The Most Influential People in Security 2018

GM Financial is a global provider of auto finance solutions with operations in the U.S., Canada, China and Latin America. Under Aflalo’s leadership, the GM Financial security model has evolved into a holistic, effective and integrated program aligned with the company’s risks.

The convergence of this program and a culture of heightened security awareness at GM Financial has yielded a more secure workplace environment. “This could not have been accomplished without the dedicated and skilled efforts of a team of security professionals, committed to promoting security and safety at GM Financial,” Aflalo says. Aflalo is actively engaged in industry efforts focused on the professional development of next-generation security leaders.

“Probably the most helpful career advice that I can offer future security professionals would be to remain well-attuned to the ever-evolving threat landscape,” Aflalo says. “The rate of technological change within the world today has accelerated exponentially from even a decade ago, and the volatility of emerging threat environments presents new risks that require new security solutions and countermeasures.”

Aflalo is a member of the ASIS Banking and Financial Services Council and the ASIS CSO Center for Leadership & Development and served as the Chair of the Center’s Mentoring Committee. He is an active member of the International Security Management Association (ISMA), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP).

Beighley authored a security officer and investigator accreditation program with the State of Ohio to validate quality, assure compliance and provide a measuring stick for the public to use when hiring or evaluating security services. The standard, developed with a partnership with the Private Investigator and Security Standards Commission and the International Foundation of Protection Officers (IFPO), comprises a total of 26 standards, but companies start with six: roles and authority, use of force, recruitment, performance evaluations, critical policies and company records.

“This is something the industry desperately needs,” says Beighley. “We need a benchmark to identify professional service for those who employ us and to help elevate the level of expectation for the quality of our services… The public needs to know who they are dealing with; they should be able to demand a higher level of quality, and there needs to be a differentiator between good and bad security services.”

Prior to his work at Nationwide, Beighley was State Security Director for the State of Ohio, where he authored the Ohio School Security Standards and developed a workplace violence prevention and intervention program. He has also served as Director of Security for footwear retailer Shonac/DSW, and as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Ohio Military Reserve. He is a member of the Council of Global Security Executives and a member of the FBI Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC).

Executives and a member of the FBI Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC). Having worked in both the private and public sectors, Beighley says that remaining flexible is key to a long security career. “Each sector can teach you things about being a leader, and leadership skills are transferable to any position… It’s hardly ever a straight line to the CSO’s office, so remain open to new opportunities that fill voids in your experience and that provide you opportunities to grow as a leader.”

Beighley has written three books about security: “Workplace Violence: Identify, Act, and Resolve” (1998), “School Violence Prevention: Proactive Intervention, Peaceful Resolution” (1999), and “War in the Workplace” (2016).

Christie is actively involved in a number of industry associations and groups, including the International Association of Financial Crimes (Board of Directors); International Association of Financial Crimes Investigator, Southeastern Chapter (President); and the High Technology Crime Investigations Association (Treasurer), among others. Christie credits networking and building a diverse, global group of individuals who can help solve problems as one of her most diligent ongoing endeavors.

“If you want to be in security or law enforcement,” she says, “then find ways to not only learn through education (school, classes and certification), but also seek industry groups to gain firsthand insights, volunteer for programs that support your goals, and find a company or organization where you can learn and grow. The security industry is one of the fastest moving, demanding and ever-changing groups that has a meaningful impact for others. You must be passionate and love the challenge of teaching others about security… and watching an organization grow and change.”

Prior to her work at Novelis, Christie worked for Equifax, Inc., as the Senior Director of Global Investigations and Credentialing, and as a Fraud Prevention & Investigations Team Leader at JPMorgan Chase, where she prevented $18 million of fraudulent transactions by creating and executing a fraud preventions strategy.

Christie has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from American Intercontinental University in Atlanta. She is a frequent speaker about the value of security and enjoys teaching others to want to implement stronger security measures.

In his current role, Foynes is leading an enterprise-wide initiative called Project Falcon, which will involve building an intelligent platform that enables cyber at the edge and leverages data insights to enrich the employee experience, enhance life safety management and optimize operations. The shift will include a dynamic access management platform, a robust threat detection program within the Virtual Security Operations Center (VSOC), and a lean, agile, liquid workforce model, creating a smart, secure and scalable security environment.

“This transformation will disrupt physical security and make traditional threat detection and security risk management obsolete,” Foynes says. The project is expected to save Microsoft more than $500 million over the next 10 years via reduced infrastructure deployments.

Prior to joining Microsoft in 2003, Foynes worked in a variety of roles around the world, providing strategic corporate consultancy, advice and support. He holds a Master’s degree in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management, and is currently on the Board of Directors for the Security Industry Association (SIA). He is an elected Fellow of The Security Institute.

