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

The Time is Now for Breach Legislation

Jun 15, 2011 in Cybersecurity

Data breaches are all over the news these days — Epsilon, Sony, Citi and Lockheed Martin, to name a few of the corporations, along with a number of government agencies and organizations. One group, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, has recorded more than 2,500 breaches since 2005, involving more than 530 million individual records. In many … Read More >>

Piracy and Security Threats Go Hand In Hand

May 25, 2011 in Cybersecurity

Ten years ago, the main threats to security online were vandals and hackers. They chased notoriety and relished the challenge of beating security systems. Their calling cards tended to be denial-of-service attacks, which they used to bring down prominent sites such as eBay and CNN. Today, the stakes are much higher. Organized criminal enterprises are … Read More >>

Software Piracy Leaps to Record $59 Billion in 2010

May 12, 2011 in Compliance and Enforcement

The software industry is being robbed blind. That is the main conclusion I draw from the newly released 2010 BSA Global Software Piracy Study, which is available with a rich, interactive presentation of the latest data at www.bsa.org/globalstudy. Theft of software for personal computers leapt 14 percent around the world last year to a new … Read More >>

Software Theft on the Table at May 9–10 S&ED

May 9, 2011 in Compliance and Enforcement

Four out of five software programs installed on personal computers in China are stolen at a commercial value of nearly $8 billion dollars a year. That issue will be on the table this week when President Obama’s economic team sits down in Washington with its Chinese counterparts for their annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue. The … Read More >>

Global Survey Finds Strong Support for IP Rights

Apr 26, 2011 in Intellectual Property

Intellectual property rights — copyrights, patents and trademarks — provide the legal framework necessary for creative enterprise like commercial software development to flourish. But it is widely assumed that most people view IP rights as business and legal concepts with little relevance to their daily lives. That’s why the World Intellectual Property Organization and its … Read More >>