Chair, 2024-2026: Scott Hertzog (CAS) 

After receiving his degree in Chemistry, Scott worked as a chemical patent examiner at the US Patent & Trademark Office for a number of years and then became a searcher for Science IP (now CAS IP Services), searching small-molecule structures, as well as more general chemical and technical searching.

Scott later worked in the IP department of a large manufacturing firm, performing freedom to operate searches and has been training and consulting with clients on CAS solutions such as SciFinder and STN for the past seven years.

Scott lives outside of Charlotte, NC with his wife and daughter and enjoys traveling, gardening and playing guitar.

Telephone: +1 308-222-1474 (US)
Email: shertzog at cas dot org

Vice-Chair, 2024-2026: Ron Kaminecki 

Ron Kaminecki performs patent searches and instructs individuals on how to search patents. He is a Patent Attorney and an Adjunct Professor at the MS in Patent Law program at Notre Dame University School where he teaches patent searching. Next semester he will also teach a patent and trademark searching course at DePaul Law School. He has conducted technical and patent searches and has advised others on patent information since the mid-1970's. He worked as Manager of Patent Information at Abbott and also in various positions at Dialog, but has always worked with technical and patent information. He has a BS in Chemistry, an MS in Computer Science and a JD with a Certificate in Patent Law and is a co-inventor of a published patent application and a co-author of a NISO standard on a common command search language.

Telephone: +1 302-660-3275 (US)
Email: ron at kaminecki dot com

Secretary, 2024-2026: Kunal Bhalla (PatInnovate) 

Kunal Bhalla holds a master’s degree in engineering with biotechnology as specialization. He has diverse experience over 12 years in patent searching and analytics spanning across corporate and consulting firms. He was previously with Panacea Biotec (vaccine manufacturer) and Evalueserve (consulting firm) where he accumulated substantial experience in an in-house IP department and with consulting services. He is currently a managing partner in an IP startup firm, PatInnovate.

Telephone: +91 97112 99614 (India)
Email:  kunal dot bhalla at patinnovate dot com

Treasurer, 2024-2026: Christopher Baldwin (Clarivate) 

Chris has been involved in the patent information field since 1999 and a member of PIUG (on and off) for nearly as long. Today he manages a very talented team of solution consultants for Clarivate supporting many of our well known products and services such as Derwent Innovation, Innography, IPfolio, and many others. Prior to joining Clarivate, he was a solution consultant for LexisNexis PatentSight helping clients use patent analytics to inform critical business decisions. However, he actually honed most of his patent information and analysis skills as an information scientist for nearly 20 years with E. I. duPont de Nemours & Co. While at DuPont, he learned the fine art of legally significant patent searching from Pat Dorler, a founding member of PIUG. She had a passion and dedication to the profession that easily transferred to her apprentice. Over the years, his role expanded into patent landscaping, competitive analysis, and providing innovation assessments for discovery programs in Central Research & Development. 

Telephone: +1 215-823-6665 (US)
Email: treasurer at piug dot org 

Immediate Past-Chair, 2024-2026: Kartar Singh Arora (Clarivate) 

Kartar is presently working as a Team Leader in the IP Search area for Clarivate. He started his professional career as a research scientist with the Sherwin-Williams Company and continued that path for many years with Mead Corporation, Henkel and Johnson Polymer. Patent information has been central throughout his professional career. He got involved in prosecution of patents and later became responsible for the management of IP at Johnson Polymer and then at BASF. During this time, he passed the Patent Bar and registered as a Patent Agent with the USPTO.

Kartar joined PIUG in 2000 as patent information and searching took more importance in his professional career. He joined Landon IP in 2012 which became part of Clarivate through a couple of mergers and acquisitions where he is now responsible for management and execution of patent searches in the areas of Chemistry and Materials. Kartar has been an active volunteer for PIUG, starting as web page editor and continuing as Annual Conference Exhibits Committee chair and Annual Conference Program Committee Co-Chair.

Telephone: +1 248-697-7761 (US)
Email: kartar at ahkhs dot com

Director-at-large (2-year term), 2024-2026: John Zabilski

John Zabilski is the Chair of the PIUG Education Committee. John has received the PIUG Service Award in 2011 and in 2023 for his work with the Education & Training Committee. Previously he held multiple positions for over 40 years at Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) including indexing, development, training and consulting on how to search for patent information. John has provided on site and online training at many organizations including 10 patent offices, helped developing presentations for the WIPO Technology Innovation Support Centers (TISC), presented at AALL, ACS, PIUG, SLA meetings and represented PIUG at the China Patent Annual Conference in Beijing. John is a Registered U.S. Patent Agent and a Qualified Patent Information Professional (QPIP).

Telephone: +1 614-364-1349 (US)
Email: jzabilski at gmail dot com

Director-at-large, 2022-2026: Barbara Miller (Amgen)

Barbara is currently the Patent and Scientific Analyst in the Amgen IP Law group. Prior to joining Amgen in 2017, she was a Patent and Scientific Analyst at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research(NIBR) and an Information Scientist at Pfizer. She has a PhD in Biological Sciences from Emory University, a MS in Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance from Temple University, and a BS in Chemistry from Rhodes College. She has been a member of PIUG since 2010 and has served on various PIUG committees over the years, including the Biotechnology Conference Planning Committee and the Member Relations Committee. She is also a Qualified Patent Information Professional (QPIP) and serves on the QPIP Accreditations Committee.

Telephone: +1 617-444-5356 (US)
Email: bmille02 at amgen dot com