Robert Holleyman

As President and CEO of BSA | The Software Alliance from 1990 until April 2013, Robert Holleyman long served as the chief advocate for the global software industry. Before leaving BSA to start his own venture, Cloud4Growth, Holleyman led the most successful anti-piracy program in the history of any industry, driving down software piracy rates in markets around the world.

Named one of the 50 most influential people in the intellectual property world, he was instrumental in putting into place the global policy framework that today protects software under copyright law. A widely respected champion for open markets, Holleyman also was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, the principal advisory committee for the US government on trade matters.

Holleyman was a leader in industry efforts to establish the legal framework necessary for cloud-computing technologies to flourish. He was an early proponent for policies that promote deployment of security technologies to build public trust and confidence in cyberspace. And he created a highly regarded series of forums for industry executives and policymakers to exchange points of view and forge agreements on the best ways to spur technology advances and promote economic growth.

Before heading BSA, Holleyman was a counselor and legislative adviser in the United States Senate, an attorney in private practice, and a judicial clerk in US District Court. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, a J.D. from Louisiana State University, and has completed the Stanford Executive Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Posts by Robert Holleyman

Hope for Breach and Security Legislation

Sep 22, 2010 in Cybersecurity

Lawmakers have been working for five years — through three Congresses — to craft legislation that would help safeguard consumers’ personal data online and require that they be notified when there are breaches so they can take further steps to protect themselves. And now, the legislative finish line is in sight. The Senate Commerce Subcommittee … Read More >>

A Jolt of Stimulus for Local Economies

Sep 22, 2010 in Compliance and Enforcement

The software industry and trade officials who negotiate on software matters at times face incredulity when we encourage countries to step up enforcement of intellectual property rights. Some skeptical officials wonder (even if they don’t say aloud), “What’s in it for us?” They assume — falsely — that enforcing intellectual property rights boosts the profits of multinational firms that create software products but provides no significant benefit to a local economy where the software is being sold.

A new study from BSA and IDC shows that couldn’t be further from the truth. Reducing software theft actually sends ripples of stimulus through local economies. The new study finds that a 10-percentage-point drop in worldwide software piracy over four years would inject more than $142 billion into the global economy, create nearly 500,000 jobs and generate $32 billion in tax revenues. What’s more, 82 percent of those benefits would accrue inside the countries that achieve the piracy reductions.

CTOs Bring Cloud Savvy to Federal Government

Sep 20, 2010 in Cloud Computing

Today kicks off the BSA CTO Forum — an annual series of meetings between private sector chief technology officers and their counterparts in the federal government and policymakers on Capitol Hill.  I view this year’s forum as the “Davos” of cloud computing. We are bringing together the best private and public sector technologists to discuss how … Read More >>

Introducing BSA TechPost

Sep 20, 2010 in Industry

The Business Software Alliance has long been a go-to source for information and analysis of issues critical to the software industry and its hardware partners. We produce global studies of software piracy and its economic impact. We promote a safe and secure online marketplace and digital public square by advancing comprehensive policy proposals on cybersecurity, cloud computing, and a host of other issues. We testify before the world’s leading legislative bodies, meet directly with government officials, and engage in public debate on the opinion pages of national and regional newspapers.

One of our goals in launching BSA TechPost is to create an ongoing forum on these and other important issues facing the technology industry.

This will be BSA’s “official” blog. I will post regularly, as will other BSA staff, BSA member companies and other industry and policy leaders. Together, we’ll provide updates about BSA events, reports and activities, while also keeping an eye on things happening in the news.

We have a great deal of activity taking place right now. Today, we have thirteen chief technology officers from BSA member companies, and other leading technology firms in Washington for our annual CTO Forum . We will be meeting with top administration and congressional officials about how the government can best take advantage of cloud computing solutions to optimize the federal IT infrastructure. I will be writing more about this important event in the coming days.

Last week we released a new global study of the economic benefits associated with reducing software theft. These benefits are substantial — and can be compounded by slowing the piracy rate quickly. I will elaborate on those findings in a separate post.

And finally, on September 21, BSA will launch an exciting new software asset management course called SAM Advantage to help organizations save money, reduce risks and better manage their technology assets and software tools. You can expect to hear more about SAM Advantage from BSA’s general counsel and vice president of anti-piracy, Jodie Kelley.

For now, let me welcome you. We look forward to reading your comments on each post and hope you will use the sharing and subscription tools on the top, right-hand side of the page to call us to the attention of friends and colleagues and stay abreast of the unfolding conversation in whatever format you prefer.