Augustine V. Cheng
Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer
480.884.1996 Email: acheng@azte.com
Augustine “Augie” Cheng has been CEO, managing director, and chief legal officer of AzTE since July 2007. Cheng is a member of the board of directors of AzTE. He serves as the designated IP 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 the ASU Foundation, the parent company of AzTE.
Prior to joining AzTE, Cheng was chief counsel of the Patent & Licensing Group in the Office of the General Counsel at Columbia University in New York. In that capacity, he was responsible for all legal affairs relating to Columbia’s patent protection and licensing programs. He has extensive experience in structuring, drafting, and negotiating agreements in the areas of IP 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 IP, research, and conflicts of interest while focusing on intellectual property, commercial litigation, and contracts.
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 the Honorable William H. Timbers of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Cheng received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Columbia College, Columbia University and attended Fordham University School of Law, where he served as an associate editor of the Fordham Law Review.
Currently a member of the national roster of arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association, Cheng holds the highest peer review rating (“AV”) for lawyers from Martindale-Hubbell. He is a member of the New York State Bar, United States District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and United States Supreme Court.
Cheng became AzTE’s managing director and chief legal officer in August 2007 and also holds the title of CEO. He is a member of the board of directors of AzTE and serves as the designated IP Official for ASU. He is a member of the advisory board of ASU’s Biodesign Impact Accelerator and the executive team of ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development.
Prior to joining AzTE, Cheng was chief counsel of the Patent & Licensing Group in the Office of the General Counsel at Columbia University in New York. In that capacity, he was responsible for all legal affairs relating to Columbia’s patent protection and licensing programs. He has extensive experience in structuring, drafting, and negotiating agreements in the areas of IP 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 IP, research, and conflicts of interest while focusing on intellectual property, commercial litigation, and contracts.
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 the Honorable William H. Timbers of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Cheng received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Columbia College, Columbia University and attended Fordham University School of Law, where he served as an associate editor of the Fordham Law Review.
Currently a member of the national roster of arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association, Cheng holds the highest peer review rating (“AV”) for lawyers from Martindale-Hubbell. He is a member of the New York State Bar, United States District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and United States Supreme Court.
