One-minute read
Rhonda Steele says she wants to turn the world of IP on its head. As a non-lawyer who worked her way up the IP ladder through “on-the-job training” and INTA’s first president based in the southern hemisphere, she is well positioned to bring a fresh perspective to the Association. Steele met with Eileen McDermott at INTA’s New York office just a few days into her Presidency to discuss her goals for the 130th Annual Meeting and the coming year: areas she plans to focus on include emerging markets and fostering internal and external alliances. Steele also explains how Mars’s IP group is structured, and how trademark work is handled, and advises practitioners not to avoid asking stupid questions.
Rhonda Steele has been working to protect Mars Incorporated’s intellectual property in Asia-Pacific for over 16 years. As Marketing Properties Manager for the company’s Asia-Pacific region, Steele plays a key role in protecting its more than 80,000 brands worldwide. But despite her present passion for IP, Steele says she ended up in both trademarks and Australia “by accident.”
Born in England, Steele spontaneously accompanied a friend on a 12-month working holiday to Australia when she was not long out of university. Soon after arriving, Steele took a job with Baker & McKenzie, as a secretary for the partner in charge of the IP department, who first piqued her interest in the field and who also handled Steele’s present role for Mars on a part-time basis. “Back in 1983, which is when I first had anything to do with Mars, it was very small in Asia-Pacific,” says Steele. “Mars had some manufacturing in Australia and two multi-sales offices, one in Hong Kong and one in Singapore, but they didn’t really need someone on a full-time basis.”
After four years of working as a secretary, during which time her interest in trademarks continued to blossom, Steele took a position as a paralegal in Baker & McKenzie’s general trademark department, before moving on to a senior paralegal position working exclusively for Mars. “I did that for about five years and absolutely loved it,” says Steele. “I was helping to manage their trademark portfolio in the Asia-Pacific region, doing all of the establishment work, maintenance and enforcement and working with a network of lawyers.”
When Steele’s boss at Baker & McKenzie resigned, Mars asked Steele to join their team full time. It was also at that point that Steele was first introduced to INTA, since her new boss at Mars, Garo Partoyan, was serving as President of the Association: “My first Annual Meeting was in San Francisco in 1991. I was actually interviewed for my job there [by Partoyan] so it seemed quite fortuitous. I’ve only missed two Annual Meetings since then, and both of those coincided with the birth of my children.”