June seems to be the month of legends, as many of them are moving this month. As we were preparing for Ifsec (a legend in its own right) I can report that there are a lot of moves to get your head around this month. So let’s start.
Firstly Phil Wring that legend from Honeywell Security has left after 18 months and joined Hikvision as a business development manager, as you will recall if you read my interview with Mike Tolley last month that HIK are recruiting a lot of people in the UK so you can expect more of this from these guys. Phil has been in our industry for many years now so knows his way around it.
Avigilon seem to be making a few changes. It seems that Mark Massie (another legend) has left the company after a mutually acceptable agreement and after having served with them for over three years and has been replaced by Paul Such. Paul’s been in the industry since I believe 1986 and has joined from Oncam (Grandeye); he has also been at Honeywell, and Nice, if you were wondering where you knew him from. Likewise Dave Gregory has joined them to replace Chris Valentino (formerly of IC Realtime) who has sort of stepped temporarily out of the industry. Dave was working for Arecont where he was for just under a couple of years and earlier was also at Honeywell; and Pelco.
David Petrook has joined Synectics as their Commercial Director. You will recall David also a legend was at DvTel for some 11 years-plus and then left to become a security consultant, winning a contract with Centro. So yes, he was doing ok, but seems that David could not stay away from those manufacturers and hence is back on that side of the fence. And having spoke to him seems he is very excited by the prospect. How long has David been in the industry? Let’s see; I think it’s also been since the 1980s.
In brief because we have so much to fit in this month:
Talking about legends, Martin Butterworth is back in the industry working with the missus again, yep he has joined the boys at COP.
I also understand that Heather Constantine is leaving Tyco Integrated Systems, where is she off to? To be honest I don’t know yet, but rest assured I will let you know when I know.
CCTVDirect introduce four new starters to the team Danielle Cooper (no relation) has joined as sales and administration coordinator.
Alex O’Rourke has joined the technical team as Product Manager having recently left his role as Product Assistant at Videcon. Richard Worswick is appointed as their new Financial Director and last but not least Lara Tarsuslugil becomes the new Marketing Manager. And at 360 Vision Technology welcomes Tony Holloway as Business Development Manager. Tony brings over 25 years security industry experience.
Buzz Coates the legendary cyclist that is always on his bike for charity has returned home, so to speak. He has gone back to Norbain after spending a couple of years with Raytec. And talking about Buzz, you may recall that I launched a photo competition, the other month to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Basically you need to send me a picture holding our mag in front of a famous place, well the winner this month is Chris Parry from Samsung; ok I have twisted the rules a bit as he is not holding a mag; he is holding Buzz Coates on the front of one of our mags. No, you never saw this mag as it was one of the many dummy covers we do for a bit of a laugh. So a bottle of bubbly is on its way to you, Chris. Hope he shares it with you, Buzz!
Charity
Talking of legends, on bikes, Mark Babbington completed his 428.6 mile bike ride across Ireland, the last 0.6 was the hardest bit! He told me that, apart from never being able to walk again, he and two friends raised, with gift aid, an amazing £21k. This will allow them to fully fund Marie Curies hospice in Solihull for three days. Likewise Neil Walker from Thinking Space has raised £1400. Well done guys, and I hear there is a charity bike ride going on over Ifsec, more about that next month. That’s IFSEC 360, a three-day cycling event from June 14 to 16, sponsored by Axis Security, raising money for Coram, an adoption charity that aims to make a positive impact on the lives of vulnerable children.
The SSR Charity Golf Day will take place on Monday, September 21, at West Essex Golf Club Chingford, London, E4 7QL: visit www.westessexgolfclub.co.uk. This is a challenging 18 hole Championship Parkland Course designed by James Braid. All money raised will go to Hostage UK to support them in their important work. Contact Peter French if you want to take part ie: [email protected]
Mark Thomas from distributor Midwich tells me that they have been on the acquisition trail. He said: “The Focus Security Distribution team is to join Midwich Security, we aim to build upon our success in the AV/IT sector by penetrating further the traditional security market. The convergence of security with IT/AV is gaining pace and we are now ideally placed to provide our customers with products and project support – further enhancing our value add principles to both customers and vendors.”
Rob Flammiger
It is with much sadness to inform you that Rob Flammiger has recently passed away. It seems he went to bed on a Saturday night and never woke up in the morning, Rob was just 43, and was nursing his sick father who is suffering with cancer. Rob has been in recruitment in our industry for the last 17 years and was always smiling and happy with life. Not many of you will know but Rob worked for GAP when he was younger, yep he managed to keep that quiet. Our thoughts go to his friends and family at this very sad time. Steve Hilliard who has been mates and working with Rob for the last 20 years will continue in Rob’s footsteps and tells me that the family did not want flowers but instead were collecting donations for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity.