Foynes was a member of the United Nations Interregional Crime & Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) Public-Private Partnership Working Group to “Protect Vulnerable Targets from Terrorist Attack,” which resulted in the publication of a UNICRI Handbook in 2010.

Regarding up and coming security professionals, Foynes says: “The security industry is in the midst of a huge digital disruption. Traditional security functions, roles and responsibilities are converging around data-enabled solutions and digital capabilities. The next generation of security leaders will be required to apply digital constructs across all their business processes and programs. Cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with Edge IOT are blurring the lines between logical and physical environments. Traditional security mindsets will not prevail in a digital business. (Security leaders) will need to embrace a digital mindset.

“The security professionals of the future will need different skillsets and toolkits. Business degrees and technical degrees in computer science, cyber and digital business will be foundational. Moreover, for digital leaders to be successful in the future, they need to embrace disruption, instill a digital culture and develop services leveraging intelligent cloud and intelligent edge. Digital security leaders have an incredible opportunity to lead this transformation. This is the decade of opportunity for the right leaders.”

This year, Green and his team reimagined how Mastercard addresses phishing and spam attempts by implementing a quarterly phishing “tournament,” using prizes to encourage employees to actively search for and report social engineering emails, which helps to supplement existing security programs and improves employee security awareness and involvement.

Prior to joining Mastercard in 2014, Green served as Deputy CISO at Fidelity Information Services; Director, Investigation and Protections Operations at Blackberry; and Senior Vice President across several areas at Bank of America. He has served as a special agent in the U.S. Secret Service and as a U.S. Army officer. Within the Secret Service, he was one of the first agents to receive formal training on seizing and analyzing electronic evidence and worked on a number of international cyber-crime investigations.

Green is a recent graduate of the FBI’s CISO and Domestic Security Executive Academies, and he holds a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a graduate certification in Information Assurance from George Washington University.

He is a member of the European Cyber Resiliency Board and an executive committee member for the Financial Services Sector Coordination Council, and serves on the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC).

Green advises future security professionals to be persistent and to avoid complacency. “What you understand today isn’t how it will work tomorrow,” he says. “Once upon a time, we in security believed if we could put firewalls in place, it would protect us from everything. Then we began installing anti-virus software to increase that protection. The fact is: the threat actors are always upping their game. It’s important not only to focus on the current threats, but to look ahead and anticipate future threats.”

He is the Chair of the DHS Critical Manufacturing Sector Coordinating Council (SCC), where he supports cooperation between the public and the private sectors.

Past positions include the CSO and Senior Director, Global Safety, Security and Asset Protection for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc., and the International Risk Control Director for Walmart Stores, Inc. During his tenure at Starwood, Kimmins was a founding member of the Hotel Security Working Group (HSWG), a collaborative public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and major U.S.-based global hotel chains. He also served as the Lodging & Hospitality Chair of the DHS Commercial Facilities Sector Coordinating Council, and he is a long-time member of the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC).

Kimmins is an advocate of “servant leadership,” which means “empowering your team, backing them up in their decision-making and giving them the support to execute on those decisions.”

He also recommends being a “generalist” within the security field. “By their very nature, security departments – even in big companies – are small, so team members may be called upon to undertake an investigation, carry out a site physical security assessment, organize a guarding contract, participate in an executive security mission and many other tasks. I have been fortunate enough in my career to have gained experience in a number of risk control disciplines including security, safety, fire protection, fire life safety, environmental management and even food safety. Branch out; if you have an opportunity to become a risk generalist, take it. There should be a strong nexus amongst the risk control disciplines.”

Kimmins has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Management & Technology from the University of Sunderland in England and a Master of Science degree in Process Manufacturing Management from the University of Teesside in England.

After 9/11, Lanier was named Commander of the Special Operations Division (SOD), where she managed the Emergency Response Team, Aviation and Harbor Units, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Civil Disturbance Units, among others. During her tenure as SOD Commander, she established the agency’s first Homeland Security/Counter-Terrorism Branch and created an agency-wide chemical, biological, radiological response unit – the Special Threat Action Team.

In 2006, Lanier was tapped to lead the MPD’s Office of Homeland Security and Counter-Terrorism, and in 2007, she was unanimously confirmed as the Chief of Police by the Council of the District of Columbia – becoming the first woman to hold that rank in the Department’s history. During her 10 years in that role, she transitioned the department from a paper agency to one of the most technologically advanced police departments in the country, integrating more than a dozen technologies to create one of the most effective crime prevention/crime response networks in the nation.

