In March 2021, ChIPs Board Chair and Co-founder Noreen Krall, Chief Litigation Officer at Apple, moved to Board Director Emeritus status, and the ChIPs Board of Directors unanimously elected Board Member Katherine Minarik, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Coinbase, into the role of Board Chair.

For more than a decade, Noreen Krall has passionately served the ChIPs organization, playing an integral role in the development and support of critical initiatives including ChIPs Next Gen programs, Honor Roll and the Rachel Krevans Scholarship.

One of Noreen’s primary aspirations as a co-founder of ChIPs was to push organizations, whether it be law firms or corporations, to promote more women lawyers into more leadership opportunities. The manifestation of this vision is found in the ChIPs Honor Roll, which recognizes law firms who promote and practice inclusive behaviors that are known to increase diversity of leadership and teams. Noreen has also been a strong advocate for the next generation of women in tech, law and policy. In her role as Co-chair of the ChIPs Scholarship Committee, Noreen created the first ever scholarship for women law students, the Rachel Krevans Scholarship, funded by Morrison & Foerster and set up in memory of renowned IP litigator and Morrison & Foerster partner Rachel Krevans.

“More than fifteen years ago, seven chiefs of IP in Silicon Valley came together for a lunch. We wanted to connect with other women facing the same challenges. We had no idea we would build something so much bigger. That lunch became ChIPs, which is now a global community of thousands of women in tech law.” Noreen Krall said. “We have now had more than a decade of connecting and advancing women through the ChIPs Global Summits, the launch of the Rachel Krevans scholarship, the ChIPs Honor Roll survey, the Next Gen conference, and all of the connections built along the way. My ChIPs co-founders and I are so proud and grateful for the opportunity to make lasting change in our profession. As the last co-founder on the ChIPs board, I am thrilled to hand over the board chair role to one of the longtime leaders in our ChIPs community, Katherine Minarik. I cannot wait to see the impact that the next generation of ChIPs will make for even more women in tech, law, and policy.”

We’re deeply grateful to Noreen for her vision and leadership over the years. She has helped ChIPs grow, deepen its impact, and create meaningful change for women in tech law.

Katherine Minarik is a longtime supporter of ChIPs and has been actively involved in ChIPs’ leadership for the past several years, including co-chairing our Next Gen Committee, Honor Roll Committee, and Chicago Chapter before joining the ChIPs Board. In addition to being actively engaged with ChIPs, she is a longtime advocate for women in the legal profession. Katherine is a past-president of the Coalition for Women’s Initiatives in Law, where she led the expansion of the Coalition to become a national organization. Katherine has received numerous awards for her work on behalf of women in the legal profession and the advancement of women’s issues through the law, including the Ruth Goldman Award from the American Constitution Society. Katherine is also the co-host, along with fellow ChIPs board member Sarita Venkat, of the podcast Heels of Justice which shares the stories of exceptional women lawyers.

“ChIPs has changed the trajectory of my career dramatically and for the better. I am absolutely honored to follow in the footsteps of Noreen Krall and to take on this new leadership role with ChIPs, so I can pay that forward. The ChIPs board understands personally the challenges that women lawyers are facing today, especially after a year like 2020. We can’t wait to bring new programming and initiatives to the ChIPs community in 2021 that will expand all of our opportunities and connections with one another. We are forever indebted to the ChIPs co-founders for what they have given us, and to Noreen in particular for her incredible leadership especially through the past year.” Katherine said.

We’re looking forward to Katherine serving as Board Chair and deepening ChIPs’ growth and impact even further.