Valencia Martin Wallace is the Acting Commissioner for Patents of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As Acting Commissioner for Patents, Ms. Martin Wallace manages and leads the Patents organization as its chief operating officer. She oversees the agency’s 10,000 Patents employees, including more than 9,000 patent examiners responsible for fostering the country’s innovation system by providing patent protections to inventors as stated in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
Prior to her acting role, Ms. Martin Wallace was the Deputy Commissioner for Patents. In that role she manages and leads the Patents organization’s efforts related to international IP harmonization and provides executive oversight over patent-examining functions in technology centers that examine in the technologies of communication, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and medical devices and processes. Regarding international IP harmonization, she specifically provides executive leadership on international patent legal issues and various work sharing efforts with international partners.
As part of her 32-year career at the USPTO, she recently served as Deputy Commissioner for Patent Quality where she was responsible for sustaining the high quality of the USPTO’s patent examination processes and products. She also served as Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations, where Ms. Martin Wallace oversaw operations in the software technology centers, served as executive co-lead on the implementation of the AIA First-Inventor-to-File statutory framework, and led the implementation of the Office of Patent Examination Support Services.
Ms. Martin Wallace is a graduate of Howard University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, and The George Washington University School of Law, where she earned a Juris Doctorate. She has also received a certificate in Advanced Public Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Public Administration. Ms. Martin Wallace was awarded the Presidential Rank Award.