Dr. John Akoten serves as the Director for Research, Planning and Public Awareness Directorate which includes three departments, namely Research and Policy, Education and Public Awareness, and Planning and Quality Assurance. Previously, he was the Deputy Director for Research, Awareness, and Quality Assurance, after serving as the Acting Executive Director of the Authority for close to 4 years. John is an accomplished policy and research analyst in industrial matters in both private and public sectors spanning over 25 years at the Kenya’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, Institute of Policy Analysis and Research and now at the Anti-Counterfeit Authority where he is involved in IP enforcement, research and IP bilateral negotiations (Kenya and US; Kenya and India). He was instrumental in the preparation of the Private Sector Development Strategy (PSDS) as well as the preparation of the Investment Climate Action Plan (ICAP) including the review of business licensing regime to make them business friendly. Dr. Akoten received his PhD and MSc in Development Economics from GRIPS, Japan and BSc in Horticulture from Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, Kenya.