Nowak, Sandra

Ms. Nowak is Associate Chief IP Counsel of 3M’s Health Care Business Group, which connects people, insights, science, and technology to solve problems and make better health possible. Since joining 3M in 2005, Ms. Nowak held positions of increasing responsibility within the 3M Legal Affairs Department.  In her various roles, Ms. Nowak has worked on various patent, trademark, domain name, and trade secret litigation matters; negotiated numerous global IP agreements; and has filed and/or prosecuted over a hundred patent applications.  Ms. Nowak began her legal career as an IP attorney with Stoel Rives LLP in Portland, Oregon. Prior to law school, Ms. Nowak performed chemical research for the United States Department of Agriculture.  Ms. Nowak has a JD from the University of Oregon law school and a BA (Chemistry) from Franklin and Marshall College.

Ms. Nowak is also passionate about diversity in innovation.  She helps lead this effort at 3M and around the world in her role as co-chair of the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s (IPO’s) Women in IP Committee and Diverse Inventors Subcommittee, where she works with a global group of IP professionals and inventors to advance diversity in the legal profession and in the innovation ecosphere.  In April 2019, Ms. Nowak testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on the topic of Trailblazers and Lost Einsteins: Women Inventors and the Future of American Innovation.