Wanda K. Denson-Low (born 1958) is the former senior vice president of the office of internal governance at The Boeing Company. In 1989, while working at Hughes Aircraft Company, she became the first minority woman to become a patent counsel at a Fortune 500 company.[1] She is vice president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute board of trustees.
From 1981 Denson-Low worked as a patent attorney at Union Carbide. She became a trainee patent attorney in 1984.[8] In 1985 she joined Hughes Aircraft Company. As a senior lawyer at Hughes, Denson-Low mentored patent attorneys from minority groups.[3] She became the nation's first minority women chief patent counsel for a Fortune 500 company in 1989. She managed a $14.4 million budget.[8]
She was the first minority woman to become vice president at Hughes Aircraft Company in 1992.[9] She joined the Boeing legal team in October 2000. She was awarded a silver anniversary award from the Los Angeles Black Women Lawyer's Association for her services to the community.[9]
She worked as vice president for Human Resources for the Defense and Space when Hughes Aircraft Company was acquired by Boeing in 2000.[9][10] She was made Boeing's Vice President and Assistant General Counsel.[11] She became Vice President of Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) in 2003.[11]