Cordelia (Dede) Zecher is the Chief Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In this role, she supports the Office of the Under Secretary and the USPTO on a wide variety of policy and operational matters.
Ms. Zecher previously served as the Acting Chief of Staff for the USPTO. She has also held several other positions since she started working for the USPTO in 2006, including those of patent examiner, primary patent examiner, supervisory patent examiner, and senior advisor to the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations. She has worked in the Office of the Under Secretary since 2019 and helped lead the USPTO through the transition in administrations.
While at the USPTO, Ms. Zecher has collaborated on multiple projects, including the development of initiatives outlined in the SUCCESS Act Report, the Public Advisory Committee nomination process, the coordination of COVID-19 relief, and the USPTO’s 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance. She has received two Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Awards in recognition of her accomplishments.
Ms. Zecher received a Bachelor of Science in both computer science and math from Vanderbilt University.