 1990s , some people thought it was just a numbers game — about having the most patents . that was never what it was about . our goal was to develop high - quality patented inventions in disruptive technologies . that ' s how ibm invented the future . with article one partner ' s help , that ' s what we intend to do again . only now we plan to invent
on demand
to suit the specific needs of our partners and to the highest standards of quality .
css grid level 2 is already in the process of being specified , and the main feature of this level of the spec is to bring us subgrid . in this article , rachel andrew explains the new features .
disclaimer : although article one partners is a major sponsor of ipwatchdog . com , no non - public information about any study has been provided to me . while i do write a weekly article about interesting research studies aop currently has ongoing , i do not know who aop’s clients are that may have requested any particular study . likewise , i have no inside information related to why any particular study may have been undertaken . nevertheless , as i write this weekly column i do research and from time to time stumble across ongoing litigation or something that allows me to form a working hypothesis . that does not suggest that aop has given me access to such information . it merely means i was able to find information through publicly available documents , which allows me to then make an educated guess or to provide opinion commentary . furthermore , any speculation on my part is just that — speculation .
of course , these patents are already in litigation , at least insofar as apple , amazon and oracle are concerned . it is known that microsoft is a member of the litigation avoidance program , but other members of the program are not known at this time . thus , it is conceivable that these studies were not undertaken at the request of anyone currently getting sued . it would seem logical for article one partners to identify a growing litigation problem and undertake such research to make it available to all members of the litigation avoidance program . after all , if stec ip is suing apple , amazon and oracle there will be others sued in subsequent rounds of patent litigation .
although the company says it provides payments as high as $ 50 , 000 , it appears that in most cases the payments to the researchers are much lower , in many cases just $ 100 . somewhat vaguely , the company states that “about 5 % of our annual net profits to our community based on a researcher’s level of participation on article one , as indicated by the points accumulated on our site . ”
the researchers speculate that a well - attended public ceremony may reflect “a clear decision to commit to one’s marriage . ” they wrote that “wedding ceremonies ritualize the foundation of commitment . ”
phelps responded : “we started out with a manifesto on that exact point , that we were agnostic . we didn’t care what the result was as long as it was an adequate result . it could be thumbs up , or thumbs down , or thumbs sideways . that is not our concern . our concern is running the human network , if you will . our job is to be ruthlessly agnostic because once we are not agnostic then the value proposition is gone . ” indeed , article one partners has conducted studies and found invalidating prior art , and they have run some studies where they have not found invalidating prior art , lending factual evidence to phelp’s claim that the company is agnostic when it comes to outcomes .
the westminster community awards are organised by westminster city council in partnership with groundwork london and one westminster . more than 140 people submitted nominations for volunteers and organisations across the city of westminster .
as important as the researchers are to the entire aop equation , i think the real secret sauce is the synergy between the article one platform and their researchers . the aop platform connects all of the researchers together , which is what makes the crowd sourcing model feasible . it also enables those who know something about a particular field to be informed automatically about searches that they are most interested in and likely to be able to assist .
every page must contain at least one image ( whether or not you include markup ) . google will pick the best image to display in search results based on the aspect ratio and resolution .
proper structured data in your news , blog , and sports article page can enhance your appearance in google search results . enhanced features include entry in a top stories carousel and rich result features such as headline text and larger - than - thumbnail images .
add a structured data element to your page , describing the article or video on the page . the only properties supported for non - amp structured data are the headline and image properties ( and related sub - properties such as image . url ) .
gold on gold talk - ask for a raise the one club for creativity’s gold on gold takes us behind the scenes to tell the stories of some of the winners of the one show and the adc annual awards . what started as an internal project to celebrate equal pay day became “ask for a raise” , the cindy gallop - powered chatbot created by r / ga that won the social influencer marketing best of discipline award at this this one show . listen as r / ga’s alaina andreozzi explains the challenges to bring the idea to life , and the impressive buzz their efforts created .
there’s also , of course , the money and the fame . researchers who work in traditional patent search firms don’t get much recognition for their work ; the legal business is , after all , a cloistered environment . successful members of article one’s community , meanwhile , are toasted on the site , and there’s a spirit of intense , friendly competition among the crowd . ( because of confidentiality agreements , members can’t work together to find prior art ; they’re all competing against one another . ) winning a search will get you between $ 5 , 000 and $ 10 , 000 . the company also pays out 5 percent of its profits to community members .
anderson - redick says that about a third of her successful patent searches occur this way—she sees a claim and it jogs a memory of something similar she’s seen before . other times , she’ll dig through obscure databases and musty library stacks , falling into one rabbit hole after another in search of the winning answer . as article one has grown , it’s attracted many more researchers , and the level of competition has decreased anderson - redick’s odds of winning . she now works full time on the site , and she says she’s successful in about one - fifth of searches . but she adds that she doesn’t do the job only for money . once she goes off on the hunt , she can’t be shaken from the pursuit . “i just get a real joy out of finding these things for myself , ” she says . in other words , killing patent trolls can be fun .
responsive web design
or rwd means that the page uses the same url and the same code whether the user is on a desktop computer , tablet , or mobile phone – only the display adjusts or “responds” according to the screen size . google recommends using rwd over other design patterns . one of the benefits of rwd is that you’ll only need to maintain one version of your site instead of two ( i . e . , you won’t need to maintain the desktop site at urltoken and the mobile version at urltoken – you’ll maintain only one site , such as urltoken , for desktop and mobile visitors ) .
patent quality is one of the biggest problems facing businesses in the world today ,
said phelps .
it is at the core of patent system abuse to the point of damaging global innovation .