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About C4IP

The Council for Innovation Promotion is a bipartisan coalition dedicated to promoting strong and effective intellectual property rights that drive innovation, boost economic competitiveness, and improve lives everywhere.

Goals & Objectives

Elevate the importance of strong domestic and international IP rights through a range of advocacy programs, initiatives, and campaigns.
Forge a coalition of pro-innovation stakeholders to serve as advocates within political, governmental, and non-governmental organizations.
Support government leaders who understand that IP is inextricably connected to innovation, and advance policies that support a strong IP system.
Provide an authoritative bipartisan resource hub for policymakers, the media, and the general public on IP-related policies and issues.

Leadership

Frank Cullen

Executive Director
Former Vice President of U.S. Policy, Chamber of Commerce's Global Innovation Policy Center

Frank Cullen

Frank Cullen currently serves as the Executive Director of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP), a bi-partisan non-profit dedicated to supporting and promoting the intellectual property policies that support innovation and creative output.

Frank previously served as Vice President of U.S. Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he led the Chamber's domestic intellectual property policy work. He began his career in Los Angeles and was vice president for FCA Company, a full-service public affairs and government relations firm. In 1989, Frank was appointed public relations director for the city of Palm Springs, California, and conceived and implemented a highly successful promotional campaign featuring then-Mayor Sonny Bono. Subsequently, he served as director of Bono for U.S. Senate ’92. When Bono was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, he asked Frank to join him to direct his communications shop, a position he held until Bono’s untimely death. He then joined Rep. Mary Bono as her communications director. After one year, he was promoted to chief of staff, a position he held for 15 years.

An accomplished communicator and writer, Frank appeared as a guest on numerous TV and radio shows, including The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Larry King Live, ABC Radio, and CBS Radio. He provided political analysis and election coverage for KESQ TV, KMIR TV, and The Desert Sun newspaper. Frank also worked for legendary director Francis Ford Coppola at his Zoetrope Studios, and is a graduate of the University of Southern California, with a B.F.A. degree from the School of Cinema and Television.

frank@C4IP.org

Andrei Iancu

Chairman of the Board
Former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (2018-2021)

Andrei Iancu

Andrei is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell in Los Angeles. Prior to this, he held the position of partner at Irell & Manella from 2021 to 2023. From 2018 to 2021, he served as the Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a position to which he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. As head of the USPTO, Andrei oversaw one of the largest IP offices in the world. He also served as the administration’s principal advisor on domestic and international policy matters. Among Andrei’s initiatives in this role was the creation of the National Council for Expanding American Innovation, a group of industry, academia and government leaders tasked with helping the USPTO develop a national strategy to broaden participation in the innovation ecosystem.

Prior to his government service, Andrei spent two decades at Irell and served as the firm’s managing partner from 2012 to 2018, the maximum allowable tenure. Andrei co-founded the Renewing American Innovation Project at the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He previously taught patent law at UCLA School of Law, and he is a sought-after speaker and writer on issues related to IP and innovation. He received his J.D., M.S. in mechanical engineering, and B.S. in aerospace engineering from UCLA.

David Kappos

Chairman of the Board
Former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (2009-2013)

David Kappos

David is a partner at Cravath, Swaine, & Moore and Co-Chair of the firm's Intellectual Property practice. He is widely recognized as a leader in the field of intellectual property, including IP management and strategy, the development of global IP norms, laws and practices as well as commercialization and enforcement of innovation-based assets. From 2009 to 2013, David served as Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In that role, he advised the President, the Secretary of Commerce and the Administration on IP policy matters. David led the Agency in dramatically reengineering its entire management and operational systems and its engagement with the global innovation community. He was instrumental in achieving the greatest legislative reform of the U.S. patent system in generations through passage and implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act in 2011.

