Speaker Biographies

Dr. Naseem Haddad
Director of Mechanical Design and Technology Centre, Royal Scientific Society (RSS)

Dr. Naseem Haddad came to the Royal Scientific Society in 1979 as a research engineer.  In 1983, he was appointed as Head of the Metallography Laboratory and in 1992 he was named Head of the Materials Technology Division.  He was appointed Director of the Mechanical Design and Technology Centre in 1996.

Dr. Haddad has published several papers on metallurgy and materials science.  Dr. Haddad holds a Ph.D. in materials science and metallurgy from the University of Cambridge, UK, and a B.Sc. in engineering technology in production engineering and metallurgy from the University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq.

Donald Grant Kelly
Senior Consultant, International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI)
Chief Executive Officer, Intellectual Asset Management Associates (IAMA)

Intellectual property consultant and registered patent practitioner Don Kelly is widely known for his educational and entertaining lectures on such topics as invention, American innovation, intellectual property protection and commercialization. Recently, he was named by the executive board of the Rothschild Patent Model Museum and Invention Center as Executive Director of the newly chartered New York State institution. Following graduation from VA Tech, with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, Kelly served for more than three decades with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where he directed divisions of patent examiners and served on the senior executive staff of a number of USPTO Commissioners. His public service career included postings as Science Advisor to a US Congressman, and with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) as the Washington-Geneva Coordinator to the Tokyo Round of GATT Negotiations. At the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) Don Kelly established and directed the Center for Utilization of Federal Technology (CUFT) to facilitate transfer and commercialization of federally funded inventions under the Stevenson-Wydler Act.

Just prior to forming IAMA, Kelly served for two years as CEO of the prestigious Academy of Applied Science, and as Adjunct Professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center. He is a visiting lecturer at MIT Sloan School and Fordham University Graduate School of Business, and a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) professional development faculty. Kelly also teaches technology resource management for the Asia Pacific Legal Institute's Intellectual Property Training Program. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Intellectual Property Owners Assn. Committee on Small Business and Independent Inventors, and as corporate director for PatentCafe, Inc.

Maher S. Matalka
Director of Economics and Commerce Bureau (EBC), Embassy of Jordan, Washington DC

Maher S. Matalka was appointed on May 1, 2003 as Director of Economic and Commerce Bureau (EBC) in Washington DC.  The newly established EBC aims to foster and strengthen Jordan-US economic relations and bilateral trade ties, by facilitating and encouraging Jordanian exports to the US as well as US investments in Jordan.  Prior to his assignment in Washington, he headed the Jordan Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (JAPM) as Secretary General.  He advised the pharmaceutical industry on key domestic and international strategic and development related issues as well as healthcare matters. In addition he represented the industry’s interests by serving on various committees such as World Bank on pharmaceutical reforms, WTO membership, Jordan-US Free Trade Agreement, Intellectual Property (IP) and Trade Policy related issues.

Mr. Matalka participated in various regional and international forums on intellectual property and presented several papers on the challenges and opportunities facing the pharmaceutical industry in the developing counties.  Mr. Matalka contributed significantly to the development of the pharmaceutical industry infrastructure in Jordan, leading the industry into unconventional markets, ultimately resulting in the successful registration and sales of Jordanian generics into such markets as the European Union. He has also participated in developing “Jordan Vision 2020”, an ambitious initiative that aims to achieve a clear private sector driven economic strategy to guide Jordan into the 21st century.

Mr. Matalka holds a Masters in Intellectual Property (MIP) from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord New Hampshire, and a B. Sc. in Pharmaceuticals from Stanford University.

Michael P. Ryan, Ph.D.
Senior Consultant, International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI)
Assistant Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

Professor Michael P. Ryan began assisting the Jordanian economic reform effort in 1998 when he was asked by USAID to draft new patent and plant variety protection laws in support of its accession to the World Trade Organization. In the years since he has lectured frequently in Jordan regarding intellectual property and technology policy and management, e.g., at the invitation of the Higher Council for Science and Technology and the Royal Scientific Society at its technology entrepreneurship conference and at the invitation of the Young Entrepreneurs Association at its annual conference. In cooperation with USAID-AMIR, the US Patent and Trademark Office, and the International Intellectual Property Institute (Washington, DC) he established and has lectured at the annual King Abdullah II Intellectual Property Week conference. The IP Week conference involves the software, info tech, pharmaceutical, and bio-medical business communities, university researchers, government policymakers and public administrators, and judges who settle intellectual property-based commercial disputes. During 2003-4 Professor Ryan, funded by USAID-AMIR and the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, is with a colleague assessing Jordan's pharmaceutical and bio-medical institutional infrastructure (law, regulation and public administration, business strategy, university research) in cooperation with the Jordan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and Jordan Intellectual Property Association. The report will be released in August 2004 at a conference under the patronage of the His Majesty King Abdullah II. In 2003 he lectured members of the Ministry of Economics, Palestinian Authority, in Ramallah, West Bank, under auspices of USAID. He, USAID, and the local authorities have designed an intellectual property policy and economic reform program that will be carried out when security and diplomatic circumstances permit.

Professor Ryan, an associate research professor of policy and ethics at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, and a senior consultant to the International Intellectual Property Institute, is advising and lecturing Thailand's business, government, university, and judicial communities in order to assist with their national bio-medical strategy. He co-authored a report for the university system of South Africa concerning the commercialization of technology and the establishment of university technology transfer offices. He has also lectured business and policy communities in Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines, and Singapore. His Intellectual Property Rules! Trade Secrets, Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks in the World Economy will be published in fall 2004; his co-authored (with Paul Almeida) Knowledge Strategy: Technology, Intellectual Property, and Organization in the World Economy will be published in 2005 as will his Knowledge Ethics: Intellectual Property and Social Responsibilities in the World Economy. He is the author of Knowledge Diplomacy: Global Competition and the Politics of Intellectual Property (1998) and Playing by the Rules: American Trade Power and Diplomacy in the Pacific (1995). He holds a PhD in political science with concentrations in international political economy, organization, and law from the University of Michigan, holds a master's degree in philosophy from Ohio State University, and previously served on the faculty of the Michigan Business School.

Sherif Saadallah
Bureau Director, Development Cooperation and External Relations, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Mr. Sherif Saadallah, joined the International Bureau pf WIPO in April 1991, as Special Assistant to the Office of the Director General.  In January 1993, he was transferred to the Development Cooperation and External Relations Bureau for Arab Countries, and was promoted as Bureau Head in November 1995 amd became Bureau Director in 1997.

In December 2003, Mr. Saadahllah was promoted to Executive Director, responsible for two departments, namely, the Economic Development Bureau for Arab Countries and the Intellectual Property and Economic Development Department.

Before joining the International Bureau, Mr. Saadahllah served for eight years as a diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, in particular in the Permanent Mission of Egypt in Geneva.

Mr. Saadahllah has a BA in Economics and Political Science from the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and has studied at the Diplomatic Institute for International Studies in Cairo and at the Institute Universitaire des Hauter Etudes Internationales in Geneve. Mr. Saadahllah is well versed in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish.