PRESS RELEASE Contact: Jennifer Rankin Byrne or Ruth Nyblod (571) 272-8400 or Jennifer.Rankin_Byrne@uspto.gov or ruth.nyblod@uspto.gov

November 27, 2007 #07-48

USPTO’s Deborah Diaz Named Among Washington Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” Diaz the Sole Government Executive on the 2007 List Washington, DC - Deborah Diaz, Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), has been named as an honoree by the Washington Business Journal in the fourth annual “Women Who Mean Business” awards program. The program recognizes the most successful and influential women in the region’s business community. Each honoree is also acknowledged for making tremendous community contributions. Finalists were nominated by industry peers and selected by Washington Business Journal. The Washington Business Journal will recognize all the honorees at an evening awards reception on Thursday, November 29, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, DC. “Deborah Diaz is a dedicated professional who has made incredible contributions to the USPTO, the federal government and the IT community. She is a committed volunteer and mentor to colleagues both inside and outside the USPTO,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Jon Dudas. “She is truly a woman who means business, one of USPTO's outstanding female leaders, and a person who supports her community. We congratulate her on receiving this prestigious award.” Ms. Diaz is recognized as a top Washington information technology leader and agent of change who has provided years of innovative, business solutions and developed strong partnerships between industry and government. Currently, Ms. Diaz is helping to transform USPTO electronic commerce and managing a wide range of significant IT initiatives to modernize business process and systems. Some of these initiatives include facilitating growth in the electronic business systems of the EFS-Web patent filing system, the Trademark Electronic Application Submission (TEAS) system, and ensuring efficient electronic document exchange with USPTO’s international partners. Her trademark utilization of the latest technology and best-of-breed business practices have revitalized major system development of the Patent File Wrapper Initiative, consolidation of data center operations, and brought increased information security to the USPTO. Recently she created new collaboration tools and Web 2.0 technologies for data and multimedia exchange to support USPTO’s award-winning telework program. Prior to joining the USPTO, Ms. Diaz served as the Science and Technology CIO of the Department of Homeland Security where she developed and implemented $1 billion of high-profile, ground-breaking programs and IT infrastructure. As she served to provide new and effective ways to fight the war on terrorism, she also served as the senior advisor on IT interoperability, biometrics, geospatial, and wireless technologies. For the President’s Management Council, she provided executive leadership to create the government’s first electronic government-wide citizen portal and shepherded many e-government initiatives from concept to delivery. As an international consultant and federal official for the World Bank, State Department, World Trade Organization, NATO, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, she managed interagency initiatives for international business development; environmental technology joint ventures; institutional, regulatory, and business reform. Ms. Diaz also worked in the private sector in management positions for several industry leaders. During Ms. Diaz’s active career, she has always found time to devote to her family and numerous volunteer activities. She is an active board member of the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society, Women Against MS - a leadership initiative designed to join women together to fight MS, and heavily participates with many IT associations such as Industry Advisory Council, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), and the Association for Federal Information Resource Management (AFFIRM). Her more notable personal contributions are her humanitarian trips abroad. In March 2007, she volunteered with a group of high school seniors to work in an HIV/AIDS clinic and conducted nature conservancy experiments and environmental cleanup in Cape Town, South Africa. Also, Ms. Diaz helped build several houses in Nicaragua with a local non-government organization. She has led teams to the New Orleans area to focus on Katrina rebuilding efforts. Ms. Diaz is very active with local youth sports teams from basketball to lacrosse and has been a Girl Scout leader. Most recently, she has become an active volunteer with the Women’s Center of Vienna, Virginia, a counseling and resource center for women's and families' financial, career, legal and psychological needs. In addition to the November 29 awards ceremony, the honorees will be profiled in a special supplement in the November 30 edition of the Washington Business Journal. For a full list of the 2007 honorees, go to http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/event/3734. ###