Holly, a graduate of Alfred University, spent four years with the U.S. Marine Corps before joining the bureau in 1990.
At FBI, Holly spent several years as a special agent before his promotion to subsequent supervisory roles in 1996 with the Sacramento division and again in 2001 with the critical incident response group.
Holly was named assistant section chief of the counterterrorism division in 2004 and later assistant special agent in charge in the Richmond division.
He has taken part in several high-profile investigations with the bureau, including the UNABOM probe in Sacramento, the Hurricane Katrina relief operations, the Sept. 11 attacks and the D.C. bomber case.