Kerrie Lamont Holley (born 1954) is an American

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

, author, and technology executive who is known for his pioneering work in service-oriented architecture (SOA) and his contributions to IBM's software development methodologies

Education

Holley received a B.A. in mathematics from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

in 1976 and a Juris Doctor in Law from DePaul University in 1982. In 2016, Holley was conferred a Doctor of Humane Letters from DePaul University.

Early life

Holley was raised by his maternal grandmother on Chicago's south side. He became a student at the Sue Duncan Children's Center in 1961 where he was tutored in math and science. As he excelled in the program, he became a tutor at the center, later tutoring former

United States Secretary of Education The United States secretary of education is the head of the United States Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on policies, programs, and activi ...

, Arne Duncan and actor

Michael Clarke Duncan Michael Clarke Duncan (December 10, 1957September 3, 2012) was an American actor. He is best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in '' The Green Mile'' (1999), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor a ...

Career

Kerrie Holley became IBM's first African American Distinguished Engineer in 2000. Kerrie was appointed

IBM Fellow An IBM Fellow is a position at IBM appointed by the CEO. Typically only four to nine (eleven in 2014) IBM Fellows are appointed each year, in May or June. Fellow is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achieve. Over ...

in 2006. Kerrie was a member of the Naval Studies Board and contributed to several reports. Kerrie joined Cisco in 2016 as their Software Platform Group's VP and Chief Technology Officer. In 2017 Kerrie joined United Health Group (UHG), Optum, as their first Technology Fellow and Senior Vice President focused on advancing and applying several technologies like artificial intelligence, deep learning, natural language processing, graph databases, IoT, genomics, and ambient computing. Kerrie was inducted into the 2023 class of the National Academy of Engineering NAE for contributions to the evolution of service-oriented architectures, enabling global businesses to respond more quickly to changing market conditions. Kerrie is a 2025 inductee into The

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a US patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operate ...

for his inventions in

Service Oriented Architecture In software engineering, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that focuses on discrete services instead of a monolithic design. SOA is a good choice for system integration. By consequence, it is also applied in the field ...

Awards and honors

* 2003 Black Engineer of the Year * 2004 The 50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science * 2005-2010 Naval Studies Board member * 2016 Honorary Doctorate Degree * 2023

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

* 2025

Publications

Holley has authored several books throughout his career, sharing his expertise in various technological domains. In November 2010, Holley's first book, "100 SOA Questions: Asked and Answered," was published, describing how enterprises can adopt service-oriented architecture. His next book, "Is Your Company Ready for Cloud," co-authored with Pam Isom, was released in 2012, addressing the growing importance of cloud computing in business. In 2021, Holley wrote "AI First Healthcare," exploring the application of artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector. His most recent book, "LLMs and Generative AI for Healthcare: The Next Frontier," was published in 2024, reflecting his ongoing engagement with cutting-edge technologies and their impact on healthcare transformation.

Patents

Holley owns several patents ranging from how to maintain functionality when faced with component failure to how to locate lost mobile devices and software engineering patents in service-oriented architecture. Holley is a co-patent ownerco-patent owner
/ref> of the industry's first SOA development method and first SOA maturity model. The maturity model helps enterprises assess where they are on the road to adopting a Service-Oriented Architecture and provides a plan for achieving an SOA-based infrastructure.

Selected publications

* Holley, Kerrie, and Manish Mathur, "LLMs and Generative AI for Healthcare, The Next Frontier." O'Reilly Media, 2024. * Holley, Kerrie, and Siupo Becker. ''AI First Healthcare.'' O'Reilly Media, 2021. * Holley, Kerrie, and Ali Arsanjani. ''100 SOA Questions: Asked and Answered.'' Pearson Education, 2010. Articles, a selection: * State of Healthcare Technology (2021) * Channabasavaiah, Kishore, Kerrie Holley, and Edward Tuggle. "Migrating to a service-oriented architecture." ''IBM DeveloperWorks'' 16 (2003). * Crawford, C. H., Bate, G. P., Cherbakov, L., Holley, K., & Tsocanos, C. (2005). Toward an on-demand service-oriented architecture." ''IBM Systems Journal,'' 44(1), 81-107. * Arsanjani, A., Ghosh, S., Allam, A., Abdollah, T., Ganapathy, S., & Holley, K. (2008). "SOMA: A method for developing service-oriented solutions." ''IBM systems Journal,'' 47(3), 377–396.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holley, Kerrie IBM Fellows African-American engineers 21st-century American engineers African-American inventors 20th-century American inventors 21st-century American inventors 21st-century African-American scientists Software engineering researchers American computer scientists Living people DePaul University College of Law alumni 1954 births 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics Kenwood Academy alumni