New chief executive appointed at IPOS
22 June 2020
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Rena Lee has been named as chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). She will take over the role from Daren Tang, who has been appointed the next director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, effective August 1, 2020.
Lee began her career in public service with the Ministry of Defence in 1992, and was called to the Singapore Bar in 1993. She later joined the attorney general’s chambers in 2008, and has specialized in the practice of international law.
Lee was most recently minister-counsellor at the Hague Diplomatic Office of Singapore. She is currently Singapore’s Ambassador for Oceans and Law of the Sea Issues and the Special Envoy of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and in this capacity, is serving as the president of the intergovernmental conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ IGC). Lee is also a member of the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
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Tang was appointed as deputy chief executive of IPOS on August 1, 2012, and chief executive of IPOS on November 16, 2015. He played an instrumental role in driving the strategic transformation of IPOS from an IP registry and regulator into an innovation agency that helps to build Singapore’s future economy. His term saw major updates to Singapore’s IP Hub Masterplan, legislative and policy reforms to the IP regime and a scaling up of international engagement.
Tang will take the helm at WIPO on October 1, 2020.
“We deeply appreciate Daren’s dedicated service and contributions to IPOS,” said Khum Yean Loh, permanent secretary for the Ministry of Law and Public Service Division. “Under his leadership, we have seen Singapore’s IP ecosystem flourish and Singapore rise through the ranks to become the top in Asia for the best IP protection in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report. We are confident that Daren will continue to do Singapore proud, and wish him continued success as he takes on the director-general position at WIPO.”
Stanley Lai, chairman of the board of directors of IPOS and a partner and head of the IP practice at Allen & Gledhill in Singapore, said: “IPOS begins a new chapter of its journey with a change of chief executive. The board thanks Daren for his years of dedicated service to the statutory board, and wishes him every success in his new endeavour which is due to commence shortly in the World Intellectual Property Organization. The board warmly welcomes Rena as Daren’s successor, and we look forward to working with her to take IPOS into new levels of success in growing our robust IP infrastructure to undergird the proliferation of new innovations and solutions for Singapore over the next few years.”
Johnny Chan
