Introducing WIPO's new top management team

• Pages: 26-29

Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama,

Deputy Director General,

Cooperation for Development

Mr. Onyeama (Nigeria) has had a

24-year career at WIPO. He joined

in 1985, was appointed Director of

the Cooperation for Development

Bureau for Africa in 1999, then

Assistant Director General respon-

sible for the Coordination Sector

for External Relations, Industry,

Communications and Public

Outreach in December 2006. Prior

to joining WIPO, he worked for the

Nigerian Law Reform Commission, and prac-

ticed as a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme

Court of Nigeria.

Mr. Onyeama assumes responsibility for the

Cooperation for Development Sector. This

now incorporates WIPO’s programs on

Development Agenda Coordination; coopera-

tion with African, Arab, Asia and the Pacific,

Latin America and the Caribbean countries;

least developed countries (LDCs); and the

WIPO Academy. The Sector’s key objective is to

facilitate greater participation by developing

countries and LDCs in the benefits of innova-

tion and the knowledge economy.

Mr. Onyeama notes that most developing coun-

tries now have modern IP laws, functional IP of-

fices, respected research institutions and dy-

namic creative industries. And all have a wealth

of resourceful entrepreneurs, inventive minds,

traditional knowledge, biodiversity, cultural ex-

pressions, imaginative designers and diverse

agricultural products. Thus, he believes, the ele-

ments exist for policymakers in developing

countries to develop strategies and policies that

use IP as a means of achieving real economic,

technological and cultural growth for their

countries. “Developing countries,” he observed,

“have seen how the strategic use of intellectual

property has contributed to the spectacular

economic growth of countries with little or no

natural resources. They have the capacity and

will to achieve the same.”

Under the strategic goal of “facilitating the use

of IP for development,” Mr. Onyeama describes

the main challenges as partnering effectively

with developing countries to design IP policies

and strategic plans that provide a coherent

framework for WIPO’s cooperation with the

countries; and, within that framework, elabo-

rating and executing projects with clear time-

lines and concrete, measurable deliverables

which address, meaningfully, the development

goals of the countries.

INTRODUCING THE

NEW TOP

MANAGEMENT TEAM

FEBRUARY 2010

26

WIPO welcomed its new top management team on December 1, 2009, when the four Deputy Directors

General and three Assistant Directors General took up their appointments following the completion of

the term of the outgoing team. The appointments, which include three WIPO insiders and four newcom-

ers to the Organization, were approved by WIPO’s Member States at the Coordination Committee meet-

ing in June 2009, on the basis of proposals submitted by Director General Francis Gurry.

The seven Deputy and Assistant Directors General, together with the Executive Director of the Office of

the Director General (Chief of Staff), formally comprise the Senior Management Team of the

Organization. The Team is responsible for assisting the Director General in providing the strategic direc-

tion of WIPO’s programs, managing the budgets, activities and human and financial resources of their re-

spective Sectors in accordance with agreed work plans, and ensuring delivery of results in line with the

Organization’s nine strategic goals.

Photo: WIPO/Migliore