As a member of the ASC (Association of Security Consultants) it was my pleasure to co-host the Professional Security Magazine Women in Security Awards 2014, with Roy Cooper, Managing Director of the magazine.
The ASC is the professional organisation for independent security consultants. I have been a member for many years initially as an associate and latterly as a full member. The ASC promotes best practice and networking between member consultants, end users, the security industry and government, through its networking services, ‘Business Clubs’ and annual international conference CONSEC. The CONSEC dinner, at the Marriott Hotel at Heathrow, saw the presentation of this year’s WiS Awards. It’s unlike any other award in the wider world of security. It is embraced by all the major industry bodies: the Security Institute, ASIS, NSI, FSA, BSIA, SSAIB, SIA, IPSA, Worshipful Company of Security Professionals and the ASC. Each has a representative acting as a judge and each year one of them hosts the presentation. Teresa May the Home Secretary sent a message at the inaugural event hosted by ASIS in London in 2012 supporting the award and the contribution of women to the security profession. The BSIA in 2013 was host during IFSEC. Allan Hildage ASC chairman opened the event and introduced the speaker Cressida Dick, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner. Her inspiring speech was about women in security in the public sector. It was thought-provoking and shone a light on the contribution of women in the private security sector. She finished with a quote by Madeleine K Albright the first woman to be United States Secretary of State (1997–2001): ‘There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.’ I asked Allan Hildage his thoughts after the event. He said: “The ASC has supported the Women in Security Awards since they began and was pleased to host the awards dinner with CONSEC. It was a great culmination to the year’s competition, with an inspiring presentation by Cressida Dick. I would like to congratulate all the worthy winners.” The winners were indeed worthy.
The ‘Frontline’ category was won by Gemma Bell, Area Operations Controller working for G4S on the RBS account. Her nominator Jenna Payne of G4S said: “Gemma recently lost the majority of her sight, after suffering from swollen optic nerves last year. She was determined to continue to work in the security industry and so attended a two-week training course where she acquired a highly trained guide dog, Maple, to help her continue her duties. Whilst many people in a similar position would have shied away from work in the security industry, which often requires Gemma to be out and about, Gemma was committed to returning to work. Despite her disability, Gemma continues to contribute an incredibly high level of support to the G4S management team, going above and beyond what could be expected of any of our employees, let alone one who has experienced such setbacks.” When asked about how she felt about receiving the award Gemma Bell said: “It was an honour just to be nominated by my team for this award; there were a large number of nominations so to be named the winner in the category of ‘frontline employee’, and to then be informed that it was a unanimous decision by the judges, was a real privilege.” Craig Price, Operations Director (RBS Account) added: “It was an honour watching Gemma be presented with her award at the ceremony. Despite being registered blind in 2013, Gemma continues to provide the same level of support to our team as what she did prior to this; she has never let what has happened get her down and has always remained positive and faced these challenges with a ‘can do’ attitude. At no point has Gemma let her disability limit her in either her personal or professional life, she truly is a remarkable and brave woman and a great asset to our team.” I found it particularly poignant speaking with Gemma about her sight loss … she is an example to us all.
The ‘Industry’ category this year was won by Andrea Jones, Managing Director of Jomu Ltd, a consultancy firm that strives to improve security companies with nationally recognised accreditations. She started the company from scratch and according to her nominator and colleague – Jessica Moss: “Andrea’s knowledge of the security industry is second to none, she is the most dedicated individual I have ever met and so passionate about what she does. Setting standards and helping security businesses raise their standards along the way.” Andrea was unable to attend the dinner and was presented later with her award at The Shard in London by Roy Cooper. When asked what the award meant to her she said: “This award is an important acknowledgement of women in a male dominated environment but it sends out an important message that anything is possible with hard work. It’s also very important to me to show my young team and other women in the industry that with hard work and knowledge of their field they can make a difference and be recognised by their male counterparts for making a difference.” After the presentation Jones tweeted out her good news via social media, which was picked up by the ‘Shard’ and retweeted to their 22,500 followers! Let’s hope that results in even more nominations for 2015.
