It has been an amazing honor to represent you as your President as we draw to a close in 2022. This past year, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact with and address thousands of ASIS members. My sincere gratitude for the worldwide volunteers who devote their time and energy to advancing the profession and our international membership has only been strengthened by this experience.
Dear ASIS Members,
It has been an amazing honor to represent you as your President as we draw to a close in 2022. This past year, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact with and address thousands of ASIS members. My sincere gratitude for the worldwide volunteers who devote their time and energy to advancing the profession and our international membership has only been strengthened by this experience.
We have much to be proud of with respect to advancing our profession with tools and resources that matter most to our members.
During 2022, HQ staff and member volunteers have been hard at work, and we achieved many great things together by:
-
Advancing our global governance model in seating two Regional Boards of Directors – The European Regional Board and the North American Regional Board, and further progressing the work in developing governance structures at both the regional and global levels.
-
Convening a highly successful Global Security Exchange (GSX) with more than 13,000 registrants representing 85 countries, and more than 400 exhibitors featuring security solutions from across the globe. This year’s GSX provided attendees with a show floor that was 25% larger than in 2021. GSX held more than 170 education sessions featuring 275 speakers. Additionally, ASIS held a number of number of other well-attended and highly regarded regional and local events throughout the world including, ASIS Europe, ASIS LATAM 2022, ASIS APAC Conference 2022, and the Africa Security Conference.
-
Providing our members with numerous pathways to further their educational needs and aspirations – by delivering 52 webinars (13 developed in collaboration with Subject Area Community Leadership, six supporting Career HQ and professional development and four supporting Cybersecurity Awareness Month). ASIS launched three new certificate programs -- Essentials of Security Risk Assessment, Essentials of Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention Programs, and Essentials of Executive Protection.
-
Partnering with the Center for Personal Protection and Safety (CPPS) introducing the Workplace Violence Prevention Training program.
-
Reimagining our award-winning, Security Management, with an all-digital format to launch in January 2023 providing timely access to the news, trends, insights and best practices most relevant to global security professionals. Beginning in January 2023, members will provide new ways to engage with Security Management as a tool which will further benefit them and their teams.
-
Supporting our global membership through the work of the ASIS Foundation. This year, the Foundation awarded more than 125 certification scholarships, 20 Certification Starter Kit Grants, four Bordes Education grants, and two IE Executive Program scholarships. The Foundation also released two new research reports – State of Security Management and Security Convergence & Business Continuity.
-
Strengthening our CSO member network by revitalizing its onboarding process – making sure each new member feels welcomed, knows how to leverage the tools and resources available to them and is now assigned a “new member ambassador” to assist new members in their ASIS journey. The CSO Center leadership refined its regularly scheduled “CSO Huddles” providing CSOs the opportunity to learn from one another and leading experts in other fields. In 2022, there were 22 such “huddles” discussing timely issues, best practices and experience-sharing. This year’s huddles ranged from discussions with a leading medical expert in COVID variants to an expert in hybrid workplace from Airbnb.
-
Relaunching our proprietary platform available to all ASIS members, Connects, with a best-in-class design and interface allowing our global membership further ease in connecting, collaborating and sharing.
-
Publishing revised standards and guidelines – Pre-Employment Background Screening and Vetting Guideline, and the Senior Security Executive Standard. The Management System for Private Security Company Operations will be released soon.
-
Growing our global chapter network on three continents: Africa (Uganda), North America (Mexico) and Asia (Philippines).
-
Enhancing our Subject Area Communities by creating -- Operational Intelligence; Hospitality, Entertainment & Tourism Security; Cannabis Security; and Mental Health & Wellness.
-
Increasing our total active and lifetime certifications -- As of 5 December 2022 total active and lifetime certifications (CPP, PSP, PCI, APP) totaled 12,165.
The spirit of UBUNTU is alive. Together, there is no doubt we have made our association and the profession stronger in 2022.
It has been an honor and my privilege to serve you in 2022.
Wishing you all a happy holiday season and a happy and healthy 2023 ahead.
Thank you.
Malcolm C. Smith, CPP
2022 President, ASIS International
