Professional Security Magazine MD Roy Cooper writes in our January 2013 issue –
Let’s start with a happy new year to you all. I hope your Christmas was great and that you’re all ready to get stuck into a new year.
Here are a few people that are ready to get stuck into their new jobs. Starting with Norbain; it seems Keith Purvis the operations director is leaving the company and sadly the industry. He is off to work for a company in Kent. Keith has been with Norbain since the mid 1990s. I remember him challenging me to a game of golf once in those early years, I did explain that I don’t play golf; to which he replied that he did not either, so we would be evenly matched. The day arrived and we met, late one summer’s evening, yep, it had to be after hours! for this round of golf, Keith turned up wearing a black PING outfit and was proud of the new set of clubs he had just bought costing him over £1k; I on the other hand I had my jeans on, trainers and had borrowed my father-in-law’s half-set of clubs. Keith, one can only describe him as pretty good player for someone who didn’t play!? But then who am I to judge because, as I say, I don’t play the game.
Also hot off the press is that Phil Doyle is leaving Axis Communications. Surprised? I was, Phil has been at Axis since May 2008 and had worked his way up the tree to become the Regional Director, Northern Europe for the company. He is leaving come February to join Quadrant Security Group, the Nottingham-based installation company. What can I tell you about Phil you don’t already know? He once recommended a hotel to me to take my wife away to for our anniversary, one that seemingly he uses for similar occasions with his own wife, however this was a very special place with a very special price tag, namely £2500 a night! Thanks Phil.
Over to Risco now and seems that Bob Cotterill is leaving the company where he has been the MD since 2009. Before that Bob worked at Bewator, remember them? He started there in 1991. Where is he going? Well as I type this I don’t know but I will keep you posted as I am sure it won’t be far. Bewator are now owned by Siemens; and talking of them, Kelly Bard, who has been at NVT since 2007 has left and joined Siemens as an account manager. Ok so this was towards the end of last year but she has settled in to her new role now.
Talking of alarm manufacturers, Pyronix supported Macmillan Cancer Support at Christmas with a ‘switching on the Pyronix likes’ campaign. Macmillan has been helping people with cancer for 100 years. With one in three people diagnosed with cancer, it is something that will affect us all in some way. With that said, they donated £1 for each of the next 1000 likes that the Pyronix Facebook page received before Christmas.
Talking charity it seems all the male staff over at ezCCTV took Movember by storm and all grew beards and moustaches in aid of the Claire Stanley Trust. That is devoted to helping raise money for research into cancer treatments, equipment for treating or curing cancers and generally to help in any way possible to extend people’s lives or at least improve their quality of life. And secondly they have now taken on a new technical support specialist, Charles Webber.
And while we are on the subject our 13th charity dog night ran on November 29 and we managed to raise a massive £5,500 which was handed over to Andrew Knights of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals. The Worshipful Company’s Charitable Trust administers The Security Benevolent Fund. This is a fund within the charity, to assist members of the security profession who are distressed and in need of welfare support. The board of trustees of the trust make make gifts to individuals or groups, including other charities, linked to the provision of security or the protection of people and property.
Sorry I digress, back to the gossip and in brief: Steve Hooper has joined Thinking Space as their new export-international Ssales manager, Steve has 13 years experience in the industry having started at Honeywell. And the Scottish-based installer Scotshield has appointed Keith Gascoigne as Head of Business Development for the north east of England. Keith has more than 29 years in the industry.
Talking of account managers Matt Raban has been recruited by Samsung to be Account Manager for the Midlands and south of England. Previously, Matt did a business development role for Nedap, but over the last 20 years he has also worked for a number of security companies including Optex, where he was sales manager for four years, and FSS Security, where he started as an installation engineer and rose to Sales Manager.
