STEVEN B. LUETHJE 3440 Lochinvar Avenue Santa Clara, CA 95051 408-248-7689 sl1aec212@westpost.

net

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY Uniquely qualified High Tech Executive and Business & Intellectual Property Strategist with an MBA, advanced management training from Harvard and 20+ years experience at IBM and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. Dynamic, diversified career began as a Manufacturing/Development Engineer and progressed through lead roles in development management, product integration, project management and more. * Leverage business acumen, analytical skills and astute problem solving abilities to help companies achieve their strategic objectives and articulate a future vision. * Skilled relationship builder, with a proven track record in managing high-performance teams and partnering with diverse, global stakeholders to achieve a win-win situation. * Continuously seek innovative ways to improve operational efficiency, through the introduction of new technologies, systems, methods and controls. KEY COMPETENCIES Intellectual Property Strategy Contract Negotiation Staffing/Global Team Leadership Strategic Planning/Tactical Execution Project Management Change Management Litigation Defense Patent Portfolio Management Operations & Licensing Process Reengineering Risk Mitigation Partnerships and Alliances Conflict Resolution Due Diligence/M&A Integration

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE HITACHI GLOBAL STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES; 1993 - Present (formerly IBM Storage Systems Division purchased by Hitachi, 2003); 18 years GLOBAL DIRECTOR, WORLD WIDE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY STRATEGY, OPERATIONS & LICENSING (2009 - Present) Develop corporate intellectual property strategy for $6B company with a patent portfolio of 4000+ worldwide and 3500+ in the US (#1 or #2 in the industry). Manage a team of 18, 8 of whom are in Japan. Oversee patent prosecution, internal and joint development technology management and licensing activities. Provide support and strategic guidance for multiple patent litigation defense activities. Critical resource on due diligence and M&A efforts. KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS: * Took control of IP program with increasing costs and declining revenue and devised turnaround strategies; redefined the whole approach to patent protection and executed a comprehensive redesign focusing on ROI. - Transformed environment from an entrenched bureaucratic

organization to one aware of, and responsive to, the changing market. - Established portfolio management process, created metrics and drove education of the IP legal team through regular staff meetings and 1-1 discussions. Empowered key employees to take more risk in strategic contracts/negotiations. - Generated an immediate savings of $1.2MM annually (out of $8MM IP budget). - Stabilized revenue by identifying new opportunities in the industry supplier base, resulting in an additional $9MM in licensing income. - Instrumental in negotiating a strategic alliance with Intel to establish a presence in Solid State Storage Devices (SSDs), a company first. Developed a strategic acquisitions pipeline by evaluating smaller companies and market positions. * Realigned cultural and organizational values between Asia and US. Within 6 months, defined and evangelized a new process that greatly improved the quality and value of inventions being filed by 500-600 engineers and scientists in Japan. Recruited a new Japan-based Legal Manager and made structural management changes that allowed company to focus its patent filing in 3 key countries that were likely litigation venues. * Collaborated with in-house litigation counsel to prepare technical/legal evaluation of noninfringement/invalidity and other defenses for 5+ nonpracticing entity patent infringement suits and other claims, all receiving very favorable settlements/wins. * Led IP evaluation and seamless integration of 2 highly complex M&A transactions. - Primary negotiator for IP terms for $4.3B sale of Hitachi stock to Western Digital. Provided due diligence materials for licensing, non-disclosure agreements, trademark, trade secrets, invention process, open source, Web domains, etc. Negotiated all terms for indemnities, representations and warranties. - Coordinated IP diligence and IP integration activities for $50MM consumer- oriented storage solutions company with hardware/software components. * Developed multi-year strategic plan (MBA work) by studying Hitachi's corporate culture/structure, operational metrics/processes, financial capabilities, marketing, macroeconomics, etc. Interviewed senior leaders and used techniques such as McKinsey 7S Framework, Porter five forces, Porter value chain, and Resourced Based View (Dess). SENIOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING & ALLIANCES MANAGER (2001 - 2009) Propelled IP licensing activities generating $20-50MM in licensing revenue annually. Coordinated patent analysis, prepared negotiating positions/strategies and conducted contract negotiations with clients such as Microsoft, Infineon AG, Renesas, Excelstor, Hitachi Systems and Services, TDK and Echostar. Managed team of 5 (1 direct report). KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS: * Maximized value of signal processing IP design investment. Established licensing programs with IC

manufacturers in Japan and Germany, allowing them to leverage Hitachi's IP to create solutions for others. Each party also provided unique IC design blocks to the partnership, enabling Hitachi to use its resources for other projects. - Efforts led to $14MM+ in returns while substantially reducing development risk and securing multiple sources of supply. * Created 4 separate technology licenses with an entity in China, facilitating production of multiple hard disk drive designs and related components over 3 years. Licensing revenues for these agreements exceeded $30MM. * Lead negotiator for joint development and licensing contracts in the US, Asia and Europe requiring coordination of IP and General Legal attorney teams, Corporate Development and senior business executives. SENIOR TECHNOLOGY PRODUCT INTEGRATION MANAGER (1998 - 2001) Successfully integrated magnetic head technologies for 3 enterprise-class disk drive products. DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MANAGER (1997 - 1998) Oversaw development of all manufacturing and test equipment. Built a department of 12 providing disk drive component (Head Stack Assembly and Head Gimbal Assembly) manufacturing engineering for OEM customer accounts. Coordinated transfer of manufacturing and test equipment to China. FAILURE ANALYSIS ENGINEER (1995 - 1997) Directed engineering teams and manufacturing personnel worldwide. Produced a continuing yield improvement of 5%+ while reducing customer-discovered problems 70%. PROJECT MANAGER (1994 - 1995) Built and guided team providing manufacturing engineering support for OEM customer accounts. Transferred manufacturing processes to suppliers in Korea and China. MANUFACTURING ENGINEER (1993 - 1994) Established and maintained control of new Head Gimbal Assembly (HGA) operations. Led implementation of a sophisticated data tracking/yield management system. IBM, East Fishkill Electronic Packaging Laboratory; 1988 1993 MANUFACTURING ENGINEER/DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER; 5 years PROFESSIONAL TRAINING Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (Hitachi) - Strategy Development and Practical Leadership Psychology (Teams/Individuals) EDUCATION Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA M.B.A., General Business & Integrated Strategy Development, 2009, Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Graduate Iowa State University, Ames, IA B.S., Metallurgical Engineering, Cum Laude