“There is no greater feeling than improving safety for our police officers and the community,” Lanier says. Lanier is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s Drug Unit Commanders Academy. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Management from Johns Hopkins University, and a Master’s Degree in National Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School.

“Formal education is a very important part of your career development and opens doors for you throughout your lifetime,” Lanier says. “However, don’t overlook continuing education after you have obtained your degrees. In the security field, the threats and tools of the trade are constantly changing, and you must stay on top of them. The speed with which technology is changing is difficult to stay up on, but you must keep pace to be effective.”

Chief Medeiros is responsible for managing the daily operation of the community medical center campus police and security program, including budget development, regulatory oversight and emergency management. He frequently undertakes training programs (such as FEMA Healthcare Leadership in Mass Casualty Event Training and the National Rifle Association Refuse To Be A Victim certification) so he can bring back lessons-learned to apply to the healthcare campus as well as to use in instructing and mentoring security officers.

Chief Medeiros is also striving to address patients’ and visitors’ relationship with security. In 2017, the HealthFirst Campus Police & Security Department hosted its first Coffee with a Cop event for visitors, neighbors and patients, and Chief Medeiros created the HealthFirst Junior Police Officer Program so campus security personnel can interact with children visiting the facility, helping to change stereotypes that young children may have regarding public safety officers.

In a 2016 company-wide survey grading the effectiveness of the HealthFirst security department – measuring employee confidence in the department, leadership of the department, visibility, response time and quality of outcome, appearance, innovation and professionalism – the department scored in the 97th percentile for all categories at the highest level.

“I am most proud of the men and women that I have had the privilege to supervise and mentor,” says Medeiros. “I have been fortunate to see many of these security/law enforcement professionals go on to positions of increased responsibility and become outstanding supervisors and mentors in their own right.”

Earlier in his career, Chief Medeiros served as a police officer for the City of Fall River and for the Town of Piermont in New Hampshire.

Sawyer actively participates on the hospital safety committee and provides advice and assistance with activities such as employee safety, infection control, disaster response planning, code DELTA and other incidents.

In addition, Sawyer develops and delivers quarterly safety programs and various safety programs to address specific department needs and organizational needs.

Sawyer is the current President and a crime prevention instructor with the Washington State Crime Prevention Association (WSCPA), the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) and the American Board of Certification for Homeland Security, and he serves as an instructor and consultant for assault prevention and verbal de-escalation training sessions for schools, institutions and organizations.

In Seattle Children’s, a 250-bed hospital regularly ranked highly as one of the top children’s hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report, Sawyer and his team of security officers use de-escalation tactics (such as “restatement for clarification”) to address potentially risky interactions with patients or visitors, which helps to reduce workplace violence incidents.

He is a member of ASIS International, ABCHA, CPI, WSCPA, IAHSS and the National Association of Chiefs of Police. Sawyer says he is most proud of “managing an exceptionally decent and dedicated team of security professionals” and “building a program that emphasizes optimum customer service as one’s finest violence prevention strategy.”

Sawyer has a Bachelor’s degree in Society and Justice from the University of Washington.

Seger has initiated a three-layer approach to school safety and security – the layers being securing perimeter and entrance areas, locking off learning environments, and securing classrooms – that has become a key benchmark for Indiana schools. This layered approach has directly impacted school safety and improved the self-actualization of students and staff. Graduation rates at Penn High School improved from 79 percent in 2007 to 97 percent in 2017.

“In a safe environment, students can achieve academic excellence,” Seger says. “These initiatives provided a sense of relief, comfort and protection to our teachers, students and community while establishing a safe and secure environment.”

The safety and security layers have been identified as best practices by the Indiana Department of Education. Seger is a regular participant in training and education initiatives, conducting tabletop exercises to encourage education and awareness and initiating active shooter training opportunities for staff, students and community members. He has presented at the National School Boards Association, Indiana School Boards Association, Michigan Association of School Business Officials, Indiana School Safety Academy and on a local level to enhance the knowledge and commitment toward providing a safe and secure environment for K-12 students. He served on a committee to evaluate the Safe School’s Initiative Study with the U.S. Department of Education and facilitated regional training for the Indiana Department of Education to promote school security.

Seger serves as the chairperson for the St. Joseph County Safe School’s Commission and is a member of the Indiana Association of School Business Officials. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and Security Management from the University of Evansville.

Says Seger: “The culmination of your knowledge and experience can assist in building a culture of safety within your own school community.”

Previously, he served as the Associate Deputy Director of the FBI, overseeing the management of all FBI personnel, budget, administration, infrastructure inspection, internal investigations and insider threats. Between December 2014 and April 2016, Bowdich was Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, where he led a number of high-profile investigations, including the San Bernardino terror attack and the LAX active shooter investigation.

