Adriane Brown, Intellectual Ventures president, will leave her executive roles at the end of July. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)

Adriane Brown, the president and chief operating officer of Intellectual Ventures, is stepping down from her executive role at the Bellevue, Wash.-based patent holding and technology company, to be replaced by a team of longstanding company executives, reporting to CEO Nathan Myhrvold.

David Kris

In addition, Intellectual Ventures said its general counsel, David Kris, will be leaving the company at the end of June. Kris, the former head of the National Security Division at the U.S. Justice Department, plans to return to national security-related work in the private sector, the company said.

Brown, a seven-year veteran of Intellectual Ventures, will remain as an executive through July, then continue as a senior advisor to the company. The company said she will focus on community and corporate board commitments, including an upcoming role as chair of the Pacific Science Center Board of Directors.

“Since joining IV in 2010, Adriane helped secure deals with some of our largest licensing customers, recruited and developed top talent for our leadership team and has been enormously effective in representing our company to the wider world,” the company said in a statement announcing her move.

The company described Kris as “one of the extraordinary leaders that Adriane recruited.” Janet Smith, currently the leader of IV’s Corporate Affairs team, will succeed him as general counsel.

Intellectual Ventures has been a lightning rod for criticism of technology patents, as the company amassed a large patent portfolio. In a recent interview with GeekWire, Brown described how IV was putting more focus on spinning out startups based on its intellectual property and internally developed technology.

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