Board of Directors

Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Crown, Doug is a seasoned leader with a track record of building and scaling innovative public companies. Previously, he founded and led Marathon Patent Group, bringing 25 years of expertise in patent acquisition, licensing, and monetization across diverse industries. Committed to making a positive impact, Doug focuses on delivering great products and building exceptional companies. He holds an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Dr. DJ Nag has served as a member of our board of directors since July 2020. Dr. Nag is the Chief Investment Officer at Ventech Solutions, a healthcare technology company that manages quality data for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He has successfully led Ohio State University, Rutgers University and University of Nebraska’s technology transfer operations that included licensing, startup and investments. As an entrepreneur, he led a number of start-ups in the intellectual property strategy, artificial intelligence, and medical device space. As a consultant in patent monetization and intellectual property strategy, he has worked with many Fortune 500 companies, universities, and national governments. He was a Director of Ocean Tomo and a Vice President at ICAP Ocean Tomo, leading patent transaction markets. He was recognized as one of the top IP strategists by IAM300 in 2019. Dr. Nag was on the Board of the Association of University Technology Managers, Inc. (AUTM) from 2012 to 14, focused on educating the members around world on the importance of technology transfer and intellectual property. He is widely recognized as a global intellectual property strategist working with government and universities in Poland, Japan, India, Turkey, Brazil, South Korea, Ukraine and many other countries. Currently, he teaches intellectual property strategy and negotiations as a Professor of Practice at Rutgers University and a Visiting Professor at Shizuoka University. He volunteers as the first Executive-in-Residence at the Dublin City Schools, leading a startup academy for high school students and serves on the foundation board at the Dublin Methodist Hospital.

Mr. Hobbs is currently an Executive Managing Director for Newark in its Uptown Dallas office. He exclusively represents office tenants locally, nationally, and globally in all manner of transactions ranging from negotiated renewals, relocations, build-to-suit, sublease dispositions, expansion & contraction, and building purchases.

Before entering the real estate industry, Hobbs was a commissioned Navy SEAL Officer for eight years. A decorated combat veteran, he has circled the globe three times in the service of the United States Navy and Joint Special Operations Command.

Former CFO of ViacomCBS Networks International, a $2.0 billion division of the global multi-media enterprise. While at ViacomCBS, Joel was developing and leading strategic financial organizations around the world for over two decades.