Bowdich served as the Special Agent in Charge of the Counterterrorism Division of the LA Field Office from September 2012 to December 2014, leading the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is responsible for all international and domestic terrorism investigations in the Los Angeles region, surrounding counties and the extraterritorial region of Southeast Asia.

“Whether it was a terrorism, gang or public corruption investigation, I was and continue to be proud of the way our folks respond and work diligently to counter the threats,” Bowdich says. “No one in the FBI accomplishes anything successfully alone. We act on a team to address the threats facing our nation.”

In 1995, Bowdich began his career as an FBI Special Agent in the San Diego Field Office, where he investigated violent crimes and gangs, as well as serving as a SWAT Team operator and sniper. Bowdich joined the Criminal Investigative Division and Director’s Office at the FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, in 2003 before returning to San Diego to supervise a multiagency gang task force. He was then promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of all non-white-collar crime criminal violations, the Imperial County Resident Agency, the SWAT Team and the Evidence Response Team.

For security professionals looking to follow in Bowdich’s footsteps, he says: “Strive to understand technology and its impact on our profession, the threats we investigate and disrupt, and the way we consume, digest and disseminate information.

“That said, how we interact with others, whether they be the public, partners or victims, cannot be lost with the increased use of technology. The truly successful in the law enforcement profession learn to work collaboratively with others to accomplish a shared goal. They also channel their passion for the mission to inspire others to protect and serve their nation and communities,” he adds..

Before this, Evanoff served in the private sector as the Vice President for Asset Protection & Security for Walmart International, Inc., the Global Security Officer at Coca-Cola HBC and as Global Director of Security at Och-Ziff Capital Management Group.

Having served in both the public and private sectors throughout his career, Evanoff recommends that security professionals not just “practice the art of protection and risk mitigation; also study the entire business that you are charged to protect… To mitigate risk for your company, you need to know how the company operates from top to bottom.”

Evanoff served as a career special agent with the Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security from 1985 to 2011, serving overseas in the Philippines, Pakistan, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Morocco, Denmark and Iceland, among others. In 2003, he was named the Diplomatic Security Employee of the Year for his exceptional work in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

During his tenure with DS, Evanoff was the Executive Director of the State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), the NATO Security Director for the 29-nation Euro-Atlantic Alliance, and the first Diplomatic Security Service officer to establish a permanent liaison office with the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany.

Evanoff has a Bachelor’s degree in Police Science from Eastern Kentucky University with a minor in Corporate Security, and he is a member of ASIS International, the European Corporate Security Council (ECSC) and is an honorary member of the International Security Management Association (ISMA).

Prior to becoming Morris County Sheriff in January 2017, Gannon worked for the Novartis Corporation, a multinational pharmaceutical company, as its Global Head of Security Risk, where he was responsible for product security (anti-counterfeiting, theft and illegal diversion), due diligence and extremism risk globally. He served in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark, New Jersey, investigating sensitive international terrorism and national security matters, liaising daily with federal, state, county and local law enforcement partners, members of the international law enforcement community and more.

For nearly 22 years, Gannon worked in the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, climbing the ranks from Detective to Deputy Chief of Investigations, eventually starting the Morris County Cold Case Unit in 2003, co-authoring the “Morris County Counter-Terrorism Task Force Manual,” and leading a team of police officers into New York City to assist with the PENTTBOMB Investigation on 9/11.

In his current role as Morris County Sheriff, Gannon is battling the effects of the opioid epidemic and other addiction challenges in his community daily, striving to provide treatment, not just enforcement.

“The Morris County Sheriff’s Office has partnered with our Department of Human Services and other public and private entities to add treatment to our strategy of education and enforcement,” Sheriff Gannon says. “Hope One is a mobile access vehicle that assists at-risk folks in the community who have addiction and mental health issues and have no support. Our results have been outstanding, and the program is a model that is being replicated in other parts of the state…. My job as Morris County Sheriff is to help people who need it, which will also lend to returning people to being productive members of society and reducing recidivism.”

Sheriff Gannon has a Master of Administrative Science from Fairleigh Dickinson University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from William Paterson University. Sheriff Gannon is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, 169th Session, Quantico, Virginia.

In his position with Save the Children, Khusnutdinov has functional and operational responsibility for global security strategy and security operations, as well as security risk management, global analysis, workforce protection, critical incident response, crisis management and staff training.

“We have been able to develop a cohort of dedicated young professionals who in their turn continue to contribute to the agency’s successes. Every safety and security focal person in the agency knows that one day s/he can become a security director and – most importantly – is supported with high-quality orientation, resources, training and coaching.”

