John B. Owens II (Past Speaker)

John B Owens, II was appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the USPTO in December, 2008. As the CIO, Mr. Owens is the principal advisor to the USPTO on the design, development and management of the information systems and technology that enable the agency's business and strategic growth. Since joining the USPTO, Mr. Owens has stabilized the agency's infrastructure and legacy systems while building next-generation tools and services for Patent and Trademark examination. He has led the organization's journey to adopt innovative models such as Agile and DevOps so new software systems reflect customer needs and are delivered rapidly. Early in his tenure, he led the initiative at the USPTO to develop and implement a Strategic IT Roadmap to rebuild the agency's information systems and infrastructure. The roadmap addressed capabilities for IT planning, management, measurement and customer collaboration. Overall, his relentless focus on continuous process improvement and performance excellence has driven up operating efficiency. Mr. Owens’ distinguished career spans 20 years. Prior to joining the USPTO, Mr. Owens served as Technical Director at America Online (AOL) from 1995 to 2008. Before AOL, John was a senior software engineer at GE Consulting for GE Aerospace and Keane Inc. for Martin Marietta. He has been recognized as a “Fed 100” winner (link is external) by Federal Computer Week magazine and a “Top CIO” by Bisnow. Originally from Rome, N.Y., John lives in Virginia with his wife and children. He earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Clarkson University and Master of Business Administration in Technology Innovation Management from the University of Phoenix.