The Emerging Leader Certificate is the latest professional credential offered by LES. To earn the certificate and badge, participants must complete three LES education courses. (See course list below. Webinars and chapter events do not count toward an Emerging Leader Certificate.)
Taught by experienced licensing professionals, the courses in the certificate program are detailed, relevant, and highly interactive. Learning is reinforced with relevant case studies and
the real-world experience of instructors and class participants. There are three levels; course content varies with the level.
Beginner—For those new to IP licensing with less than one year of experience.
- IP Licensing Basics
- IP Negotiation Basics
- Industry, Universities, and Government
Intermediate – For those with some experience – about one to three years – in IP licensing, and an interest in specific topics.
- Foundations in IP Valuation
- Mechanics of a License
- Strengthening Your License
- Due Diligence
- Legal Ethics
- Negotiation Skills
Advanced – For those with more than three years of experience in the field.
- Negotiation Skills Practicum
- Managing IP Value in Startups & Early-Stage Ventures
- LES CLP Exam Review
The LES Emerging Leader certificate is the first step on the path to higher levels of credentialing available through Certified Licensing Professionals, Inc. It’s also a great introduction to the LES community, the largest cross-sector network of IP Licensing professionals worldwide.
As a certificate holder, you will be issued a digital badge that demonstrates your commitment to the IP profession. This badge can be added to your email signature and LinkedIn profile. LES offers a range of discounts, making the Emerging Leader Certificate program attractive to you and your employer.
To read LES course descriptions and see the calendar, visit: https://www.lesusacanada.org/les-education-course-events/
Congratulations to the first graduating class of Emerging Leaders!
The following IP professionals have earned their LES Emerging Leader Certificate and digital badge:
Casey Valk, Deepak George, Kristy Reynald, Nathan G. Butlin, PhD, CLP, Fabio J.D. Almeida, Ksenia Bezverbnaya, PhD, and Sihem Saada, CLP.
For two personal accounts of the benefits of earning an Emerging Leader Certificate, see Casey Valk’s profile and Member Spotlight about Fabio Almeida.
Casey Valk: Always Moving Forward, Always Learning
Casey Valk
When Cassandra (“Casey”) Valk, Open Source and Product Compliance Manager at Nutanix, earned her LES Emerging Leader Certificate, she added it to an impressive list of certificates and badges in her field. An AI and open-source software expert, she has 20 years of experience in open source and AI governance, diligence, and commercialization and complex licensing transactions and negotiations. In the high-tech field, of course, there’s always more to learn. Her 27 education certificates include one from IBM in Generative AI, several from the Linux Foundation, and three from LES — “Foundations in IP Valuation,” “IP Licensing Basics,” and “IP Negotiation Basics.”
Before joining Nutanix, Casey was Director, Open-Source Licensing and Export at Cloudera. She also worked at IBM for nine years as a Contracts and Negotiations Executive and a Contracts Manager. She has an M.B.A. with a finance specialization from University of Redlands.
Casey joined LES in 2012, and has participated in the High-Tech and Chapter Committees. She definitely plans to pursue the Certified Licensing Professional credential.
LES has contributed to her career development in two ways – education and networking. She says, “LES routinely provides relevant webinars and other educational opportunities that I continue to apply to my day-to-day role. Some are new concepts, and others are refreshers. Additionally, the networking opportunities are endless, and everyone is happy to mentor and otherwise share their experience. My LES membership has been invaluable over the years.”
A veteran of many education classes, Casey thrived in the give-and-take that LES classes afforded. She said, “I appreciated the interaction with the members who were leading the classes, as well as with those who were attending. The live classes enabled a conversational approach where questions and answers were immediate. I’ve continued to keep in touch with several of the members, including those who were leading the classes.”
In her free time, Casey volunteers as a collaborator in writing the “Open Source AI” definition for the Open Source Initiative, a nonprofit. She’s currently working on version 0.0.7.1 and on later versions as well. She’s a member of the Association of Data Scientists, Free Software Foundation Europe, and several other professional organizations. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.