Last week, BSA’s Board of Directors came to Washington, DC and met with Members of Congress to talk about policy priorities of importance to the software industry. These issues not only affect software companies, but also every industry across America that relies on software to succeed. BSA’s delegation included representatives from Autodesk, Bentley Systems, Box, IBM, Informatica, Oracle, Salesforce, Siemens, Splunk, Trend Micro, Twilio, and Workday.
Our busy day of meetings was focused on BSA’s top policy issue of 2019: data privacy. The group also advocated for Congress to pass the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) because it has the best provisions on data of any trade agreement in the world. We met with Senator Roy Blunt, Senator Cory Gardner, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, New Dem Chairman Derek Kilmer, Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Lujan, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senator Jacky Rosen, Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky, Congressman Darren Soto, Majority Whip John Thune, Ranking Member Greg Walden, and Congressman Peter Welch.
Privacy is a bipartisan issue, and we were pleased to hear congressional support throughout all our meetings for passing strong, comprehensive federal privacy legislation. Whether it’s cloud services, data analytics, cybersecurity, or other digital capabilities, BSA members are using data to help businesses of all sizes in all industries to grow. Privacy is critical to the services they provide, which is why they support legislation with strong obligations and enforcement to ensure it’s effective.
We thank all the Members of Congress we met with and look forward to working with them to pass federal privacy legislation and USMCA into law.
Learn more about BSA’s position and work on data privacy here.
BSA President and CEO Victoria Espinel (far left) with members of BSA’s Board of Directors and BSA staff.BSA President and CEO Victoria Espinel and members of BSA’s Board of Directors huddle with Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky on privacy.BSA President and CEO Victoria Espinel and members of BSA’s Board of Directors huddle with Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky on privacy.Members of BSA’s Board of Directors and staff meet with Congressman Peter Welch.
Craig Albright serves as BSA’s Senior Vice President for US Government Relations. In this role, he leads BSA’s team that drives engagement with Congress, the Administration, and all US states. He’s responsible for developing and implementing advocacy strategy to deliver results on issues across BSA’s policy agenda.
Prior to joining BSA, Albright spent four years as the World Bank Group's Special Representative for the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, managing relations with government officials, private sector executives, think tank academics, civil society leaders and others. Before that, Albright spent more than 12 years in the US government. He served in the White House as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Legislative Affairs and Deputy Assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for Legislative Affairs. In Congress, his positions included Legislative Director and Chief of Staff for former Congressman Joe Knollenberg of Michigan and Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Kay Granger of Texas.
Albright has been identified as one of the Top 100 association lobbyists by The Hill news organization and one of Washington’s Most Influential People by Washingtonian magazine. He is a native of the Detroit area and holds a BA in Economics from Michigan State University.
