Happy Halloween! Yep, it’s October already!
Did I miss you at Edgbaston, at the Security TWENTY show in early September? Sorry if I did as it was quite busy; I apologise if you came and I missed you. Thank you all for attending, did you spot our logo on the massive screen overlooking the cricket ground? My editor Mark Rowe joked that rain would stop play – in fact it didn’t, the Warwickshire Bears took to the field for an afternoon’s training. Quite a number of visitors had a grandstand view from outside the ST show floor (pictured, the Magos stand) to watch, ahead of the Bears’ quarter-final in the T20 competition, where they lost by 14 runs to Gloucestershire. Perhaps some of that means something to you – not to me!
If you missed that, and us, then next stop is the Radisson Red at Heathrow on Thursday, November 7, and remember that the Wednesday night is party night at the same place, so do come and join in, as Ant and Dec say, the end of show, show. That’s true for this year, that is. As for gossip, here we go then as we have a lot to get through this month; and it seems this is the month to move or get promoted!?
People starting new positions this month are:
Chris Wrench starts with Deister Electonic as a business development manager (BDM) for access solutions. Sarah White has become senior internal audit and assurance manager at Matalan. Simon Flack is professional services manager for the installer Evolution (Electronic Security Systems). Over at Johnson Controls, Stuart Gardiner has become head of design for UK and Ireland.
John Skowronski has become ACRE Security’s new CEO. Talking of ACRE, I see that Joseph Bignall-Grillo has also joined them as a BDM. Adam Triggs starts as a national sales manager of IP intercom systems at ASSA ABLOY. Matthew Antos-Lewis started as International Marketing Lead at Rombus. Lloyd Chitty started as Head as Sales for Camlock Systems the lock people. Chris Burrows started as Commercial Director for Vista Panels = (Eurocell PLC), Jim Gaffney as a security surveyor at Silverside Security. Now I have not heard that title for a long time and it takes me back to the days when I was a security surveyor for Chubb.
Ellis McCoy has returned to the lighting people Raytec as a BDM after having spent a mere seven months with Axis Communications, he’ll hardly have missed his turn to make the teas?! Robert Saxon has joined West Yorkshire Combined Authority, as Operational Security Manager. Jonathan Bowers (Geoff’s son of course) is starting a new role as Regional Sales Manager for Brivo, the cloud access control product people; Jane Aliko is now a channel account manager for Motorola Solutions in the south. Rob Jones is the new Head of Operations for Lantern Fire and Security, Scott Hill has become a sales account manager at AlertSystems, Paul Ottley has become the Managing Director (UK) at Quidvis. Lee Doorman has become the CEO for Tindall Security. Colin Milligan is now the new COO (Chief Operating Officer) at Techserv UK Ltd. Now you may recall that Colin has been in the industry for a few years, starting with Honeywell Video in 1997.
Rob Ward is the Enterprise Account Manager for EMEA at NexGen Networks, Daniel Pearce has become an associate director at QCIC, the security engineers; Mike Dean leaves Motorola and joins Hanwha Vision as BDM looking after consultants. Phil Tennent who has been unlucky with his previous company that went down has become sales director for Fingerprint Cards. Who are they I hear you ask? The company is in biometrics, with roots in Sweden. Their products are found in devices and applications by the hundreds of million, and are used billions of times a day, providing identification and authentication.
John Gibson has started as MD for Adapt Engineering. John was at ADT for some time as the sales manager, and left in 2022 to join Electro Automation. I first met John when he was at IC Realtime. I am not sure if you know this but John did appear on a version of TV’s First Dates. Do have a search on the internet if you have a spare five minutes as John gets down and sings to his date. My advice, John; stick to security, singing is not your best asset.
Promotions:
Laruen Cooper, not my daughter but I say she is anyway, and Stew Pennykid have both been promoted. Lauren is now Head of Sales and Stew is Head of Delivery. Whatever that means? Rob Scott has been prompted to Regional Sales Director at CAM UK and Ireland. The St Albans fire and security installers Amthal have appointed Reece Paprotny as their new Managing Director, Interesting that Reece started as an apprentice and been promoted; well done that man, it goes to show.
Acquisitions
Ranger Fire and Security has been busy with acquisitions and still are; their latest buy is the passive fire safety business, Fire Door Specialists Ltd. They call it a key part of Ranger’s goal to create a national platform in the fire and security sector. Ranger says that it identified FDS as the passive fire business that best met its guardrails, consistently showing strong inspections and maintenance service growth. Word also from Ian Maciejewski, Operations Director at Fire Door Specialists: “Our decision to partner with Ranger was an easy one – it’s a company I have admired since its launch and presents huge opportunities for our business.” Ranger, which launched in February 2024, has already acquired four other businesses – all in the active fire space – AFIL Ltd, Ignis Fire Protection Ltd, Syncro Group Ltd and IPH Fire Solutions Ltd.
Sad news
It is with deep sadness I report that Paul Webb the CEO of Synectics has died. Paul worked with his team since 2004 and his influence and commitment was felt by everyone he worked with. What a great shame that Paul died so young and did not get to see any of that retirement we all deserve after working most of our lives, our thoughts go to his family and loved ones.
