While nothing can avoid risks inherent in a global pandemic, Stephanie will review key legal topics that are arising from severe disruptions and company crises.

• She is a Partner in the Silicon Valley tech-centric practice of MOFO, a global law firm that has had an integral part in advising many of the leading photonics (JDSU- now Lumentum and Viavi among them), semiconductor and internet leaders during their recent decades of growth and globalization.
• A specialist in contract law pertinent to the supplier-customer relation, she works closely with corporate executives and corporate securities lawyers on practical solutions to typical business contract issues that may arise. She will outline topics of relevance coming through COVID-19, including when and how is “Force Majeure” relevant and how to address it.
• Stephanie will offer a risk mitigation and contracts review process specifically focused on an organization’s third-party customer and vendor relationships. The guidelines coming out of such a review should be applied more generally to on-going, and occasional disruptive, circumstances of business and customer relations.
• We will review and interactively simulate the interactions on a number of case study scenarios to highlight how you might deal with different objectives that arise in contracts between large and small firms.

Speaker:

Stephanie Sharron, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP Technology Transactions Group

Moderator:

John Dexheimer, OIDA Council Member, President, Lightwave Advisors, Inc.

Host:

Anjul Loiacono, OIDA Council Member

About the Speakers:

Stephanie Sharron assists companies with technology and life sciences transactions, representing both private and public companies, from emerging growth through the Fortune 50. In particular, Stephanie focuses on helping companies that leverage data through technology in structuring their business and commercial transactions.

Stephanie has over two decades of experience working with clients on the complex technology, intellectual property, and data rights issues across technology and business sectors, including, among others: cloud services, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), FinTech, Life Sciences, digital transactions, autonomous systems, cybersecurity solutions, semiconductors, HealthTech, EdTech and CleanTech.  Additionally, Stephanie advises on the commercial technology and intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, asset spin-off transactions, and private equity investments.

Since 2016, Stephanie has taught as a guest lecturer in the Technology Transactions course in Cornell Law School’s Technology and Entrepreneurship LLM program at CornellTech. She also was adjunct faculty at Cornell Law School for a Legal Issues in FinTech course.

John Dexheimer is President of LightWave Advisors, and he is an Optical Society OSA-OIDA Council member, a member of SPIE Prism Awards Judges, and a frequent speaker and panel organizer at SPIE Photonics West and OSA industry events. He has assisted in funding, M&A, and partnering for over technology 100 firms. Since 1994, he has been extensively involved in the photonics sector. He managed the IPO of Uniphase (now Lumentum and Viavi), helped it grow via acquisitions, then lead investments and acquisitions for several OE component and systems firms.  Recently he was a board member/advisor of a LIDAR firm which was acquired by Ford-Argo in 2017.  John has been a partner in several venture capital funds and an advisor to portfolio firms for numerous VC/PE investment funds in technology. He has held executive roles in startups and mature firms in addition to serving on Boards of public and private firms. John holds an MBA from Harvard University and a B.S. from the University of Minnesota, College of Science and Engineering where he is on the Advisory Board.