Stephanie Steinberg
Inventor of Shade-a-Baby

Stephanie Steinberg - How Things Can Go Wrong - Inventor of Shade-a-Baby

Never having thought of actually putting her ideas to work, Stephanie Steinberg had an inventing revelation. She can still recall the midnight awakening when she had a product idea that would solve her baby stroller dilemma.

The product was later named Shade-A-Baby and functioned as a stroller cover that provided wind and sun protection for her baby. For the next two tumultuous years she pursued product success thus resulting in frustration and disappointment not to mention debt! Stephanie will discuss the
many red flags she encountered along the way in her pursuit of product success and the end of her invention dream.

Stephanie co-founded the American Sun Protection Association, a trade organization for sun protection products. She is currently a journalist for local public television in Greenwood
Village, CO. She is married and has three children.

Mr. Forest also represents clients in connection with patent, trademark and trade secret litigation. His experience includes a landmark Trademark Trial And Appeal Board decision on the tacking of a non-trademark use to benefit a later trademark user, and a first impression Federal District Court decision lifting a stay on patent litigation during bankruptcy.

Tom Franklin is an intellectual property expert at the premier IP firm of Townsend and Townsend and Crew. As a patent attorney, his practice focuses on patents, trademarks and intellectual capital management, particularly for the high-tech industry. For the last five years, Mr. Franklin has worked with inventors in emerging and established industries to assist those inventors and their companies leverage their intellectual capital in the legal arena.

Before practicing as an attorney, Mr. Franklin spent eight years in industry as an Electrical Engineer concentrating in the areas of ASIC design and fabrication, cryptographic design, Internet-related technology, electronic system design, wireless technology, and software. Mr. Franklin spent several years working in semiconductor fabrication facilities at the Naval Ocean Systems Center and Hughes Aircraft and several more as a senior engineer for Lockheed Martin. At Lockheed, he served as a senior engineer responsible for highly sophisticated projects involving the design of complex digital circuits and encrypted data links.

Educated in Economics, Business, Computer Science, and Psychology, Michael has enjoyed a variety of careers before joining ARC Worldwide. After stints in Financial Accounting, Mutual Funds, and Banking, in the early 1980’s, Michael led an R&D team at Fortune Computer, which developed a software paradigm that enabled large, complex business systems to run on networked PCs under CPM on Z80s, hitting code reuse rates of 95%. The following years, Michael enjoyed the challenge of bring all types of change to large corporations: TQM, BPR, ISO-9000, Enterprise Software Solutions, Organizational Design, leadership training, and Management Consulting.

Michael loves Sharon, his sweet wife, his 3 wonderful children, his fantastic colleagues at ARC Worldwide, and living in Colorado.

Ron is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He has prepared and successfully prosecuted numerous patent applications in the fields of Internet-related technologies, computer software, computer hardware, telecommunications, and semiconductors. In addition, his experience includes counseling clients in all aspects of intellectual property, including rendering patentability, validity and infringement opinions.

Warren, an aerospace engineer, served as a system, design engineer with Martin Marietta Aerospace, Inc. for over 20 years and as an independent inventor / entrepreneur for over 10 years. Warren has successfully licensed his own inventions in the U.S. and overseas. Warren holds
several U.S. and foreign patents, is a commercial flight instructor, and has authored books on aircraft navigation, ISO 9000 quality assurance standards, and industrial process design. Warren hosted a thirty-four week public television series entitled The Inventing Process. Warren
serves on the Board of Directors of the Rocky Mountain Inventors and Entrepreneurs Congress. Warren and his partner, Scott Koepsell, have taught several courses on inventing and licensing to entrepreneurs, foreign dignitaries, and business executives.

Scott's diverse background includes sales and marketing and professional ski instruction with the Vail Ski School. Scott also has extensive experience as an environmental scientist and hydrogeologist and served as a Program Manager in the environmental engineering / reclamation
industry for over 10 years. Scott has one patent pending for an environmental exploration technology. Scott serves on the Board of Directors of the Rocky Mountain Inventors and Entrepreneurs Congress. Scott and his partner, Warren Roh, have taught several courses on
inventing and licensing to entrepreneurs, foreign dignitaries, and business executives.

Thomas Frey is one of the nations leading experts on the process of launching new businesses and new technologies. As the Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute he has helped dozens of inventors and entrepreneurs work through the process to launch their products.

Tom is also an internationally recognized futurist, author, and public speaker. His specialty is the future of technology and its impact on business and society. He is a 15-year veteran of IBM where he received more awards than any other engineer - over 270. His leading edge presentations have captivated people throughout the business world, including NASA, IBM, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, Boeing, Ford Motor Company, Allied Signal, Hunter Douglas, Direct TV, and many more.

Tom is the author of "Inventions of Impact" and has written numerous articles on a wide range of futurist topics. He has also been a contributing writer for The Futurist Magazine and is the producer of the Impact Lab emerging technology eZine.

During the past 17 years, Tom has launched 17 different businesses.