Khusnutdinov has contributed to the professional development of many colleagues in the NGO security industry, even outside of Save the Children, by providing orientations, conducting briefings, sharing best practices, and inviting members of the community to attend Save the Children courses and trainings worldwide and online. He challenges other security practitioners to drive innovation in the industry, especially in the areas of global analysis, research, security standards, information sharing and more.

Khusnutdinov is an advocate of security forums that enable organizations to share critical information, discuss operational challenges and identify best practices. He is one of the founders of the International Development Working Group of OSAC and currently serves as an Emeritus Steering Committee Member. He is a member of the Security Advisory Group of InterAction, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International NGO Safety and Security Association.

Under Erickson, SIA is regularly advocating for federal grant funds that can be used by security practitioners to finance projects protecting critical infrastructure like airports and K-12 schools. SIA is producing a number of publications and resources to help security professionals understand emerging technologies, compliance issues and trends such as AI and robotics, and the association offers educational programs within the ISC West and ISC East tradeshows.

SIA is working with ASIS International to produce a joint Career Pathways resource to understand the career paths of security management and supplier personnel, including their educational and professional backgrounds, job titles and responsibilities, required skills, knowledge and abilities, which will provide insight into the common ways professionals enter and advance through the security field.

“I am proud of my role in changing the culture of SIA,” Erickson says. “SIA was a very insular organization seven or eight years ago. Since then, SIA has become more professional and responsive to its members, created an unprecedented number of member benefits, and collaborated frequently with industry organizations, particularly those that represent security practitioners.”

Prior to joining SIA, Erickson served as manager of legislative affairs for Alcatel and legislative director for the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, and he served on the senior legislative staff of U.S. Senator Rod Grams.

Erickson has served as a member of several boards, including The Catholic University of America Alumni Association, Mission 500, the National Capital Region Security Forum and the IAHSS Foundation.

“In 1999, I recognized the need for a positive training source for security officers, supervisors and managers,” Layne says. “Together with my son and other leaders in the industry, we formed the International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection. We continue to train candidates for certification at leading institutions throughout the U.S. and abroad, and are recognized as setting the standard for best practices in protecting cultural properties and public institutions.”

Layne is the author of “Safeguarding Cultural Properties,” “The Cultural Property Protection Manual” and co-author of “Suggested Guidelines in Museum Security.” He has authored national certification programs for security officers, supervisors, managers and instructors, and he presents seminars, workshops and keynotes for state, regional and national associations.

He has served as protection advisor to more than 500 institutions, crime prevention coordinator for several law enforcement agencies, and special instructor for the Colorado Law Enforcement Training Academy, among others.

Layne is a graduate of Missouri Military Academy, the U.S. Army Infantry Officer Candidate School, Career Officer Military Police Program, and the FBI Police Management Program.

For future security and law enforcement professionals, Layne says: “There is considerable competition for leading roles in both security and law enforcement management. It is strongly recommended for those wishing to advance in this field to gain a positive combination of field experience and academic achievement. Many excellent opportunities are lost in the interview process. Learn about the positive traits interviewers look for, and be prepared to make a positive impression. This includes what you wear, your personal hygiene and your ability to directly answer questions.”

“What becomes clear is that the demographics of crime have been changing,” Dr. Wells says. “As a society, we are less violent than in the past but more dishonest. In short, while murder is down, scams are at an all-time high. It is imperative that security and law enforcement professionals respond by educating themselves on how to address this growing threat.”

After graduating with honors from the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Wells spent two years on the audit staff of Cooper and Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) before being appointed as a Special Agent of the FBI, where he spent 10 years investigating thousands of fraud cases ranging from nickel-and-dime con artists to former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell for his role in the Watergate case. In 1982, Dr. Wells left the government to form a firm of criminologists specializing in fraud detection and deterrence – Wells & Associates.

In 1988, Dr. Wells founded the ACFE, and since then he has lectured to tens of thousands of business professionals, written 23 books, and authored frequent articles and research projects. In addition to his work with the ACFE, Dr. Wells served as a professor of fraud examination in the Graduate Business School at the University of Texas at Austin, earning him recognition from the American Accounting Association.

Dr. Wells has served on various senior committees, such as the American Institute of CPAs, and he is a member of the AICPA’s Business and Industry Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was honored as a Doctor of Commercial Science from York College of the City University of New York.

“Other than the 36-year marriage to the love of my life, I’m proudest of my involvement in the anti-fraud community. It spans four decades and led to the formation of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners,” Dr. Wells says.