User:Wattsrm

Robert M. Watts

Bob Watts is a Senior Engagement Advisor in the Knowledge Leadership Division of the Office of eDiplomacyof the Bureau of Information Resource Management of the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC. As a consultant to the Office of eDiplomacy, Bob is the Team Lead for the Department's internal wiki, Diplopedia, and also assists in training and engagement on eDiplomacy's knowledge management tools and programs within the State Department.

Bob retired from a 30-year career as a Foreign Service Economic Officer with State in August, 2010, serving in his last career tour as Chief of the Diplomatic Innovation Division of the Office of eDiplomacy. Prior to that assignment he headed the Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement (IPE) in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, where he served from 2006-2009. While heading IPE he led U.S. delegations to the G-8 Intellectual Property Working Group, negotiating initiatives and draft reports to the 2008 Hokkaido and 2009 L'Aquila Summits. He also led the U.S. delegation to the related Heiligendamm Development Process Innovation Working Group, which examined cooperation on innovation and intellectual property among the G-8 and key industrializing countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa). He also served as the State Department representative to the World Intellectual Property Organization, and participated in the election of its current Director General Francis Gurry.

Bob has also worked at State Department headquarters in the the area of international telecommunications and IT policy, investment affairs, agricultural trade policy and energy policy. While working on ICT issues, he implemented an initiative launched by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Singh of India and created the U.S.-India subcabinet Information and Communications Technology Working Group, which is still functioning. He was also Executive Secretary of the Industry Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP). Bob has served overseas in Uzbekistan, Canada, Peru, Brazil, and Portugal, and speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and some French.

A Connecticut native, Bob holds a BA in International Relations from New College of Florida, a Masters of International Affairs from the Columbia University School of Public and International Affairs, and an MA in Economics from Stanford University. He is married to another recently-retired Foreign Service Officer, Linda Recht, and has two children.