Ross Bulla is founder and president of The Treadstone Group, Inc., and is an industry authority on negotiating, acquiring, and assigning or transferring intellectual property rights. Over nearly a thirty-year period, he has acquired tens of thousands of trademarks, domain names, and social media handles on behalf of undisclosed clients. For nearly the same number of years, Ross managed complex, global investigations of infringements of intellectual property rights that threatened public health and the U.S. national economy. The pursuit of these activities necessitated Ross overseeing or supporting investigations by personnel operating in nearly every country, including the Middle East and North Africa, where he managed a long-term investigation of dangerous, low-quality counterfeit auto parts, for which revenues contributed to an estimated $1 Billion market. In May 2022, Ross divested of the investigation division and now concentrates on anonymous acquisitions.

Concurrently and for nearly ten years longer, Ross has advised policymakers and stakeholders on preventing, intervening, and responding to targeted violence, terror threats, active assailants, civil unrest, and other security vulnerabilities and risks. His clients range from high-net-worth individuals and celebrities to multinational corporations, landmark and symbolic facilities, domestic and friendly foreign governments, NGOs, and major media companies. Either in-house or under contract, Ross has assessed and managed threats, drafted security protocols, or instructed law enforcement, security, and personnel ahead of or during major events and concerts and National Special Security Events (e.g., presidential nominating conventions and the Olympic Games). Under contract with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Office of Overseas Protective Operations (OPO), Ross instructed tactical teams of Surveillance Detection (SD) personnel tasked with monitoring, observing, recognizing, and reporting potential surveillance and other suspicious incidents directed against U.S. embassies, missions, consulates, and personnel, and initiating emergency responses to possible hostile actions, as necessary, to safeguard life and property.

Appointed by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Ross serves as commissioner on the State Emergency Response Commission (“SERC”), which acts in an advisory capacity to the Homeland Security Advisor, Secretary of the Department of Public Safety, and the Division of Emergency Management. Globally, Ross is among a small number of experts to be awarded two internationally accredited board certifications: the Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and the Physical Security Professional (PSP). Ross was appointed to the technical committee that created the Active Assailant Supplement to the ANSI/ASIS/SHRM Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention Standard (WPVI). The supplement includes security design considerations, protocols, and response strategies, as well as procedures for detection, assessing vulnerabilities, and managing and neutralizing immediately life-threatening behavior perpetrated by an active assailant. While the original WPVI standard focused on prevention and intervention, the supplement addresses onsite response specific to an active assailant or shooter event. In addition, Ross Bulla served as a member of the committee that developed the “Facilities Physical Security Measures Guideline,” which assists in the identification of physical security measures that can be applied at facilities to safeguard or protect an organization’s assets. The FPSM Guideline is awarded a U.S. Department of Homeland Security “Designation” under the SAFETY Act of 2002, recognizing its role in reducing the effects of terrorism.

Ross is a dedicated philanthropist, who has donated and raised significant funds for organizations that support underserved and underrepresented communities and children. He created and hosts “Cigars, Bourbon & Benefactors,” which has grown to become one of Lake Norman’s largest and most anticipated nights out for charity. In five years, over $700,000 has been raised for the Lincoln County Child Advocacy Center (“CAC”), helping children heal from physical and sexual abuse and holding their offenders accountable. During several, smaller fundraising events, Ross pledged and raised a combined $50,000 for the CAC. In 2023, he donated funds to purchase and train three narcotics dogs, launching the Lincoln County Sherrif’s Office narcotic canine team. His company, The Treadstone Group, Inc., has provided cash and in-kind donations exceeding $600,000 to local charitable organizations, private foundations, schools, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Explorer Post 700, the Boy Scouts of America, the East Lincoln Rescue Park, the Valle Crucis Conference Center (a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina), and to the Episcopal Church of St. Peter by-the-Lake for its disaster response trailer and supplies.

Ross serves on the board of directors of the Lincoln County Coalition Against Child Abuse, Inc. & Child Advocacy Center, which dedicated its child forensic interview room, “The Ross Room,” in his honor, the Partnership for Children of Lincoln and Gaston Counties, and the United Way of Lincoln County, which recognized him at its 2019 “Community Hero.” He recently completed a six-year term on the board of directors of the Valle Crucis Conference Center, at which “Ross Bulla’vard” bears his name. Previously, Ross served on the East Lincoln Rescue Squad (attaining the rank of chief), the Gaston College Foundation board, East Lincoln Rescue Park Management Committee, and East Lincoln Betterment Association, which honored Ross as grand marshal of the 2023 Denver Christmas Parade. Lincoln County Sheriff Bill Beam honored Ross in December 2023 for his support of the Sheriff’s Office and the citizens it serves. Ross received the 2021 Duke Energy Citizenship and Service Award, the 2019 Daughters of the American Revolution Community Service Award, and the 2018 Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce Small Businessperson of the Year award. Ross is equally flattered by a local restaurant naming its roast beef sandwich, “The Ross.”

Ross recently obtained certification as a Child Forensic Interviewer. He interviews children who are suspected victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or trafficking, or who may be witnesses to violence in the home. Interviews are conducted using a structured conversation to elicit accurate and truthful information from children in a neutral and non-leading way that is sensitive to their age and developmental level, and that minimizes the risk of re-traumatizing the child.

He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, with a BS in Criminal Justice and a second major in Psychology. Ross is an Eagle Scout. He is married with a son, adopted from Ukraine. A dog and two cats rule the house.