Robert Oatman

Robert L. Oatman, CPP (Certified Protection Professional, ASIS International) is one of the preeminent providers of executive protection in the United States and abroad. His firm, R. L. Oatman & Associates, Inc. has provided Executive Protection risk assessments, consultation, operations, and training around the world since 1989. The firm specializes in developing detailed protection plans for the top executives of Fortune 500 companies, as well as for private families and others at risk. In addition, the firm operates an Executive Protection training school near its headquarters in Towson, Maryland.

Since 1998, when Mr. Oatman developed the first 2 Day Executive Protection Program for ASIS, he has traveled both domestically and internationally to present this 2 day program for ASIS twice each year. He was instrumental in establishing an ASIS Certificate Program for Executive Protection which was implemented December 2013. Currently, Mr. Oatman is chairing the first ASIS Council on Executive Protection consisting of various esteemed executive security members from the United States and abroad. In 2010, Mr. Oatman received prestigious honor of the President’s Award of Merit from ASIS, an award given out once per year. In 2003, Mr. Oatman received the FBI Director’s Award for Exceptional Service in the Public Interest.

In December of 2000, Mr. Oatman joined the Security Advisory Board for iJET International, established in 1999, as an intelligence-driven, integrated risk management corporation that enables organizations to operate globally by providing response services to avoid threats and mitigate risk to executives. iJET became one of the first companies to offer intelligence-driven risk management to travel and security departments worldwide.

Mr. Oatman is the author of Executive Protection: Rising to the Challenge (ASIS, 2009); Executive Protection: New Solutions for a New Era (Noble House, 2006) and The Art of Executive Protection (Noble House, 1997); the Executive Protection chapter in the industry standard Protection of Assets Manual (ASIS International, 2004); and numerous articles in Security Management magazine. He is also co-author of You’re the Target: Coping with Terror and Crime (New World Publishing, 1989).

His experience includes overseas Executive Protection Service to NBC during the Olympics in 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000. Mr. Oatman was director of protective operations at the Limited Brands, Inc., 1992-2001. Earlier, he served with the Baltimore County Police Department, retiring as Major, Chief of Detectives. Mr. Oatman holds a B.S. degree in criminal justice from the University of Baltimore and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Federal Executive Institute.