Stanley Pierre-Louis

Stanley Pierre-Louis is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the voice and advocate for the $43.4 billion U.S. video game industry. With more than two decades of entertainment and media experience, Mr. Pierre-Louis leads ESA’s public policy efforts to showcase the dynamic impact the video game industry has on business, entertainment, and culture.

Prior to being named CEO in May 2019, Mr. Pierre-Louis served as the ESA’s General Counsel, leading the legal, policy, and regulatory affairs function for the organization. His responsibilities included advocacy on First Amendment, technology and intellectual property issues as well as supervising the global content protection program. Mr. Pierre-Louis also oversaw all governance, compliance, and contractual matters and served as the Corporate Secretary to ESA’s Board of Directors.

Before joining the ESA in May 2015, Mr. Pierre-Louis was Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property at Viacom Inc. There, he was responsible for developing strategies to protect digital content, managing major intellectual property litigation, and revamping the cybersecurity governance program.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Pierre-Louis was Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs at the Recording Industry Association of America. There, he led several strategic copyright litigations, including the entertainment industry’s litigations against MP3.com, Napster, and Aimster as well as the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case MGM Studios v. Grokster, which resulted in a unanimous decision in favor of the film and music industries.

Mr. Pierre-Louis is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Clark University. He earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served on the University of Chicago Law Review Board of Editors. Following law school, he clerked for Judge David A. Nelson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Mr. Pierre-Louis served previously on several boards, including on the University of Chicago’s Alumni Board of Governors, the law school’s Visiting Committee, the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, and Lincoln Center Education, the education division of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.