Posted on August 17, 2012

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Vice President, Global Good

Intellectual Ventures (“IV”) is a privately-held, invention investment company based in Bellevue, Washington. Intellectual Ventures is the leader in the business of invention. Driven by the belief that invention sparks progress, Intellectual Ventures is committed to creating and sustaining a market for invention and being the leading invention partner for the world’s most innovative companies and individuals. The company creates new inventions, invests in existing inventions and partners with individuals, universities and research labs worldwide to develop inventions. Intellectual Ventures provides companies access to these inventions through a variety of licensing and partnering programs.

IV seeks a seasoned executive with passion, drive, tact and humility to lead Global Good (“GG”). GG is small evergreen invention development fund managed by Intellectual Ventures and funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (“BMGF”) Trust, GG’s charter is to solve challenging problems facing the developing world by using first world invention, product development, and business development techniques. GG’s focus is on invention and proof of concept work and finding partners to take over commercialization and deployment of the product concepts. GG works very closely with BMGF, and also with governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and commercial partners to target, conceive, develop and deploy inventions that improve and save lives. This executive must be effective at leading a small group of talented professionals directly, while simultaneously leveraging a much larger group of indirect IV constituents such as: IV lab research scientists, IV lab product engineers, and IV business and corporate function leaders who support GG activities through a matrix organization. The VP GG will need to be a pragmatic and impactful team leader with a track record of delivering new products to market by building strong internal and external partnerships.

Responsibilities:

Leadership, Innovation and Execution: The VP GG will be a strong leader and communicator, with a sound technical background, extensive product and business development experience, and some practical knowledge of challenges in the developing world. This executive will be able to garner trust and respect from a diverse group of stakeholders including a very talented and technological-savvy employee population, senior executives within IV and external partners. This executive will:

• Be inspired and inspire others to harness the power of invention to solve challenging problems in the developing world;
• Connect the inventing power of IV Labs and IV Inventors with strategic commercial and deployment partners to improve life in developing countries;
• Lead a small team (~15 people) that works through influence and partnerships to effect positive change on a global scale;
• Work closely with Nathan Myhrvold and Bill Gates to understand their priorities in order to focus GG on the most impactful R&D opportunities;
• Partner with IV Lab’s leadership team and scientists to align R&D efforts with market opportunities for new inventions and a shared vision for bringing new products to market;
• Provide leadership in collaboration with the IV Lab on how to effectively bring new products to market ensuring that GG products are well designed and meet the needs of their developing world markets;
• Effectively forecast, analyze, and manage the performance of specific programs or projects, the product portfolio, and the intellectual property assets of the business;
• Develop and manage a multi-million dollar annual budget for the GG fund, and drive product deployment plans (in terms of market opportunities and product development pathways) to achieve the greatest positive impact on the global good with thoughtfully managed cost structure;
• Attract, develop, and maintain an ecosystem of commercial and strategic field partners to enable global scale manufacturing, licensing, distribution and sales of new resulting products;
• Clarify unmet needs in the developing world through literature search, and market-based research and field experience;
• Engage in dialogue with leaders and stakeholders of government and non-government organizations to achieve GG objectives;
• Provide leadership and coach Program Managers through the challenges of leading cross-functional and complex matrix team environment;
• Attract, develop and retain high caliber talent that can deliver results against the ambitious objectives of the organization;
• Present product pipelines, partnership opportunities and budget information on a quarterly basis, ensuring that the Fund’s financial backers are well informed and advised;
• Conduct periodic international travel in developing countries throughout Africa and elsewhere to visit prospective end-users, field partners (e.g. governments and NGOs), commercial partners, leaders in the world health community, etc.;
• Provide clear guidance to individual contributors, and build collaboration with broader teams to excel for a common purpose.

Qualifications and Required Skills:

• Seasoned business executive with a minimum 15 years' related experience launching and commercializing a wide range of products on a global scale;
• Proven ability to collaborate and achieve results through influence across a complex matrix organization with numerous and diverse stakeholders;
• Comfortable working within and delivering results in an entrepreneurial culture as well as with government and nonprofit organizations;
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into clear operating plans and operational excellence in the delivery of results;
• Corporate-wide portfolio, program and project management experience;
• Quantitative measurement and management reporting and analytical skills;
• Experience developing and/or commercializing products for the developing world preferred;
• Able to demonstrate history of successfully envisioning, defining and delivering products that meet specific use cases;
• Experience working with NGOs and government organizations preferred;
• Education: MBA preferred.

The position is based in Bellevue, Washington.

We are an equal opportunity employer.

To Apply: Please apply directly: http://bit.ly/vpglobalgood