Meet The Team

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Michael W. McLaughlin

President & CEO

Michael McLaughlin is President, CEO and Founder of IPinvestments Group.  He has significant expertise in negotiating intellectual property transactions and licensing arrangements, intellectual property valuation, and strategic intellectual property consulting services.  He spends the vast majority of his professional time negotiating patent sale and licensing transactions, valuing patents for acquisition and/or sale, and helping companies implement patent portfolio licensing programs and other strategies to extract value from patents and other intellectual property.

Mr. McLaughlin graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance. He is a member of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), the Licensing Executives Society (LES) and the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).  Mr. McLaughlin was named to the inaugural IAM 250 — The World’s Leading IP Strategists for 2010, and subsequently been named to each year since (2010 – 2022). Mr. McLaughlin previously worked as Managing Director of IPAC, LLC (Intellectual Property Asset Corporation) and InteCap, Inc. (now part of CRA International).

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Ryan E. Strong

Senior Vice President & COO

Ryan Strong is a Senior Vice President, COO and Founder of IPinvestments Group.  Over the last 18 years, he has gained extensive expertise in developing and implementing strategies to maximize the value of intellectual property.  At IPinvestments Group, he currently manages all aspects of patent licensing programs, negotiates patent sale / joint venture agreements, and assists clients in determining the most effective strategy for generating return on their intellectual property.

Mr. Strong graduated from Oglethorpe University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, and is a Certified Public Accountant.  He is a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES), the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).  Mr. Strong was named to the inaugural IAM 250 — The World’s Leading IP Strategists for 2010, and subsequently been named to each year since (2010 – 2022). Before founding IPinvestments Group, Mr. Strong was a Manager Director at IPAC, LLC (Intellectual Property Asset Corporation) and, prior to that, was a Director at InteCap, Inc. (now part of CRA International).

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William A. Hartselle

Senior Vice President & CTO

Bill Hartselle is a Senior Vice President and CTO of IPinvestments Group.  He has extensive experience leading the patent licensing program of a Fortune 50 company to monetize its patent portfolio.  Mr. Hartselle has significant experience in evaluating patents for licensing and negotiating patent licensing and sales transactions.  He is also a registered patent attorney, and worked in the legal field where he gained experience on all types of intellectual property matters.

Mr. Hartselle received his Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana State University.  He is a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES), the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), and the State Bar of Georgia – Intellectual Property Section.  Mr. Hartselle has been named to the IAM Strategy 300 — The World’s Leading IP Strategists for multiple years. Before joining IPinvestments Group, Mr. Hartselle was the Managing Director of Patent Licensing for BellSouth Intellectual Property Marketing Corporation (now AT&T Intellectual Property).  Prior to that, Mr. Hartselle worked as a patent attorney at ANTEC Corporation (now Arris Group) and at Jones & Askew (now part of Kilpatrick Townsend).

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Elket V. Swope

Technology & Patent Analyst

Elket Swope is a Technology & Patent Analyst at IP Investments Group.  She has extensive experience in patent prosecution and counseling in the field of computer science, specializing in software.  She is a registered patent attorney and has prosecuted matters before the USPTO in the field of telecommunications, database design, computer architecture, computer imaging, and satellite communications, among others.  Ms. Swope provides technical research, patent evaluations, and assists IPinvestments Group in monetizing patent portfolio for their clients.

Ms. Swope received her Juris Doctor from Emory University School of Law and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology.  She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia – Intellectual Property Section.  Ms. Swope previously worked at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP and Needle and Rosenberg, P.C. counseling clients on patent matters and prosecuting patents. Prior to her law career, Ms. Swope worked for Hewlett Packard in Cupertino, California where she designed and developed software in the areas of telecommunication, networking, operating systems, and character recognition and translation.