Reuben Brown
Co-President 2
Reuben Brown was born and raised in South Florida growing up primarily in West Palm Beach. He matriculated to Penn, as an EE major in 1985. While there, he was very involved in many campus activities including NSBE and the BSL (where he served as president for one year). Reuben was a co-founder of a mentor program (Positive Images Mentor Program) that paired more than 50 Penn students with over a 100 high school and middle school students in West Philadelphia. Rounding out his Penn experience, Reuben played 3 years on varsity football, being a member of two Ivy League championship teams. Among other honors, in May 1990, he was recognized with the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Outstanding Contribution and Leadership in the University Community by the African American Association of Administrators, Faculty and Staff.
As an engineering student, Reuben played a part in the very first national collegiate Solar Car competition in 1990, Sunrayce USA. He was on the team fielded by Penn SEAS in the GM sponsored competition, in which engineering schools from around the country built a car that was exclusively powered by solar energy and driven from Orlando, Florida to Warren, Michigan.
While at Penn, Reuben met his wife, Lisa, a Swarthmore College graduate, whom he married in 1992. They have 3 three adult children and have been living in Virginia for about 25 years.
Reuben joined the U.S. Patent and Trademark in 1997 as a Patent Examiner. He worked in the area of Telecommunications, primarily focusing on patent applications that merged TV and CATV with the newly emerging Internet technologies. He was integral on the team that created new classification categories for that business area within the USPTO, as well as being a part of the team that developed the international classification system for those technologies. During his time at the USPTO, he was responsible for approving over 350 patents that were granted before leaving in 2017.
Since leaving the USPTO, he has worked at his family’s law firm, Brown Law Offices, PLLC as the Office Manager and Client Liaison Director. He both organizes the firm and gives confidence to the clients, ensuring them that the firm is genuinely interested in their concerns. Reuben is their “internal lawyer”, always advocating for the client within and making sure nothing in the case is missed. Reuben continues to be active in various civic organizations, still seeking to make a difference. He serves on several committees in his local NAACP, the Prince William County Chamber of Commerce, as well as his church.
Presently, Reuben is enrolled in the Masters of Professional Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, College Park.