We are looking forward to 2007 as a good year for the Northeast Chapter of ACC, and we are ringing in some good news!
We have three excellent programs on the slate so far for 2007:

“Seismic Shift: Groundbreaking Changes in Patent Development, Licensing, and Protection,” scheduled for Jan. 24, and sponsored by Choate Hall & Stewart LLP;

“Staying Out of the Doghouse: Best Practices in Outside Counsel Management,” slated for Feb. 1 in Providence, R.I., and sponsored by Greenberg Traurig; and

an e-discovery program in western Massachusetts, also in February, with details still being finalized.
We will have additional seminars as well.
We held our second “Mini MBA” program in November 2006, once again at the Boston University School of Management Executive Leadership Center. Skadden Arps generously sponsored the event. The program focused on one case study, and all presentations were tied into the issues in the study. Attendance was excellent, and post-program feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
We have been asked to continue with the “mini MBA” theme in the future, and will certainly gauge the preferences of the membership in that regard.
There have been some changes in our Board of Directors. Bill Wise, who has been with the chapter almost from its inception, is stepping down as a long-time board member and current chair of the Pro Bono Committee. Bill accepted a new post at Analog Devices – chief compliance/business ethics officer.
In addition, Mela Lew, who has been with the board for several years, and was most recently co-chair of the All Day Event Committee, has also stepped down.
Bill and Mela’s contributions to the chapter are so many and varied we couldn’t possibly list them all. We wish them both well in their future endeavors.
I would like to welcome Claudia Gilman to our board. Claudia is vice president and general counsel, international, of Boston Scientific, and is eager to step up her participation in the chapter. We are sure her international experience and solid background will be an asset to the board.
The board has created two new committees, Diversity and Sponsorship. The Diversity Committee is chaired by Paul Cushing of Partners HealthCare, who is working closely with Winston Henderson of SurfaceLogix, and Greg Allard of Liberty Mutual to increase our diversity efforts. Our Sponsorship Committee is finalizing new sponsorship guidelines for the chapter. Details will follow at a later date.
In the past year, our chapter hit a major goal: We now have over 800 members. It is our hope that we can continue to provide solid educational opportunities for all members through our Programs Committee and All Day Event, and through our Advocacy, Ethics, and Diversity Committees, and give back to the community which supports us.
Best wishes for the upcoming year.

William O’Brien, corporate counsel at Hewlett-Packard, is president of the Northeast Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.