Reach out to a Licensing and Business Development Officer anytime or during one of our Office Hours to learn about partnering Cornell technologies with industry sectors and new venture community.
Licensing & Business Development
Business Development & Licensing
Technology and Venture Initiatives & Engagement
The Technology and Venture Initiatives & Engagement (TVIE) team is responsible for engaging a diverse audience through programs that range from funding to educational initiatives. TVIE coordinates the relationship with early-stage investors and angel groups, ensuring a continuous support cycle for Cornell’s IP-driven startups.
Communications
CTL communications leads strategic messaging and storytelling efforts that highlight Cornell’s impact in technology commercialization, innovation, and entrepreneurship. From managing digital content and newsletters to supporting campaigns and branding, the team works across units to elevate visibility, engage key audiences, and promote the university’s research-driven contributions to society and industry.
Intellectual Property Management
This team focuses on managing patent application and prosecution, IP information, relationship with outside counsel and government reporting.
Patent Management
IP Services
Contract & Finance
This team focuses on financial accounting services, contract services and royalty distributions. Reach out to a Finance & Operations expert during one of our Office Hours to follow up on innovation and license status.
Director for Contract & Finance
Email: yl2677@cornell.edu
Phone: 607-254-4496
As the Director for Contracts & Finance at CTL, Yalverton leads financial operations and contract management, directing agreement compliance, revenue collection and distribution, budget planning, and equity-holding management, among other activities. He supervises a team of finance and contract professionals to support tech transfer.
Yalverton has more than 20 years of experience driving strategic financial management, operational excellence, and high-impact team leadership in tech transfer. Before joining CTL in 2016, Yalverton held progressive leadership positions at Columbia Technology Ventures, where he developed deep expertise in technology commercialization, corporate accounting, and tax strategy.
He earned his Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Management with an Accounting specialization from Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business. Committed to institutional advancement, Yalverton serves on Cornell’s Employee Assembly Finance & Budget Board and contributes to the broader technology transfer community through his active participation in the AUTM Operations Committee.
Contract Services
Contract Manager
Email: rlm436@cornell.edu
Raelene Mellott joined the Center for Technology Licensing in May of 2023 as the Contract Manager. She manages the contracts team that supports agreements for IP management and licensing functions for the office.
Prior to Cornell, Raelene was a License Compliance Specialist for the Office of Technology Management at The Pennsylvania State University. There, she was responsible for the agreement data management, material and performance compliance enforcement, the distribution of licensing revenue, and developing revenue projections for management financial forecasts. She also has extensive investment management experience from her many years as an Accountant for Trinity Investments, a division of Oppenheimer-Funds. Raelene holds a BS in Accounting from the Pennsylvania State University.
Contract Services Representative
Email: kmt74@cornell.edu
Phone: 607-254-4683
Kimberly is a Contract Services Representative. Her main duties include assisting the Senior Administrator for Contract Services in the management and compliance of CTL’s contracts, including agreement entry, reminding our licensees of upcoming obligations and following up on any outstanding obligations.
Senior Administrator for Contract Services
Email: des33@cornell.edu
Phone: 607-254-4457
Danielle is the Senior Administrator in the management of all of CTL’s contracts, including docketing of new agreements and monitoring of active agreements to ensure compliance.
Danielle joined CTL in September 1998 as an Administrative Assistant and quickly expanded her responsibilities. She was promoted to the new position of Licensing Assistant where it was her responsibility to assist the Technology Commercialization and Liaison Officers with managing and licensing their patent portfolios. She moved to Contact Services in August 2007 as the Contract Services Administrator, and was promoted in 2014 to Senior Administrator for Contract Services with the support of a junior member of the group.
Prior to joining CTL, Danielle, a native of Canada, worked for 10 years as an Office Assistant for a sewer and water main wholesale/retail company where her main responsibility was Accounts Receivable management.
Financial Services
Finance Manager
Email: as2554@cornell.edu
Phone: (607) 255-7648
Ania joined the Center for Technology Licensing (CTL) as Finance Manager in January 2025. In this role, she manages royalty distributions, develops specialized accounting procedures to support IP activities, and ensures the accuracy and integrity of financial data. Ania also leads the accounts payable and receivable team, streamlines workflows, produces detailed performance reports, and implements operational improvements to enhance efficiency across the team.
Prior to joining CTL, she worked at the OVPRI Finance and Budget Office, where she managed multimillion-dollar grant-funded projects, focusing on budget oversight, financial compliance, and reporting.
A Summa Cum Laude graduate of Wells College, Ania holds a Bachelor of Science in Business. She leverages her analytical expertise and leadership skills to drive operational excellence, ensuring the ongoing success of CTL’s financial operations.
Administration
Ithaca
Office Manager
Email: cef98@cornell.edu
Phone: 607-254-4486
Camila Fuhr Diel is the Office Manager of the Center for Technology Licensing (CTL) at Cornell University. She manages data collection, reports and surveys to support office metrics and for internal and external stakeholders, and coordinates major IT projects for new tools and upgrades for the office. Camila is responsible for organizing the office’s key business meetings in IP and marketing to ensure on-time completion. She manages office procedures, serves as the HR liaison, organizes office events and works closely with the Executive Director to recognize CTL employees.
Camila holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Brazil and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before joining CTL in January 2020, Camila worked at South Dakota State University as a Sponsored Program Specialist and Licensing Coordinator at the Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization. Camila’s tech transfer experience also includes a 2-year term as Patent Coordinator at a venture capital firm located in Brookings, South Dakota.
Administrative Assistant
Email: ef467@cornell.edu
Elanore provides administrative support to the Center for Technology and Licensing (CTL) at Cornell University. In addition to maintaining and organizing office operations, she assists the Ithaca team and Director with scheduling and clerical needs.
Elanore holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Slippery Rock University. Prior to joining CTL in January of 2025, she worked for a specialized pet care business in Pittsburgh, PA where she discovered a passion for positive training. She also worked at Bank of New York Mellon for five years specializing in foreign exchange operations and corporate trust.”
Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM)
Office Manager
Email: acheng@cornell.edu
Phone: (212) 516-3270
Annie Cheng is the Office Manager at the Center for Technology Licensing at Weill Cornell Medicine. In addition to managing activities related to the office’s daily operations, she handles attorney invoices and patent reports. She also works closely with WCM inventors to complete formal papers.
Prior to joining the Center for Technology Licensing, Annie worked at GE Medical Systems as a mechanical engineer. She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Administrative Assistant
Email: bjm279@cornell.edu
Phone: (646) 849-4194
Brenda DeWitt is the administrative assistant of the Center for Technology Licensing at Weill Cornell Medicine. She supports the New York City team with all administrative tasks including office operations and procedures, scheduling and correspondence. She returns to Weill Cornell Medicine after three years. Previously, she worked at Weill Cornell Medicine as an administrative assistant in the Department of Surgery’s Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. Prior to joining Weill Cornell Medicine Enterprise Innovation in 2022, Ms. DeWitt also worked at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
