David Howell is a former Apple software engineer with more than 35 years in the software industry and experience teaching computer science and engineering management at a graduate level. The founder of two companies, including one acquired by Apple, with a focus on mobile, desktop, and web apps, he is currently CEO of Avatron. In the past his roles have included Senior Software Engineer, VP of Engineering, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and member of Boards of Advisors. Mr. Howell is also the founder of the Expert Guild (expertguild.com), an agency that helps litigation teams find the perfect testifying expert for technology and healthcare-related cases.

As an expert witness, Mr. Howell has written 19 opinions, testified in Federal court twice, arbitration court once, and has been deposed four times, in cases involving patent infringement and validity (including three PTAB inter partes reviews), contract disputes, trade-secret misappropriation, fraud, and wrongful death. He holds 8 patents for software and hardware inventions. His cases have included such parties as Apple, Amazon, TikTok, Eli Lilly, Intuit, and Alarm.com. In addition to software engineering, Mr. Howell consults and testifies on general entrepreneurship, startup investment, and mergers & acquisitions.

Education: 

• Master of Legal Studies, Washington University School of Law
• MS Computer Science, Portland State University
• MBA, Cornell University
• MS Computer Science, Case Western Reserve University