Team

PQI and The Clearing House

Askeladden's Patent Quality Initiative is a product of thought leadership provided by The Clearing House Payments Company. The Clearing House has a 161-year tradition of furthering the interests of the commercial banking industry in the United States and helping chart the course of America’s financial industry.

Askeladden's PQI supports better patent quality for all intellectual property stakeholders, including consumers, businesses of all sizes, universities and inventors.

Sean Reilly

Mr. Reilly is General Counsel of Askeladden and Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel of The Clearing House Payments Company, where he directs intellectual property issues. He is a registered patent attorney whose principal responsibilities include advising members of The Clearing House’s senior business team on vital cybersecurity, intellectual property and technology law issues and transactions. Mr. Reilly coordinates with industry executives and senior lawyers from the nation’s leading banks on technology law issues and initiatives of concern to the financial services industry. Before joining The Clearing House, Mr. Reilly was in private practice and worked at the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a patent examiner.

Jim Howard

Mr. Howard is Associate General Counsel of Askeladden, where he supports all of Askeladden’s Patent Quality Initiative efforts, and Vice President and Associate General Counsel of The Clearing House Payments Company. He is a registered patent attorney with experience in conducting non-infringement analyses, developing invalidity strategies, and handling various other aspects of patent litigation. Before joining The Clearing House, Mr. Howard was in private practice where he represented a variety of defendants, including technology and financial services companies, in patent litigation matters.

Dave Fortney

Mr. Fortney is Executive Vice President, Product Development and Management for The Clearing House. He is responsible for defining strategy, identifying synergistic opportunities and overseeing the development of new products for the company. Currently, Mr. Fortney is leading The Clearing House’s initiative to develop, pilot and launch a secure digital-payments tokenization system. He has deep expertise in conceptualizing and growing innovative e-finance ventures for financial institutions, financial-technology providers and emerging payments companies. 

Rusiru Gunasena

Mr. Gunasena is Senior Vice President, Client Relationship Management. He currently oversees relationships with third-party service providers and corporate partners with a focus on driving sales through business development and growth. Mr. Gunasena previously guided the ongoing growth of the RTP network, a modern platform for domestic real-time payments, complete with rich data capabilities and immediate payment confirmation. Prior to joining The Clearing House, Mr. Gunasena was Managing Director at Jack Henry where he oversaw of JHA PayCenter™, the faster payments hub that provides financial institutions with seamless connections to the RTP network. As leader of Jack Henry’s faster payments strategy, Gunasena oversaw the onboarding of over 170 banks and credit unions to the RTP network, more than any other third-party banking service provider.