Executive Biographies > Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations

Margaret A. (Peggy) Focarino

Margaret A. (Peggy) Focarino was appointed to be the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in January 2005. In this capacity, she is responsible for all patent-examining functions in the seven Patent Technology Centers and all operational aspects of patent application initial examination, patent publications, and international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications processing. Ms. Focarino leads more than 5,500 highly skilled scientists and engineers.

Prior to becoming Deputy Commissioner for Patents, Ms. Focarino was a Director in Technology Center 2100, Computer Architecture, Software and Information Security. Before that, she was a Group Director in Technology Center 2800, a Deputy Group Director in the former Patent Examining Group 1100, and Acting Director of the former Patent Examining Group 310.

Ms. Focarino began her career at the USPTO in 1977 as a Patent Examiner. She became a Supervisory Patent Examiner in 1989 and was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in 1997. She received the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 1993 for her work as a Supervisory Patent Examiner.

Ms. Focarino has served as Patents' Chief Negotiator on several negotiations with the National Treasury Employees' Union (NTEU), local 243, including negotiations on a basic contract, the move to the USPTO's headquarters in Alexandria, and the implementation of several new automated systems. She has also developed and negotiated numerous award programs for the technical support staff and managers within all of the business units in the Patent organization. She has served as the liaison for the Patent Business on Employee Relations issues with the Office of Human Resources and has been heavily involved in the training of Patent Managers on issues dealing with Employee and Labor Relations for the last several years.

Ms. Focarino received her undergraduate degree in physics in from the State University of New York. She also completed the Certificate of Advanced Public Management Program with Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Since 1790, the basic role of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has remained the same: to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to inventors the exclusive right to their respective discoveries (Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution). Today, the USPTO is a federal agency in the Department of Commerce, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Through the issuance of patents, the USPTO encourages technological advancement by providing incentives to invent, invest in, and disclose new technology worldwide. Through the registration of trademarks, the agency assists businesses in protecting their investments, promoting goods and services, and safeguarding consumers against confusion and deception in the marketplace. By disseminating both patent and trademark information, the USPTO promotes an understanding of intellectual property protection and facilitates the development and sharing of new technologies worldwide.