James A. Poulos, III is a registered patent attorney. From 1991-1998 Mr. Poulos was responsible for the US patent portfolio of the multi-national company Zambon Group S.p.A. (Zambon). Zambon is the largest Italian-owned pharmaceutical company in Italy. Mr. Poulos prosecuted a patent application of Nobel Laureate, Giulio Natta and licensed patents of Nobel prize candidate.
After a national search, Mr. Poulos was named the Executive Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization at the University of Maryland, College Park in June of 2000. In that office, Mr. Poulos negotiated over 200 license agreements with commercial entities both within and outside the state of Maryland. During his tenure over 30 University spin-off companies were created, including Quantum Photonics (College Park, MD), Little Optics (Columbia, MD) and RioRey, Inc. (Bethesda, Maryland). These three companies received over 85 million dollars in combined venture capital funding.
Mr. Poulos was the Vice President of Technology Transfer and Commercialization at Maryland TEDCO where he oversaw Technology Transfer funding programs, including the Maryland Technology Transfer and Commercialization Fund—the National Award-winning economic development program. At TEDCO, he created the angel event named the Power of Ten™. These events attracted angel and venture funding for TEDCO portfolio companies.
Mr. Poulos recently left Federal employment where he worked as a Technology Transfer Coordinator for the USDA, Agricultural Research Service, first serving as the TTC for the Beltsville Area and the North East Area. He is now a TEDCO DefTech Advisor.
Mr. Poulos received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from The University of Maryland, College Park, 1979, his law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law, 1984. He has taken graduate courses in the fields of patent law (George Washington University) and Life Sciences (University of Maryland, College Park) and undergraduate courses in Equine Business Management (University of Maryland, College Park).
Awards include:
2018 FLC Mid-Atlantic award for Outstanding Technology Transfer Professional.
2019 FLC National award for Outstanding Technology Transfer Professional.
Mr. Poulos is the Co-breeder of the 2022 Maryland Thoroughbred of the year, Fille d’Esprit.