Our Team

Mark McMillan

Founder, Managing Director

Prior to founding AQUA, Mark held various senior executive positions at leading embedded software, semiconductor, and intellectual property firms. Mr. McMillan has served as CEO for both public and private companies, as well as in global sales and marketing leadership roles driving more than $100 million in annual licensing revenue. Mr. McMillan has held leadership positions with Phoenix Technologies, Insignia Solutions, Global IPR Exchange, BSquare Corp. and Sonics Inc.. Mr. McMillan’s experience in buy and sell-side M&A, private and public fundraising, as well as IP licensing, lead him to the founding of AQUA Licensing, a specialized licensing consultancy dedicated to creating value through IP liquidity.

Steve Smyrski

Managing Director

Steve is an accomplished IP attorney with a successful track record in IP transactions strategy and enforcement. Mr. Smyrski has over 20 years experience in complex patent and intellectual property matters.  He advises and counsels entrepreneurs and companies in obtaining and maximizing value from intellectual property assets.   His specialties are Patent law (all aspects) – electrical engineering, computers, internet, mechanical devices – optics, semiconductors, telecommunications, medical devices, control theory, software, advanced mathematics and computer science.

Peter Savich

Managing Director

Mr. Peter Savich is an accomplished technology entrepreneur, IP attorney and an expert in IP portfolio valuation. Mr. Savich holds a JD from Stanford Law School (graduating Order of the Coif (top 10%)), an M. Math from the University of Waterloo (in computer science), and a B. Math from the University of Waterloo (also in computer science, graduating in the top 2% of his class). Prior to joining AQUA, Peter held business leadership positions at Yahoo! Research, Microsoft and Rivio. Previously, he served as legal counsel at Overture, VXtreme, Fenwick & West, and Latham & Watkins, and clerked on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.