Prior to leading the USPTO, David held several executive posts in the legal department of IBM, the world’s largest patent holder. He served as IBM’s chief intellectual property lawyer from 2003 to 2009. In that capacity, he managed all global IP activities for IBM, including all aspects of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection and exploitation.

david@C4IP.org

Judge Paul Michel

Board Member
Former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (1988-2010)

Judge Paul Michel

Paul is a globally renowned leader in intellectual property law. From 1988 to 2010, he served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He discharged the duties of Chief Judge of this national court from December 2004 until his retirement. He also served as one of 27 judges on the Judicial Conference of the United States and, in 2005, he was appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist to serve on the Judicial Conference’s seven-judge Executive Committee. In Paul's more than 22 years on the bench, he judged thousands of appeals and authored over 800 opinions, approximately one-third of which concerned IP law.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was the associate deputy U.S. attorney general in 1978 and in 1981 became counsel and administrative assistant to Senator Arlen Specter. An influential speaker on IP-related policy matters, Paul has testified before Congress on patent reform legislation and served as Special Advisor to the Patent Reform Task Force. In 2012 he joined the Intellectual Property Advisory Council at the University of Akron School of Law. Judge Michel received his B.A. from Williams College and his J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Judge Kathleen O'Malley

Board Member
Former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (2010-2022)

Judge Kathleen O'Malley

Kate is of counsel at Irell & Mandela in Washington, D.C. She is also a senior adviser for the Renewing American Innovation Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. From 2010 to 2022, Kate served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the only court that handles appeals of patent cases. She previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio from 1994 to 2010. Kate is the first former district court judge to be appointed to the Federal Circuit.

She regularly lectures on various IP topics, including the importance of IP to innovation and the importance of innovation to the economy. Kate has also trained judges, lawyers and stakeholders on the U.S. IP system in over a dozen countries across the globe. Kate is the only U.S. representative on the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Judicial Advisory Council and has been involved in many WIPO sponsored projects and programs. She received her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and her A.B. in Economics and Honors History from Kenyon College. Kate also earned an honorary Doctor of Laws from Kenyon.

Jamie Simpson

Chief Policy Officer and Counsel
Former Chief Counsel on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, IP, and the Internet and Associate Solicitor at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Jamie Simpson

Jamie L. Simpson was previously the Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. Before that, she worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee, handling intellectual property policy while on detail from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. At the USPTO, she was a senior advisor to the USPTO Director, handling critical policy issues, attending meetings with the Commerce Department and White House, and helping to coordinate the agency’s work. She started at the USPTO as an associate solicitor where she defended the agency’s decisions before federal courts and worked on some of the first cases to adjudicate the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011. Earlier in her career, she was a clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and was in private practice specializing in patent litigation and licensing disputes. Jamie graduated from Harvard Law School, has an M.Sc. in Philosophy, Policy, and Social Value from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College. 

Peter Krug

Director of Outreach and Development
Former Senior Legislative Advisor for the United States Patent & Trademark Office (2018-2021)

Peter Krug

Peter has amassed over three decades of experience in policy issues, including intellectual property, from his time in the executive and legislative branches and the private sector. Most recently, Krug helped launch the Washington, D.C. office for the Los Angeles-based law firm Irell & Manella, serving as a senior policy advisor and office administrator. He was previously senior legislative advisor to C4IP board co-chair Andrei Iancu during Iancu's time as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Prior to that, he served as a political consultant for the U.S. Department of Commerce, overseeing the confirmation of five administration nominees, as well as a senior legislative assistant to Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Robert Dornan (R-CA). Krug's lobbying experience spans 17 years, primarily with D.C. telecom firm Wiley Rein, representing a broad spectrum of telecom-focused clients, including ATT, Verizon Wireless, National Association of Broadcasters, Sirius-XM Satellite Radio, Newspaper Association of America, Gannett, and Belo, among others. Notably, Krug was a lead lobbyist on Capitol Hill overseeing Sirius' acquisition of XM Satellite Radio. Krug received a Master's degree in International Affairs from the Patterson School of Diplomacy at the University of Kentucky and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Political Science and Foreign Affairs from San Jose State University.

Jamie Simpson

Chief Policy Officer and Counsel
Former Chief Counsel on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, IP, and the Internet and Associate Solicitor at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Jamie Simpson

Jamie L. Simpson was previously the Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. Before that, she worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee, handling intellectual property policy while on detail from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. At the USPTO, she was a senior advisor to the USPTO Director, handling critical policy issues, attending meetings with the Commerce Department and White House, and helping to coordinate the agency’s work. She started at the USPTO as an associate solicitor where she defended the agency’s decisions before federal courts and worked on some of the first cases to adjudicate the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011. Earlier in her career, she was a clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and was in private practice specializing in patent litigation and licensing disputes. Jamie graduated from Harvard Law School, has an M.Sc. in Philosophy, Policy, and Social Value from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College. 

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