My name is Warren Tuttle and I am the
President of the Board of Directors for the United Inventors
Association.
It
is my sincere pleasure to donate a considerable amount of volunteer time and
effort to the pursuit of non-profit inventor education. For those who do not
know me personally, I have never accepted a dollar of upfront money from any
inventor that I have ever assisted…and there have been many thousands with whom
I have helped one way or another along the way. I have been incredibly blessed
to participate in the launch of some highly successful and innovative products
over the years. I also direct a cutting edge Open Innovation Program for a
dynamic, inventor friendly company. Perhaps this will help explain why I have
never charged an inventor a fee for my time or advice. I wish only the best for
every aspiring inventor in this country, and like many other professionals in
the industry I do whatever I can to help.
I
am writing this column because there are a few things you may not know about the
UIA and in particularly Mark Reyland, the Executive Director of the United
Inventors Association.
I
am here pledging my support and personal reputation within the greater inventor
community to help explain several behind the scenes things about Mark that many
of you may not be aware of, and the tremendous accomplishments he has initiated
during the past two years as our Executive Director.
First
and foremost, Mark is the most purely dedicated and passionate supporter of
inventors that I have ever met. Hands down. Period. I have met many folks who
might qualify as finalists for such an honor, but Mark certainly gets my
personal vote.
I
have spent hundreds of hours speaking with Mark about inventor issues. We speak
during the day, late in the evening, Saturdays and Sundays; we even find time to
talk when either of us is on extended travel around the US or the world. There
is never a time when Mark is not 100% up for the call. This does not mean that
we always lock-step agree on every topic that we debate. Sometimes I learn from
Mark, and sometimes he learns from me. But, we always dissect the issues and
arrive at the place we both know we need to be …what’s best for the inventor.
This refrain ultimately guides our course of action in everything we do in this
community.
Sometimes
Mark’s passion is expressed in unique ways. He is not always a politician.
Sometimes people misunderstand his directness. Mark can be very charming, but on
occasion, people who do not know Mark inadvertently misinterpret his passion and
tremendous focus on getting the task at hand accomplished. For those who know
him and see him in action on a regular basis though, we all admire his candor
and are always amazed at his knowledge, work ethic and drive. Please know that Mark regularly puts in 60 to
80 hours a week at the UIA and spends upward of 200 days a year traveling
between inventor clubs, Washington DC (where he leads the UIA effort to
strengthen inventor protection legislation and enforcement ) , meetings, and
tradeshows…never complaining.
When
we hired Mark as the Executive Director of the UIA two years ago, he was by far
the best candidate for the position. I am not just referring to his resume,
though in fact his resume is very impressive. Where Mark truly stood out was in
the personal interview process. He was screened several different times by the
hiring sub-committee of the UIA Board. I then personally spent almost two hours
speaking to Mark. I could tell from the
opening discussion that he knew the inventor community very well. He had
extensive experience in the commercialization of products and a plethora of
great ideas about how to improve our organization and help inventors.
It
was a critical time for the UIA to get back on track performing the mission it
was designed for when originally founded as an extension of the USPTO over 20
years ago. We all agreed unanimously
that Mark was the right person to lead the revival.
Mark
has not disappointed. He first set about getting our UIA fiscal house in order.
He streamlined and cut unnecessary expenses, while immediately setting and
executing a course for increasing necessary revenues.
This
came at a critical time when the Board had additionally voted to eliminate all
fees for UIA inventor memberships, placing greater pressure on Mark to raise
working capital through private donations. After two years, the UIA is today in
sound fiscal shape. Our corporate membership criteria have been strengthened and
many terrific new outside supporters have been generated.
I
might add that Mark is now setting our sights on even more non-profit donations,
and implementing a grant program that will eventually help diversify overall UIA
financial support. By the way, our individual inventor membership has grown by
over 260% since Mark came on board, so we must be doing something
right.
Mark’s
next task was to strengthen a supportive relationship between the UIA and the
almost 100 UIA certified inventor clubs around the country. These are real
inventors attending club meetings monthly, so this is an incredibly valuable
mission. Mark has extended the hand of friendship to these clubs by supplying
speakers to the clubs, purchasing Skype kits to allow speakers to present long
distance, organizing DRTV product review sessions and traveling himself to over
30 clubs each year to personally thank the club leadership, and make sure the
clubs know about the educational tools and the many efforts taking place on
their behalf at the national level.
Next
came strengthening our UIA Inventor Showcase programs with inventor booths and
educational programs at industry trade shows; an incredibly daunting and
valuable effort. The UIA had hosted the National Hardware Show Inventor
Spotlight Pavilion for several years when Mark became ED and the Board wanted to
expand the template. In less than two years,
Mark has lead us to host inventor programs at The Chicago Toy and Game show, The
PGA Golf Show, International Housewares Show, The SPREE show, The Global Pet
Expo, The Craft & Hobby Show, and expended the Hardware show inventor area
from 60 to 125 booths with a goal to host Inventor Pavilions at a dozen major
industry trade shows.
These
trade show deals are very complicated to negotiate and execute. Anyone who has
ever experienced one of these events knows how valuable they are to inventors,
connecting them with industry leaders and getting actual licensing agreements
signed. Today the Inventor Spotlight Trade Show Program is a bell weather asset
for the UIA and a successful educational program for inventors.
Here
are a few other UIA projects Mark has put a great deal of passion and leadership
into over the past two years.
He
organized the UIA’s involvement in the current QVC Sprouts program; a big time
effort to allow inventor’s easier access to one of America’s finest TV
retailers. He has arranged with Auburn University a college level accredited
course in inventing that, after initial testing, may be rolled out to
universities around the country. He has researched and supported efforts to
expand crowd funding financial models to assist inventors in raising capital for
start-up ventures. He has helped improve UIA relations with the USPTO and other
inventor dedicated non-profit groups and individuals. He has initiated inventor friendly PR
campaigns around the country and advised on developing virtual internet inventor
clubs to reach more rural communities. He built the UIA Inventor Education
Forum, The UIA Education Linkedin Groups, and, he writes a daily inventor blog 5
days a week, in a continuing effort to educate those folks new to the inventing
process. These are just some of the
things Mark has been responsible for developing.
So,
the next time you hear something said, or written, about Mark Reyland, please
take a moment to consider all Mark does for the inventor community. These are
Real projects, productive initiatives, and results oriented endeavors. I can
assure you he is putting his time, day and night, into helping aspiring
inventors. He has my respect and that of many other professionals in our
industry.
