Aon’s New Ventures Group, which was formed in October 2018 to accelerate Aon’s investment in innovative new products, is focusing its first efforts on intellectual property in order to help clients manage their intangible assets.

NVG is formally sponsoring the firm’s Aon’s Intellectual Property Solutions (IPS) team, which has developed a set of consulting, valuation and risk transfer offerings, which the NVG unit is now promoting for clients. (With its “sponsorships” NVG accelerates the promotion and investment in an initiative or a solution, explained an Aon representative).

Firms need to both identify and manage risks surrounding business-critical and proprietary data, while developing and executing strategies for maximizing shareholder value from their intellectual property, explained Aon.

To drive this and future initiatives, the NVG team has appointed Brian Cochrane as its chief commercial officer. Cochrane previously served as Aon’s executive vice president and global leader of M&A and Transaction Solutions. He will continue to oversee this unit as executive chairman.

In his new role with NVG, he will be responsible for assessing the commercial feasibility of new products and collaborating with Aon’s Operating Committee to ensure successful go-to-market products and services for clients.

The IPS team is led by CEO, Lewis Lee, founder of 601West, the IP consulting business within his former law firm, and president, Dennis Gaughan, who has 10 years with Aon’s M&A and Transactions Solutions team. Aon said that Lee and Gaughan are working closely with the NVG team to provide distinctive IP risk management knowledge and capabilities, while exploring IP commercial opportunities.

“We have long recognized there is a critical need to innovate at scale on behalf of clients and create new opportunities for growth,” commented Tony Goland, chief innovation officer and overall NVG leader. “[W]e are excited Brian has joined the team as chief commercial officer, with a current primary focus on our Intellectual Property Solutions.”

“[T]he NVG seeks to identify and develop new, high-impact sources of value for Aon’s clients, accelerate our ability to scale these high-impact solutions, and meaningfully contribute to Aon’s growth and performance,” said Cochrane. “This approach is enabling Aon to go ‘bigger and faster,’ driving growth-stage opportunities that have the potential to deliver meaningful value to clients.”

Aon’s NVG leadership team includes:

• Greg Case, chief executive officer
• Tony Goland, chief innovation officer
• Christa Davies, chief financial officer
• Bryon Ehrhart, global head of Strategic Growth and Development
• John Bruno, chief operations officer and chief executive officer, Data & Analytic Services
• Brian Cochrane, chief commercial officer, NVG, and executive chairman, M&A and Transaction Solutions

Source: Aon

*This story appeared previously in our sister publication Insurance Journal.