Pamela Passman is President and CEO of the Center for Responsible Enterprise and Trade (CREATe.org). Prior to founding CREATe in October 2011, Passman was the Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Global Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Microsoft Corporation. From 2002, Passman led Microsoft’s regulatory compliance work across a range of issues, including privacy, security, law enforcement, telecommunications and other issues related to cloud computing. She worked closely with business leaders and research and development teams to advance Microsoft’s businesses in China and other emerging markets.
Passman also led Microsoft’s global government relations and public policy work and philanthropic program and had leadership responsibilities for its cross-company global corporate citizenship efforts.
She first joined Microsoft in 1996 and until 2002, led the Legal and Corporate Affairs organization in Asia, based in Tokyo, with a focus on Japan, Korea and the People’s Republic of China. Prior to joining Microsoft, Ms. Passman practiced law with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. and Nagashima & Ohno in Tokyo, Japan.
Ms. Passman serves on the Strategic Advisory Board of Ethisphere Institute, a private company that is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. She served on the Board and Audit Committee of IO, a mid-market data center infrastructure/cloud computing company, and a portfolio company of private equity firm Sterling Partners, from 2012 to 2015.
She currently serves as a Trustee of Lafayette College and on the Boards of the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). Passman is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on its Nominating and Governance Committee and has served on its Independent Task Force on U.S. Trade and Investment Policy (2010-2011). Ms. Passman served on the Executive Committee of the Board of the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) from 2002 to 2011 and as its Chair during 2010-2011 and on the Board of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) from 2006 to 2014. Ms. Passman was recognized by Security Magazine as one of 2014 Most Influential People in Security.
