Bill Coughlin started out as an electrical engineer working in a research lab developing batteries for electric vehicles. He went on to become a partner at Harness, Dickey & Pierce, and later chief patent counsel at Chrysler. He also worked for a while in Stuttgart, Germany, for DaimlerChrysler as its IP legal chief.
Today, Bill is the president and CEO of Ford Global Technologies, where he is responsible for all intellectual property matters worldwide for Ford Motor and its subsidiaries. Bill is also a member of the board of directors for the Intellectual Property Owners Association and an adjunct professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in its LLM program for IP. He is also an inventor and was named Entrepreneur of the Year for 2013 by Michigan’s largest business association.