ASIS News: Meet Your 2023 Leadership

By Emily Callahan

27 January 2023

As we enter a new year, ASIS welcomes a new crop of security leaders to its global and regional boards.

Timothy M. McCreight, CPP, rises to the position of president for 2023, and Cy A. Oatridge, CPP, will take over his role as president-elect. Joe M. Olivarez, Jr., joins the executive committee as Secretary/Treasurer, and Peter J. O’Neil, FASAE, CAE, remains as CEO.

Learn more about the members of the executive committee:

President
Timothy M. McCreight, CPP
National Director - Market Development and Strategic Advisory, CGI

McCreight is a Canadian citizen with more than 40 years of experience working in the security sector. He started his career in the Canadian Air Force before transitioning to the private sector and working in a wide array of different positions. McCreight has been a member of ASIS since 2001 and has been volunteering with ASIS for close to a decade.

Learn more about McCreight in his in-depth interview with Security Management.

President-Elect
Cy A. Oatridge, CPP
CEO, OSG

Oatridge has been an ASIS member since 1994, and in 2019 he served as president of the ASIS Foundation Board of Trustees. With more than 25 years of security management experience, he started his own protective service company in 2003.

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Secretary/Treasurer
Joe M. Olivarez, Jr.
Vice President of Operational Centers of Excellence and CSO, Jacobs

Olivarez has been a member of ASIS since 1989 and served as the chair of the ASIS CSO Center Board in 2019. Olivarez has more than 30 years of security experience overseeing andconsulting to Fortune 500 and government enterprise security programs.

Chief Executive Officer
Peter J. O’Neil, FASAE, CAE
CEO, ASIS International

O’Neil assumed the position of CEO of ASIS International in January 2016. Prior to joining ASIS, O’Neil served as CEO of the AIHA. He has served in several executive volunteer leadership positions over the past 20 years in ASAE, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for-profit customer advisory boards, and various other association management organizations.

New at-large directors for the global board are Danny Chan, CPP, of Singapore; Karen Frank, CPP, of the United States; and Rick Kelly, CPP, of the United States. Continuing as at-large directors are Pablo Colombres, CPP, of Brazil; Axel Petri, CPP, of Germany; and Eddie Sorrells, CPP, PCI, PSP, of the United States.

Serving as ex-officio representatives to the 2023 global board are leaders from various ASIS volunteer groups, namely:

Lisa Oliveri, CPP, PCI, of the United States, representing the CSO Center Board (voting member)
Brian J. Allen, CPP, of the United States, representing the ASIS Foundation Board of Trustees (voting member)
Werner J. Cooreman, CPP, PSP, of Belgium, representing the Professional Standards Board (non-voting member)
Joshua Villines, CPP, PCI, PSP of the United States, representing the Professional Certification Board (non-voting member)

Donna Kobzaruk and Erik de Vries, CPP, PSP, the chairs of each regional board, will also continue to serve on the ASIS Global Board of Directors.

Just as the implementation of the North American and European Regional Boards in 2022 was a step toward a larger global governance structure that allows ASIS to better serve its members at the local, regional, and global levels, ASIS continues to strive to reach our members at every corner of the globe.

ASIS is in the early stages of establishing another regional board representing the LATAM and Caribbean Region that will be seated in 2024. Asia Pacific and Oceania will have a regional board in 2025. ASIS also continues to work with the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa to transform regional advisory groups to cross-country representative steering committees as they continue to work toward developing a regional board in each area.

To learn more about ASIS global governance the board appointment process, see the Global and Regional Governance strategy.

Empowering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) in Corporate Security

The ASIS Foundation just released a report detailing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) challenges in corporate security, as well as highlighting ways security professionals can increase and maintain diverse workplaces. This research was done in partnership with The Clarity Factory, a UK-based research firm.

Over the course of the study, The Clarity Factory conducted an extensive literature review, interviewed dozens of security professionals in both formal and informal settings, and conducted an anonymous survey with more than 400 participants. The study also used anonymized job search data provided by SMR, a small, woman- and veteran-owned recruitment firm that operates in 75 different countries.

“According to the study’s findings, corporate security departments have recently placed more focus on DE&I work,” said Rachel Briggs, OBE, co-founder and CEO of The Clarity Factory. “Corporate leaders acknowledge the importance of DE&I but also voice their displeasure that more hasn’t been done. Security isn’t the only sector suffering with it. Although there is still much to learn about the strategies that will work best for corporate security, this study gives us a glimpse into the most urgent problems now present in corporate security settings.”

The study also suggests ways security industry membership organizations can help to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion, including collecting data on their membership and feedback on DE&I efforts, revising talent spotting to ensure diversity, enhancing DE&I within industry programming, and playing an active role in wider industry branding efforts.

The report's executive summary is free and available to everyone, the full report is free to ASIS members and available for purchase to others.

New Certificate Course: Pre-Employment and Background Screening

Staff are the lifeblood of any organization, so it’s crucial that you find the candidates on the market that will be the best fit for your organization. ASIS International’s newest certificate course is designed to help employers more effectively vet applicants before making hiring decisions.

The new course will help you develop, implement, and maintain a preemployment background screening and vetting program, so that you can make sure you’re hiring the best employees for your organization.

Calling All ASIS Volunteers

Join us for ASIS Leadership Exchange 2023 from 30 January to 2 February. Leadership Exchange is all about sharing ideas and imagining what is possible for the future of our community. The event is all virtual and available to all ASIS volunteers. Registration is now open.

From Risk to Resilience

Register now for ASIS Europe 2023—From Risk to Resilience. The conference annually gathers some of the brightest minds in security, from established professionals to aspiring newcomers. This year’s keynote speakers include Cecelia Bonefeld-Dahl, director general of DIGITALEUROPE, and Catherine de Bolle, executive director of Europol.

The conference will take place onsite in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from 21 to 23 March, and virtually on 2 March and 27 April.