The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO) has announced a new Chair and Vice Chair. They take up their positions in April at the campus security managers’ membership body’s 41st Annual Conference, at Warwick.
The current Vice Chair Geoff Brown, Head of Community Safety and Campus Security at the University of Leeds, will become the chair, taking over from Ollie Curran, of University College London (UCL), who’s served for two years.
After retiring from the police, Geoff, pictured, worked in Iraq as a security consultant for oil company, Heritage Energy Middle East, managing the logistics of local and expat employees in search for new oil deposits. Geoff has been an AUCSO Executive Board member since 2017 and Vice Chair since 2023.
AUCSO member Gary Stephen, Head of Security and Logistics at the University of Glasgow will take over from Geoff as Vice Chair. After 16 years’ service in law enforcement Gary moved into the security sector as a Security Cleared Security Manager for the Whitehall Estate. Gary then returned to Scotland where he worked as a Senior Operations Manager for the contractor Mitie, and for HFD Group, a Scottish commercial property company as Security and Operations Manager. Gary held the role of the association’s Regional Chair for Scotland from 2022 until 2024 and is now Chair of the Special Interest Group for the counter-terror strategy CONTEST.
Geoff Brown said: “I am excited and honoured to step into the role of Chair of AUCSO. Having worked across various sectors of the security industry, I can confidently say that the Higher Education sector is both the most challenging and the most rewarding. I am deeply committed to collaborating closely with our dedicated security professionals and incredible external partners to continue driving excellence in this vital field.”
And Gary Stephen said: “I am delighted and proud to have been appointed as Vice Chair of AUCSO. With a deep passion for delivering customer-centric services that enhance the student experience, I am committed to supporting my colleagues in achieving the same. As an award-winning leader in Higher Education security, having been recognised as the Security Manager/Director of the Year at the 2023 Outstanding Security Performance Awards [UK OSPAs], I hope to bring both experience and vision to this role. I look forward to working closely with Geoff to help realise his goals as Chair, while striving to showcase best practices in the Higher Education security sector and strengthening AUCSO’s profile within the broader security industry.”
Julie Barker, COO at AUCSO, said: “We are delighted to welcome Geoff and Gary to their new roles as Chair and Vice Chair on the Executive Committee and look forward to collaborating with them and all our Executive Committee members as we drive the organisation forward. I am confident that this will be a rewarding and fulfilling journey for them both whilst driving further value and expertise into our membership.”
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