Leonora Hoicka is an intellectual property lawyer and agent specializing in patents, trademarks and copyright. She has worked in both private practice in Toronto and with IBM in Markham, Ontario and New York. With IBM, she performed several global roles, including managing IBM’s worldwide software patent portfolio and directing intellectual property law teams negotiating IP issues in customer agreements. As an Associate General Counsel of IBM Corporation in Armonk, New York from 2007 to 2020, she was IBM’s Chief Trademark Counsel managing a global trademark portfolio and providing legal support to the worldwide marketing and advertising department. Beginning in 2012, she also served as IP Counsel to IBM’s Watson business unit, one of the earliest commercial platforms for artificial intelligence and cognitive technologies. In 2021-2024, she assisted the Canadian College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents with developing internal processes during its start-up and served as an elected Director on the first permanent Board and on the Board’s Governance Committee. In 2024, she was appointed on Intellectual Property Ontario’s IP Advisory Panel advising the agency on policies and programs that enhance the protection, management and commercialization of “Ontario-made” research and innovation. Leonora is a past president of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada and is a recipient of the Institute’s Member of Distinction award.