Jared Ragland — Senior Director, Policy – APAC
Born in Spokane, WA, and lived across the United States and internationally, including Tokyo, Shanghai, and now, Singapore.
I’ve never been certain about what I wanted to be when I grew up. After high school, I was confident about law school, but at the University of Arizona, I became fascinated by anthropology and East Asian studies. While earning dual degrees in anthropology and biochemistry, I conducted research on genetic markers and human migration patterns, which further sparked my interest in the molecular basis of genetics and evolution. A summer in Tokyo added lab experience sequencing genes in insect models.
In graduate school at the University of Washington, I focused on neural crest cell development in zebrafish, but after 9/11, I shifted my career toward public policy. I joined the US State Department through a fellowship, working on global issues like avian flu, climate change, and biotechnology. Later, at the Office of the US Trade Representative, I led negotiations on intellectual property and pharmaceutical trade provisions, eventually setting up the US Patent and Trademark Office’s IP Attaché in Shanghai.
What/who inspired you to pursue the career you have today?
A sense that the United States (and later, I’ve come to realize, our companies and our economy) has a profound role to play in the course of world events and that I wanted to have a more “front row” seat as this played out. Little did I know what would happen in 2016!!
What attracted you to work at BSA?
Initially, it was a natural fit, with its focus on intellectual property protection and enforcement. But I’ve really come to love how we continue to remain on the front edge of the crucial technology policy issues of the day.
What advice can you give someone who just started their career/wants to pursue a similar career?
I have spoken to many young people over the years about their career aspirations, many of whom think they know exactly what they want to do. If true, that is great, but in my experience, a career path is more akin to the contingency of biological evolution. This means that there is no direct path, no end state. It’s a series of accidents that either work out or they don’t. Whenever I’ve come to a decision point in my career, I’ve done what seemed most interesting at the moment, with little regard for expectations of long-term payoffs. So far, it’s worked out for me.
Tell us one fun fact about you (that might surprise your colleagues).
I was reminded the other day that I was in a production of the Nutcracker ballet in Spokane as a child. In the first act, I was one of the children dancing around the tree, receiving presents from the grandfatherly figure, Drosselmeyer. Because I was one of only a few boys auditioning, I got the part even though my sister and many other girls who were much better than me did not. In fact, at least one of the boys in the production was played by a girl because there just weren’t enough boys to fill the parts.
Do you have any pets, and if so, what do you have?
We currently have a male black cat — Martin, a 9-year-old (or so) Singapore rescue kitty — and a male dog — Bruno, a 7-year-old rescue street dog (referred to as a “Singapore Special”). Previously, we had a female black cat, Rheese, and a male black cat, Cyrus (the Great 😊).
In 2000, my wife and I got Rheese — our first pet — four years before we were married. We named her Rheese because she reminded us of a Rhesus monkey. She was a Seattle rescue kitty, and she died of kidney failure in 2019 here in Singapore. She and Cyrus traveled with us from Seattle to the Washington, DC, area, then to Shanghai and back. Rheese made it to Singapore.
In 2002 — for Valentine’s Day/my wife’s birthday — we got our second pet, Cyrus. Another Seattle rescue kitty, Cyrus was actually found in the town of Sultan. We had to put him down for mouth cancer in 2015, just before moving to Singapore.
Favorite book/podcast/long-form article you recommend? What did you learn?
My favorite fiction is the “Lord of the Rings” series. Nonfiction is tough, although I really enjoyed Edward Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” It describes the tragic failures — over decades and centuries — that led to the fall of that civilization, first in the West and then progressively in the East a thousand years later.
Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton was incredible and left me with a sense of how difficult it is for the right minds to come together at the right time to create something great. It leaves me a bit depressed because I don’t see any such talent anywhere in the world in a position of political influence. Because of the biography, I went back and read “The Federalist Papers,” which made me realize how close we came to not having the US Constitution and all the “what ifs” that would have followed.
If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why?
Marcus Aurelius. I’d love to learn about the impact of his stoic philosophy on his approach to governance and his thoughts on how virtue and discipline can replace superstition and religiosity in an individual but seem unreasonable for a population. I’d also like to better understand his thinking on leaving the rule of the empire to his son Commodus, which led — in retrospect — to the end of an era of effective governance, stability, and expansion.
Such a pleasant read!