Panelists
As an intellectual property attorney with a business litigation background, Brian helps individuals and organizations of all sizes establish, protect and enforce their intellectual property in the United States and abroad. Brian takes a practical approach to brand protection, balancing goals, strategy and budget. Among other things, Brian assists clients with:
- trademark protection and enforcement, including selection and clearance of new marks, trademark registration in the Unites States and abroad, trademark portfolio strategy, licensing, dispute resolution and litigation;
- copyright protection and enforcement, including registration, takedown of online infringement, licensing, dispute resolution and litigation;
- creating brand protection strategies for clients in variety of industries, including software and technology, health, educational services, professional services, consumer goods, food and beverage, fashion, jewelry, natural products and dietary supplements;
- drafting and negotiating a variety of intellectual property and technology agreements, including trademark and copyright assignment and license agreements, software license agreements, and website and mobile application terms of use;
- working with foreign counsel to protect clients’ intellectual property rights abroad.
Co-founder and CEO of independent ad agency Words From The Woods, Meranne is a powerhouse in brand strategy and consumer psychology. She’s the brains behind iconic campaigns like Delta Airlines’ Keep Climbing (W+K), Got Chocolate Milk? (Deutsch/Lowe), Aruba’s One Happy Island (Deutsch/Lowe), and the strategic rebrand of L.L.Bean (VIA). A two-time Effie Award-winner and Emmy Award-nominee, she’s worked with brands across categories including Food & Beverage, Spirits, CPG, Beauty, Finance, Tourism, and Healthcare to build impactful branding and marketing that drives business growth. Meranne left the New York City ad world to found Words From the Woods in Portland, Maine with her husband and business partner Luke Behrends in 2018.
Greer is a people-obsessed strategist with 15 years of experience designing behavior-shifting marketing for some of the world’s leading brands. She has a deep expertise in digital and social, rooted in her work leveraging emerging platforms in the outdoor travel industry and pioneering second screen strategies for NBC’s primetime lineup. Since then, her career has taken her to live in big cities and small towns across the US on both the brand and agency side, developing integrated marketing for brands as diverse as Starbucks, Nestle, REI, and Zillow. As Chief Strategy Officer of Words From The Woods, Greer helps organizations harness the power of their brands to drive humans to action.
Before joining Words From The Woods as Managing Director, Kelly was a small business owner herself, co-founding and launching one of Maine’s most successful breweries. Since then, she’s dedicated over a decade of her career to helping other businesses big and small navigate their most complex challenges with clarity and purpose. At Words From The Woods, Kelly has led the agency to achieve five years of continuous growth, expand into a new physical office space, and bring on fresh talent to meet increasing demand – all while guiding clients like Saddleback, Stio, The Nature Conservancy, and MaineHealth towards growth and success.
Brian Thomas, Esq. 
Meranne Behrends
Greer Pearce 
Kelly Scharf
