Management Team
GTT differentiates itself from other firms in many ways, but perhaps most obviously by the high caliber of customer service offered by every team member.
Michael Lubitz
CEO & Chairman
Michael Lubitz is the CEO and co-founder of Global Technology Transfer Group. Previously, Michael was in-house counsel to Kyocera Industrial Ceramics Corporation and patent counsel to Shin-Etsu Handotai America. Mr. Lubitz is well known as a patent portfolio development specialist having developed crucial portfolios in the semiconductor and communications related areas that eventually led to significant patent asset transactions. Mr. Lubitz also advised the American Association for the Advancement of Science on technology transfer and new venture creation issues in Japan. Mr. Lubitz is a prolific entrepreneur and was a founder in Bitfone, a company acquired by Hewlett Packard for $160 million. Mr. Lubitz has a Bachelor of Science in General Business with an emphasis in Japanese from Arizona State University. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego.
Kari Laento
Co-founder & Representative Director
Kari Laento is a GTT representative director and heads up GTT’s Northern Europe operations. He was formerly the President and CEO of SnV Partners, a leading venture capital firm based in Helsinki, Finland. Mr. Laento was an early investor in Paypal. Previously, Mr. Laento was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Venture Capital for Sonera Corporation. He also served as the Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategic Sourcing and Intellectual Asset Management. Mr. Laento was a member of the Advisory Board for both the Noptek Fund and the TelAdvent Fund. Mr. Laento has published several books including, Intellectual Property Rights and Corporate Valuation, and he is a member of the prestigious IPR Roundtable. He monetized Neste Oy’s patent holdings in 1980 and is considered a pioneer in technology licensing. An accomplished Olympiad, Mr. Laento has served as both President and board member for the Finnish Basketball Federation and as a member of the board of the National Olympic Committee. Mr. Laento is proficient in four languages, Finnish, Swedish, English and German. Mr. Laento has a Master of Laws degree, University of Helsinki. He also attended Helsinki Business School, Finnish Institute of Management, and Darden Business School, University of Virginia.
George Fleming
Chief Financial Officer
George Fleming previously served as President of United Resources, an entity responsible for United Grocer's lending portfolio including secondary market development and SEC compliance. Subsequent to United Resources, Mr. Fleming managed his own financial services company specializing in providing secured financing for growing companies. Mr. Fleming brings over 40 years experience to GTT and is responsible for all significant aspects of GTT's financial, accounting and risk management operations. Mr. Fleming holds a B.S. from Portland State University.
Andrew Godsey
Director, Asset Services
As a Director of Asset Services, Andrew Godsey is part of a team of dedicated sales staff responsible for consistent and responsive worldwide client marketing and relations. Since joining GTT, Mr. Godsey has managed dozens of global patent related transactions including comprehensive valuation analyses, patent asset sales and strategic acquisitions. In his time at GTT, Mr. Godsey has developed GTT's client communication, customer service and negotiation protocol, which involves constant interaction and feedback with clients to produce the highest quality result possible in an effective and efficient manner. Prior to joining GTT, Mr. Godsey served as marketing consultant for several Fortune 1000 companies where he contributed to such areas as public relations, advertising, investor relations and sales management. Mr. Godsey holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Western Washington University.
Justin Reel
Director, Senior Patent Analyst
Justin Reel is a patent attorney who holds a degree in physics from Carnegie Mellon University and worked in software development for several years before attending law school at Willamette University. Before joining GTT, Mr. Reel worked for the Patent & Licensing Group at Intel Corporation, performing patent analysis and assisting patent prosecution. Mr. Reel is the principal architect behind GTT’s quantitative valuation system, which has combined traditional ratings-based systems with actual monetary valuations. In addition, Mr. Reel has further refined GTT”s comprehensive valuation methodology and analyst consensus approach. This approach has been validated repeatedly as the best in class valuation option for reaching accurate and reliable assessments when making business critical select patent asset based decisions. Mr. Reel supervises a team of GTT analysts who provide technical and market research for all core GTT services and departments.
