National Coming Out Day

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Admin

Rainbow flag waving in the breeze. On October 11, 1987 hundreds of thousands of people participated in the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. They marched with a platform that not only included demands for change in the existing laws affecting lesbian and gay citizens of the United States but also to end discrimination against AIDS- and HIV-positive individuals, as well as ending racism in the United States and apartheid in South Africa. The momentum of the march led to the founding of several lesbian and gay rights organizations across the country. To commemorate the march “National Coming Out Day” was established on October 11, 1988. National Coming Out Day is an annual event, now promoted by the Human Rights Campaign, to increase the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community. It is an opportunity to celebrate diversity, something we strive to do every day here at the USPTO. On October 11, 2018, we will celebrate the 30^th anniversary of National Coming Out Day.

If you are an employee who is still in the closet, I encourage you to consider coming out. In his essay that cautions on overemphasizing coming out of the closet Preston Mitchum says: “focusing so intensely on coming out places the burden on the individual to brave society rather than on society to secure the safety of the individual….if our society does not actively work to make things better, the lives of LGBT people will not get better.” Therefore if you are an employee who is not LGBTQ+ I encourage you to practice being an ally. Ensure that you create a welcoming environment where employees do not fear coming out at work. Place a “safe space” magnet on your doorframe to show you are an ally. While the agency has Agency Administrative Orders (AAOs) that prohibit sexual orientation, gender identity harassment, and discrimination, I think it is of equal if not greater importance that we foster a culture of equality and diversity within our Agency.

We at Lambda PTO recognize the hypervisibility that comes with being out of the closet, especially if you are a person of color, or a person with a disability, or any other marginalized group in addition to your sexual orientation or gender identity. If you don’t feel comfortable coming out yet, we still support you. We hope that you will do so when you are ready. If you do feel ready and would like to come out to your supervisor or your workgroup, we have resources through OEEOD and Lambda PTO to help you through that seemingly difficult conversation. If you are out and you feel you have been discriminated or harassed, we are here to help you navigate the process of seeking resolution. At the United States Patent and Trademark Office we know that our Agency is strengthened by the complex and overlapping diversity of our people. And we want each individual employee to celebrate their diversity and be proud!

Meet Lambda’s New Executive Adviser

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Admin

Anthony P. Scardino
Chief Financial Officer

Anthony (Tony) Scardino is currently the Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Intellectual Property and Acting Deputy Director for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In this role, he serves as the Chief Operating Officer, responsible for all Agency operations and managing close to 13,000 employees. Prior to this recent change in responsibilities, he served as the Chief Financial Officer at USPTO and the principal advisor to the USPTO Director in leading and improving the financial management, accounting, budgeting, fee setting, revenue forecasting, and organizational performance systems of the agency. In this role, Tony oversees an annual budget that exceeds $3 billion. Prior to USPTO, Tony served in several leadership positions at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including acting CFO, acting Deputy CFO, and the Budget Director. In these capacities, he oversaw an annual budget of more than $45 billion, serving as a key advisor to the Secretary of HUD and acting as a principal liaison with congressional appropriators and the White House Office of Management and Budget. His prior Federal experience includes time at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Election Commission, and Broadcasting Board of Governors, where he successfully implemented a new accounting and payroll system in a fiscally-constrained environment. Additionally, Tony has spent time with two consulting firms, supporting federal finance challenges, and served as the Deputy CFO at a federally funded grantee of the US Government.

In 2014, Tony was the recipient of the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award—an award given annually by the President to no more than 5 percent of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service in recognition of “sustained extraordinary accomplishment” throughout their executive tenure. He was also the recipient of the Frank Greathouse National Leadership Award in 2017, given by the Association of Government Accountants. Tony was also elected as a lifelong Fellow into the National Academy of Public Administration in November 2017.

Tony has a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the State University of New York at Geneseo and a Master of Public Administration from the State University of New York at Albany. As a life-long learner, Tony has attained a Certified Government Financial Management (CGFM) certification, is a graduate of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Managers in Government program, and also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the University Of Pennsylvania Wharton School Of Business.

Anthony P. Scardino Chief Financial Officer

Anthony P. Scardino
Chief Financial Officer