ASIS News February 2016
O’NEIL NAMED NEW ASIS CEO
ASIS International has a new CEO. He is Peter J. O’Neil, a Certified Association Executive with more than 20 years of experience managing and leading trade associations and professional societies. He replaces retiring CEO Michael Stack, who guided the Society for more than two decades.
“I’m really excited to be coming on board,” says O’Neil. “ASIS is a very well thought of professional society among other professional groups. It is an honor and privilege to become part of ASIS and the security community.”
“It is a critical time for our association and our industry-at-large as unique threat scenarios continue to arise globally driven by world events and advances in technology. As adversaries are multiplying and becoming more sophisticated, our role in preparing security management practitioners worldwide to mitigate threats to their people, property, and information has become more vital than ever before,” says ASIS Chairman of the Board of Directors Dave N. Tyson, CPP. “Peter is definitely the leader we need at this point to take our organization forward. Beyond his remarkable leadership and management skills, he has clearly demonstrated an exceptional aptitude for business and a rare passion for professional advancement.”
O’Neil comes to ASIS by way of the American Industrial Hygiene Association in Falls Church, Virginia, an international professional society representing 10,000 occupational and environmental health and safety professionals, where he was the CEO. It is an organization similar to ASIS, with approximately 50 staff and 73 chapters, with a consolidated $21 million annual operating budget. While CEO there, O’Neil had management responsibilities for three limited liability companies, a related education-oriented foundation, a foundation that established guideline values for exposure limits, and a Product Stewardship Society.
O’Neil is a 1991 graduate of New York’s Syracuse University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in international relations. He undertook additional post-graduate work in public administration, knowledge management, and association management.
O’Neil has served in leadership positions with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), and the Center for Association Leadership. Additionally, he served on the 2009 Distinguished Presidential Rank Awards Board, an effort of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. O’Neil is a past chair of ASAE and the ASAE Foundation. He received the Certified Association Executive certification in 1998 and was named as an ASAE Fellow in 2006. He is an author and a frequent presenter, facilitator, and speaker at industry events.
“I look forward to using my 23 years of association management and business experience in a collaborative partnership with the ASIS’s membership, leadership, and staff to advance the mission envisioned by the organization and the profession,” O’Neil states. “I see a lot of opportunity to build from the foundation of where ASIS stands today. I’m looking forward to taking it from where it is to greater heights.”
O’Neil also adds, “I sincerely appreciate the faith that the ASIS Search Committee and ASIS Board of Directors have placed in me. I do not take that responsibility lightly.”
ASIS STAGES FIRST CONFERENCE IN CHINA
On December 3 and 4, the inaugural ASIS International China conference took place at the Crowne Plaza Shanghai. The conference was the first full-scale educational event for security professionals in Mainland China held under the auspices of the world’s largest association for security professionals. With some 150 attendees from 18 countries, the conference was sold out long before it began.
ASIS President-Elect David C. Davis, CPP, opened the conference and was followed by an informative keynote presentation of former diplomat and Chatham House Scholar Dr. Tim Summers who spoke on “China 2020: Will the
Reforms Work?” Davis also presented the Dan Grove APAC Regional Scholarship for emerging security professional to Garrhett Thomas, a security consultant at Jacobs, in Perth, Australia, who was previously a lecturer at Edith Cowan University. This was followed by a range of presentations that included Patrick Wang, head of security, Asia, at Bekaert, who spoke on corporate security culture, and Rain Teng, security director, Cardinal Health, who discussed social engineering. The first conference day closed with the President’s Reception which was sponsored by Tyco.
Day two began with a dynamic presentation by Dr. Marc Siegel, commissioner of the ASIS Global Standards Initiative, on using standards to align security with business. Other sessions that day included one given by Colin Chen, Greater China and Southeast Asia director at Johnson & Johnson, who spoke on intellectual property rights in China, and Wesley Fan, Asia regional security director at Walmart, who spoke about the effective use of anonymous whistleblower mechanisms to detect and investigate corporate fraud.
The closing keynote was delivered by Totti Karpela, director of Hong Kong-based Peace of Mind Threat Management, about psychopaths in the corporate world.
Sponsors and exhibitors included Tyco, CRI Group, Abloy, ICD Security Solutions, Ripcord Travel Protection, Global Rescue, and G4s. Media sponsors were Security Management, SourceSecurity.com, The Big Red Guide, Asia Pacific Security Magazine, and A&S Integrator. Securtech was a supporting organization.
