A press release from WIPO today announced approval of Director General Francis Gurry’s proposal for the new members of the Senior Management Team. The current members’ terms end on November 30th this year. The new terms will last until November of 2014.
The Management Team is comprised of four Deputy Director Generals and three Assistant Director Generals who help the Director General in managing WIPO. Two of the current team members are returning, including the only African member, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama of Nigeria. Mr. Onyeama is currently an Assistant Director General, but will serve his next term as a Deputy Director General. The other returning member is Ms. Binying Wang of China, also switching from Assistant to Deputy.
The complete list of new members and their positions is as follows:
- Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama of Nigeria to be Deputy Director General for Development
- Mr. James Pooley of the United States to be Deputy Director General for Patents [currently a partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP]
- Ms. Binying Wang of China to be Deputy Director General for Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indicators
- Mr. Johannes Christian Wichard of Germany to be Deputy Director General for Global Issues [currently Germany’s Director General for Commercial and Economic Law]
- Mr. Trevor C. Clarke of Barbados to be Assistant Director General for Copyright and Related Rights [currently Barbados Ambassador to the UN in Geneva]
- Mr.Ramanathan Ambi Sundaram of Sri Lanka to be Assistant Director General for Administration and Management [currently WHO’s Director General for Operational and Support Services]
- Mr. Yoshiyuki Takagi of Japan to be Assistant Director General for Global IP Infrastructure [currently WIPO Executive Director for Global IP Infrastructure, the WIPO Academy and Information Technology]
Outgoing members include Philippe Petit of France, Narendra Sabharwal of India, Michael Keplinger of the United States and Ernesto Rubio of Uruguay.
