SINGAPORE – The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos) has named Mrs Rena Lee as its new chief executive.

Mrs Lee, 51, will helm the office from August.

The chairman of Ipos’ board of directors, Dr Stanley Lai, in welcoming her appointment, said they look forward to working with her to grow the organisation’s robust intellectual property infrastructure.

Mrs Lee succeeds Mr Daren Tang, 48, who is leaving to head the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) as director-general in October. He is the the first Singaporean to lead a United Nations agency and the first Asian head of Wipo.

Mr Tang led Ipos since November 2015 and this year, it was recognised as the world’s most innovative intellectual property office by trade publication World Trademark Review.

The Law Ministry’s permanent secretary, Mr Loh Khum Yean, in expressing his appreciation of Mr Tang, said: “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.”

Mrs Lee, who is taking over, is Singapore’s ambassador for oceans and Law of the Sea issues.

A law graduate of the National University of Singapore, where she also got her master’s degree in law, she joined the Attorney-General’s Chambers in 2008.

In January 2018, she was seconded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mrs Lee specialises in international law and was elected president of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction in 2018.

She is also a member of the legal and technical commission of the International Seabed Authority, the body which regulates deep-sea mining.

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