Keith Daniel Bergelt (born September 11, 1958) is an American corporate executive and former U.S. diplomat. He is CEO of

Open Invention Network Open Invention Network (OIN) is a company that acquires patents and licenses them royalty-free to its community members who, in turn, agree not to assert their own patents against Linux and Linux-related systems and applications. History The co ...

where he is responsible for coordinating the establishment and maintenance of a patent ‘‘no-fly” zone around

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

. As such, he is responsible for safeguarding an open and competitive landscape in key technology markets such as back-office transaction processing, mission critical IT applications, mobile communications/smartphones, and desktop computing.

Early life

Bergelt was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and was raised in the village of

Bayville, New York Bayville (sometimes also referred to as Pine Island) is a village located in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 6,669 at the 2010 census. The Incorporated Vi ...

on the North Shore of Long Island. He attended St. Boniface Martyr School in

Sea Cliff, New York Sea Cliff is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the village population was 4,995. Geography According to the United States Census B ...

and is a graduate of Locust Valley High School. He was a high school classmate of Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, U.S. Ambassador to the

UN Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis ...

Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

Education

Bergelt holds degrees from Duke University’s

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

(AB), the

Dedman School of Law Southern Methodist University, SMU Dedman School of Law, commonly referred to as SMU Law School or Dedman School of Law is a law school located in Dallas, Texas. It was founded in February 1925. SMU Law School is located on the campus of its pare ...

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , ...

(JD), and

Edhec Business School EDHEC Business School (french: Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales du Nord) is a French grandes écoles business school with campus locations in: Lille, France; Nice, France; Paris, France; London, UK; and Singapore. EDHEC offers its flagship Mas ...

(Theseus MBA). In addition, he has studied management at

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...

and Institut National des Telecommunications (INT) in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and economics and technology policy at

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

's McLaren Graduate School of Business.

1982-2000

Upon graduation from law school, he entered public service and held diplomatic postings at the UN in

and the American Embassy in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. During his 12-year public service career he also lived in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He was a colleague and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

partner of U.S. Treasury Secretary

Tim Geithner Timothy Franz Geithner (; born August 18, 1961) is a former American central banker who served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. He was the President of the Federal Reserve Bank o ...

during their time together at the American Embassy in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

in the early 1990s. After the Berlin Wall fell in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bergelt left government service and embarked on a private sector career in C-level strategy consulting focused on innovation at SRI Consulting in Menlo Park, CA. While at SRI Consulting, he co-founded the first strategy consulting practice in the area of intellectual asset management at a major strategy consulting firm. This practice enabled companies to develop strategies to more effectively build, manage and leverage the value of their codified (patents, trademarks, copyrights) and non-codified (knowledge, know-how, etc.) intellectual capital through licensing, joint ventures, donation, abandonment and the creation of spin-outs, spin-ups and spin-ins uniquely suited to monetize corporate intangible assets.

2000-present

Bergelt was then brought into

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorol ...

Corporation in Schaumburg, IL to establish and serve as General Manager of its Strategic Intellectual Asset Management business unit focused on distilling value from Motorola’s intellectual property. In addition, he served as Director of Technology Strategy during his tenure at Motorola. Following his experience at Motorola and coincident with the departure of

Bob Galvin Robert William "Bob" Galvin (October 9, 1922 – October 11, 2011) was an American executive. He was the son of the founder of Motorola, Paul Galvin, and served as the CEO of Motorola from 1959 to 1986. Motorola career Born in Marshfield, Wiscon ...

from the Motorola Board of Directors, he was recruited by Kelso & Company, the New York-based private equity firm, to manage IP strategy, business development and licensing for its IP-based portfolio company – Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) – in

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge became ...

. After establishing the strategy and licensing program at CDT for Kelso, Bergelt was then engaged by

Texas Pacific Group TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in growth ...

(TPG) as a full-time advisor to its Technology Investment Group, until he was recruited by Principal Financial Group to establish and run the first-of-its-kind IP Fund and financial services advisory firm, focused on transforming IP into a viable source of collateral and a fourth lending vertical to complement asset-based lending backed by property/plant/equipment, accounts receivable and inventory. During his tenure as the CEO of Paradox Capital, Bergelt worked with professionals from banking and IP law to raise over $350MM in capital that enabled Paradox to pioneer the emergence of IP as a viable asset class in asset-based lending and, in so doing, obviate the necessity for second lien lending into IP-rich companies. Bergelt was then recruited by IBM, Red Hat,

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

and Novell to serve as the CEO of

, a pro-competitive defensive patent management organization established to enable freedom to operate in Linux and to support the democratization of innovation occasioned by open source projects such as Linux. 'Bergelt has been the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

since 2008. He is responsible for defending the integrity of the

ecosystem. Previously, Bergelt had criticized

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

several times for its behavior towards the open source community. When Microsoft changed its behavior, embraced the open source community and signed the Open Invention Network cross license, Bergelt was pleased with the company. He has also been interviewed by Linux.com"Meet Open Invention Network CEO Keith Bergelt (video)"
/ref> at the 2008

LinuxWorld LinuxWorld has various meanings: * LinuxWorld Conference and Expo - a series of Linux conferences worldwide that became OpenSource World in 2009 * LinuxWorld Magazine - a print publication produced from 2003 to 2006 * LinuxWorld.com Internation ...

Expo.

References

External links

Management – Open Invention Network

LinuxCon 2010 , Speakers , Linux Foundation Events

Bergelt calls Canonical membership part of new OIN strategy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergelt, Keith American technology chief executives Linux people Living people 1958 births People from Bayville, New York People from Sea Cliff, New York People from Locust Valley, New York Dedman School of Law alumni Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni