AST Announces Appointment of Russell Binns as Chief Executive Officer

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS–(Marketwired – Jun 23, 2014) – Allied Security Trust announced today that Russell Binns will join the trust as CEO effective July 1, 2014. Russ has been a Board Member of AST since 2009, and is currently the head of Intellectual Property Law, Licensing, and Litigation at Avaya Inc., where he has been for the past 10 years.

“Russ Binns brings to AST a deep understanding of technology, patent monetization and extensive management experience,” said Dan McCurdy, AST’s departing CEO. “He will join AST at a time when we are strongly positioned in the industry. I am confident that Russ will lead AST to even greater success through skilled execution and enhancement of AST’s strategy to reduce patent litigation risks for its members.”

Before joining Avaya, Russ spent 9 years as an intellectual property litigator and licensing attorney for Goodwin Procter LLP, and Weingarten, Schurgin, Gagnebin & Hayes LLP. He has a J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law Center and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University.

 “As a seasoned IP Professional with a broad background in technology and IP law, I believe Russ and the AST team have the vision and drive to deliver enhanced member value,” said Micky Minhas, Associate General Counsel, Patents, Microsoft Corporation.

About Allied Security Trust
AST (www.alliedsecuritytrust.com) is a Delaware Statutory Trust that identifies and analyzes high-technology patents being sold on the market, circulates those to its members and combines funds of interested member companies to purchase patents. It then sells the patents subject to licenses granted to those members, with the proceeds returned to the members that funded the purchase. To date, it has invested over US $400M to purchase over 1700 assets.