SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — RPX Corporation, the leading provider of patent risk management solutions, today announced that Jon Knight has joined RPX as Executive Vice President, Business Development, effective May 13, 2019.
In this role, Mr. Knight is responsible for engaging with businesses of all sizes around the world to understand their patent challenges and inform them of the range of solutions RPX provides to its members to address those challenges.
Mr. Knight brings two decades of experience at International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) to RPX. Most recently, he served as General Manager, Client Financing for IBM Global Financing (IGF), where he was responsible for IGF’s end-user financing business. IBM Global Financing is the world’s largest IT captive financier with clients in over 60 countries and more than 20 industries. He also served as Vice President for Intellectual Property, responsible for the licensing, sales, enforcement, and joint development of IBM’s worldwide intellectual property portfolio.
“The effectiveness and strength of RPX lies in the breadth and depth of expertise members can access on our platform and the IP professionals who work tirelessly to solve members’ patent challenges,” said RPX CEO Dan McCurdy. “As the RPX membership network grows, so does the scale and efficiency of our defensive patent acquisition efforts and related solutions. Jon’s experience makes him remarkably well-suited to help drive that growth. I am excited to welcome Jon to the RPX team and look forward to working with him to bolster what makes us the market leader—the power of the collective.”
“RPX’s innovative solutions provide companies with actionable, and unrivaled, ways to manage their patent-related risks,” said Mr. Knight. “By bringing companies together to solve their shared challenges, RPX creates efficiencies both for its members and the market overall. The value it creates for its members grows stronger with each new member. I am excited to lead the charge to bring more companies into this leading-edge network.”
Before joining IBM, Mr. Knight was a Vice President at Merrill Lynch covering financial institutions and has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. Mr. Knight has an MBA in Finance and an MS in Taxation from Fordham University’sGraduate School of Business Administration, and he holds a BA in Economics and Psychology from the College of the Holy Cross. A competitive triathlete, Mr. Knight lives in California with his wife and two daughters.
ABOUT RPX
RPX Corporation is the leading provider of patent risk solutions, offering defensive buying, acquisition syndication, patent intelligence, insurance services and advisory services. Since its founding in 2008, RPX has introduced efficiency to the patent market by providing a rational alternative to litigation. The San Francisco-based company’s pioneering approach combines principal capital, deep patent expertise, and client contributions to generate enhanced patent buying power. By acquiring patents and patent rights, RPX helps to mitigate and manage patent risk for its growing client network.
As of March 31, 2019, RPX had invested over $2.5 billion to acquire more than 46,000 U.S. and international patent assets and rights on behalf of approximately 320 clients in eight key sectors: automotive, consumer electronics and PCs, E-commerce and software, financial services, media content and distribution, mobile communications and devices, networking, and semiconductors.