Talking of communication it was great to see Catherine Park of Park Communications at the pre-dinner drink. I know Catharine from the days when I was MD of Euro Security Systems and heavily involved with the BSIA. Catherine at that time was the head of communications for the BSIA. Since then she has provided communications and marketing support to organisations in a variety of sectors including a lot of work on information security. I asked what she was working on. Catherine replied that she is now supporting the ASC as communications and marketing manager on a consultancy basis. We chatted at length about the award which led on to the last time we tried to establish a Women in Business Award for security professionals via the BSIA. We laughed as we recalled our earlier days at the BSIA and I asked her if she remembered what it was like back then when we were definitely in a minority as a woman in business attending committee meetings and chairing industry events. It has been a case of evolution versus revolution over the last 30 years. Catherine smiled and said: “I do remember. Over my time there I built up a great network of colleagues and friends – both male and female – although there were not a lot of women in business at that time I was able to tap into feedback and support from the small group of very active female BSIA members. The sense of camaraderie from being part of rather a select group within the security world automatically broke down any barriers that might otherwise have existed through different levels or type of experience. We all worked on a whole range of important projects for the industry; these included getting awards schemes, major research projects and new standards off the ground and recognised by relevant stakeholders. They made a real difference.”
Which brings us full circle to now and the recognition of women in the private security profession by everyone in the industry which is the thing that makes this award so very special. The last category for the award is the end user, and was won by Lisa I’Anson of the University of East Anglia. Her proposer Christine Beveridge said of Lisa: “I have no hesitation in nominating Lisa for this award as recognition for her continuous dedication to her work and her willingness to go the extra mile to make a difference for the staff and students at UEA and its visitors. Lisa has worked for the university since 2006 and in that time has made a unique contribution over and above her day job. One area is noticeable in particular – cycle thefts. At universities this type of theft is a huge headache for campus security teams, the police and students alike. Lisa took ownership of this issue and led a number of campaigns to inform students as to how they can protect their cycles and themselves. This has led to a major reduction in cycle theft and even the arrest of a professional group. The Norwich Policing Commander, Superintendent Dave Marshall acknowledges the continued help, support and hard work of the UEA security teams and calls this particular incident as partnership working at its best.”
There is no doubt that this award created by the industry for the industry is a platform like no other. Although the major bodies are involved we are getting feedback from other organisations who are keen to take part.
I asked my co-host Roy Cooper, Managing Director of the magazine how he felt this year’s awards had been. He said: “This year the awards have become more popular than ever with a record number of nominations. We are now building a hall of fame of winners as we are now in our third year. I would like to thank a number of people for their help with this award, firstly Una Riley our patron whom had the idea to start with, and for jumping on a plane and flying over the pond especially to be present at the awards. I would also like to thanks ASC for hosting the special event and Sodexo for sponsoring it, more importantly a huge thanks to all those people that took the time to nominate people, each and every one of these should be proud that their peers have recognised them as outstanding achievers and should all be thrilled. Penultimately, to the judges from all the industry bodies and associations for taking the time to judge the awards and by doing so sending out a message to all women in security that they are recognised, welcomed and needed in this profession to make it the industry that we all know and love. Lastly I would like to congratulate the three worthy winners – Gemma, Andrea and Lisa. Congratulations to all of them.”
I would also like to add my congratulations to the winners and hope that they enjoy their ensuing year before entering the PSM-WiS Hall of Fame.
So, the final word is from the host of the 2015 PSM-WiS Awards. Mike White the Chairman of IPSA said: “IPSA is delighted and very excited to be hosting the 2015 Women in Security Awards. It is an honour to be involved with such an outstanding award rightly recognising the still largely undervalued but pivotal role women play in the private security industry. This event goes from strength to strength with each passing year and IPSA looks forward to playing its part in ensuring that 2015 is no different. This is an award that everybody in our industry should be wholeheartedly embracing so start looking at your teams, your officers, your engineers and your managers, somewhere out there the winners of the 2015 awards are just waiting to be identified and nominated.”
