Members Engage Leadership in Town Hall
The ASIS Board of Directors discussed coming changes at the association and offered members a chance to be heard during Sunday afternoon’s Town Hall at GSX.
Opening the session, Malcolm Smith, CPP, board secretary, updated members on the ASIS Global Group of Directors for 2020. Their efforts to develop this global initiative, which moves away from a board management committee and shifts toward an executive committee, is on schedule.
“I know for some in the room and in our leadership, it feels like this journey has taken more than a decade. I’m grateful to be part of this monumental shift in our organization; that said, we continue to be on track with global governance implementation,” Smith said. “Though we have a lot of work to further diversify our leadership, we should celebrate the progress made in the first year of this process.”
The board will continue working with European and North American workstreams to establish the process that will seat those boards by 2020. In 2021, the board will work with remaining regional committees to put them on the path to becoming regional boards.
Part of the development of the global board includes a group of At Large Directors. This group includes three members, selected by a nominating committee and announced by Smith at the Town Hall: Malcolm B. Reid, CPP (three-year term); Timothy M. McCreight, CPP, and a current board director (two-year term); and Pablo Colombres, CPP (one-year term).
During the Town Hall, McCreight discussed the association’s success in launching the first enterprise security risk management (ESRM) guideline at GSX 2019 and the recently published ESRM Maturity Assessment Survey. The survey, a members-only benefit, can help organizations determine their maturity in adopting ESRM principles, whether or not there is already an ESRM program in place.
Cy Oatridge, CPP, announced the foundation’s expansion of the Certification Accelerator Program, which allows each ASIS chapter to award a scholarship for either a CPP or PSP exam to one of its members.
Oatridge asked chapters to consider candidates for the scholarship, select a single candidate by October, and inform the foundation of their chosen scholarship recipient by 1 November 2019. In 2018, the foundation gave out 105 scholarships; this year, ASIS will award 246—one for each ASIS chapter.
During the Q&A portion of the meeting, an audience member from Region 11 encouraged headquarters to seek engagement opportunities with chapters in Africa. He said that chapters alone would grow, but conscious efforts demonstrating the association’s involvement in the region would help stimulate continued growth and support the impression that these cells are part of an international organization.
Student engagement was another hot topic. ASIS President Christina Duffey, CPP, noted that growing membership from younger generations relies on reaching out and building relationships, especially given the evolving landscape of the industry.
“It’s certainly a commitment from everyone in here to mentor and to really engage with (the younger) generation of security professionals,” Duffey said. “It has to be a continuous engagement piece.”
At the end of the town hall, Michael Gips, CPP, chief global knowledge officer for ASIS, was recognized for his 25 years of work at the association.
“I intend to jealously guard my hard-earned CPP certification. I am not taking that exam again,” said Gips, who is leaving his position in October 2019. “I’ve really enjoyed my career at ASIS, and I don’t want this to be a farewell… I want to thank all of you for collectively developing me into the kind of security expert I am today.”
