SPEAKER: Dale Halling

Patent Attorney and Entrepreneur

Dale Halling is patent attorney and entrepreneur.  As a patent attorney, Mr. Halling, has represented numerous Fortune 500 companies including, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Motorola, Ameritech, SBC, MCI, Cypress, and numerous technology start-ups.  He has helped his clients obtain patents worldwide. 

Dale's technical background includes a BS in Electrical Engineering from Kansas State University, and a MS in Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas.  Mr. Halling spent several years performing research and development in free space laser communication systems at McDonnell Douglas.  After receiving his J.D. from Saint Louis University, Mr. Halling worked as patent/intellectual property counsel for Motorola.  He started his own patent law firm in Colorado Springs in 1995.  His firm performs patent and intellectual property work for Fortune 500 companies, high-technology start-ups and small business and individuals.

He is the author of the book “The Decline and Fall of the American Entrepreneur: How Little Known Laws are Killing Innovation.”

MODERATOR: Allison Taylor

Business Consultant

Allison Taylor is a Business Consultant specializing in relationship selling, referral marketing, customer and employee retention and non-traditional sales training.  Through her business, Paravox, she offers innovative marketing and performance tactics to significantly improve business growth and profitability.

PANELIST: Catharine Merigold

Co-Founder and General Partner of Vista Ventures

Catharine has worked with communications and information technology companies for twenty years, as an investor, as a board member and advisor, and as an entrepreneur. She started her venture career in 1992 with Centennial Ventures, the largest venture firm in the Rocky Mountain region. She was the founding CEO of a venture-backed company, a vice president at a Fortune 100 telecommunications company, and CEO of UTC, the company that manages all the technology developed at the four University of Colorado campuses. Catharine received her BS in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from Stanford University.

PANELIST: Gene Branch

Patent Attorney and Partner with the firm of Townsend & Townsend & Crew, LLP

Mr. Branch's practice focuses on patent prosecution in the electronics, software and mechanical arts, with particular emphasis on business method and computer-implemented inventions in the financial services industry. He counsels clients on strategic patent portfolio development, including innovation counseling in the face of rapidly advancing technology that obscures our view over the increasingly near horizon.

Following an engineering career in the aerospace industry—as an officer in the U.S. Air Force followed by positions with General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin—Mr. Branch began his legal career as in-house patent counsel to Displaytech, Inc. of Longmont, Colorado.

Mr. Branch maintains his connection to aerospace working with Colorado School of Mines’ Eighth Continent Project. And in an effort to advance his desire to bring a better life to the “bottom billion,” Mr. Branch serves on the Board of Directors of Pura Vida, a local non-profit that provides enhanced educational opportunities to Third World children.

Mr. Branch received his BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Louisiana State University, his MBA from Golden Gate University, and his JD from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law.

PANELIST: Mike Schmidt

VP of Technology, Communications and Energy Sector Advisor

Mike Schmidt, a Colorado native, has close to 30 years of experience as a technology-savvy, business development professional, with an integrated set of technology adaptation and marketing and sales skill sets that have been applied in a number of world-wide entrepreneurial ventures. Mr. Schmidt’s experiences cover semiconductor chip design, data broadcasting, industrial data acquisition and control, industrial microcomputers, software development, satellite internet, broadband telecommunications services, fixed terrestrial wireless technology and services, muni broadband wireless, web-development and e-commerce, and internet media and entertainment technology and services.

HOST: Thomas Frey

Executive Director and Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute

Thomas Frey is Executive Director and Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute as well as Google top rated futurist speaker.

As part of the celebrity speaking circuit, Tom continually pushes the envelope of understanding, creating fascinating images of the world to come.  His keynote talks on futurist topics have captivated people ranging from high level government officials to executives in Fortune 500 companies including NASA, IBM, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, First Data, Boeing, Capital One, Bell Canada, Visa, Ford Motor Company, Qwest, Allied Signal, Hunter Douglas, Direct TV, International Council of Shopping Centers, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, Times of India, Leaders in Dubai, and many more.

Because of his work inspiring inventors and other revolutionary thinkers, the Boulder Daily Camera has referred to him as the "Father of Invention".  The Denver Post and Seattle Post Intelligencer have referred to him as the "Dean of Futurists".

Because of his work inspiring inventors and other revolutionary thinkers, Tom has been referred to as the modern "Father of Invention" and the "Dean of Futurists."  Before launching the DaVinci Institute, Tom spent 15 years at IBM as an engineer and designer where he received over 270 awards, more than any other IBM engineer.