Augustine V. “Augie” Cheng

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer, Skysong Innovations

Augustine V. “Augie” Cheng has served at Skysong Innovations, where he is also a member of the board of directors, since 2007. He serves as the designated intellectual property official for ASU, and is a member of the executive team of ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development. In November 2011, Cheng was also appointed senior vice president and managing director of ASU Enterprise Partners, the parent company of Skysong Innovations.

Prior to joining Skysong Innovations, Cheng was founder and chief counsel of the patent and licensing group in the Office of the General Counsel at Columbia University in New York. In that capacity, he supervised a team of intellectual property attorneys and was responsible for all legal affairs relating to Columbia’s patent protection, licensing programs and related litigation. He has extensive experience in structuring, drafting and negotiating agreements in the areas of intellectual property licensing, industry-sponsored research, research consortiums, international collaborations and inter-institutional agreements.

During his tenure at Columbia, Cheng advised the university administration on policy issues relating to intellectual property, research and conflicts of interest while focusing on technology transfer, litigation and contracts. In addition, he advised the administration and board of trustees on the January 1998 merger between Presbyterian Hospital (the hospital affiliate of Columbia) and New York Hospital (the hospital affiliate of Cornell), and continued to work on post-merger issues for the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia.

Cheng has private practice experience as a litigation attorney in the New York law firms of Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Schulte Roth & Zabel. He also served as a law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge William H. Timbers of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Cheng received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and attended Fordham University School of Law, where he served as an associate editor of the Fordham Law Review. He holds an AV Preeminent® attorney rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

Augustine V. “Augie” Cheng

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer, Skysong Innovations

Augustine V. “Augie” Cheng has served at Skysong Innovations, where he is also a member of the board of directors, since 2007. He serves as the designated intellectual property official for ASU, and is a member of the executive team of ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development. In November 2011, Cheng was also appointed senior vice president and managing director of ASU Enterprise Partners, the parent company of Skysong Innovations.

Prior to joining Skysong Innovations, Cheng was founder and chief counsel of the patent and licensing group in the Office of the General Counsel at Columbia University in New York. In that capacity, he supervised a team of intellectual property attorneys and was responsible for all legal affairs relating to Columbia’s patent protection, licensing programs and related litigation. He has extensive experience in structuring, drafting and negotiating agreements in the areas of intellectual property licensing, industry-sponsored research, research consortiums, international collaborations and inter-institutional agreements.

During his tenure at Columbia, Cheng advised the university administration on policy issues relating to intellectual property, research and conflicts of interest while focusing on technology transfer, litigation and contracts. In addition, he advised the administration and board of trustees on the January 1998 merger between Presbyterian Hospital (the hospital affiliate of Columbia) and New York Hospital (the hospital affiliate of Cornell), and continued to work on post-merger issues for the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia.

Cheng has private practice experience as a litigation attorney in the New York law firms of Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Schulte Roth & Zabel. He also served as a law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge William H. Timbers of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Cheng received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and attended Fordham University School of Law, where he served as an associate editor of the Fordham Law Review. He holds an AV Preeminent® attorney rating from Martindale-Hubbell.