“40 under 40” Class of 2019 — Randy Guarneri, 39

After a loss prevention store detective job in high school and throughout college, Randy Guarneri interned at Federal Pre-Trial Services in Charleston, S.C., through the College of Charleston. “I thought I would work a year or two in loss prevention after graduating college; I ended up loving and having a passion to help stores from losing money that I've never looked for anything else,” Guarneri said.

Guarneri works with the operations department to help combat shrink and daily, controls are put into place to stop the shrink and help the store become more profitable. “Obviously, budgeting for equipment and staffing is involved and building loss prevention training programs for Generation Z, which is most of our employees.”

No questions asked, he identifies ransomeware attacks as a top trend in the industry. “Cybersecurity is here and companies have to get proactive before their POS systems are attacked,” Guarneri advised.

The most exciting technology, in his opinion, is artificial intelligence (AI) at self-checkout lanes. “Cameras tied into the POS system will detect if items were not scanned and send an immediate alert to a member of the store staff to go and investigate. Twenty years ago, this would have been viewed as something in a science fiction book!”

Working closely with Gen Zers, Guarneri said: “companies have to look at the most successful companies and see what they have in common. The more diverse the security industry becomes the better results are shown. Different ideas should be embraced. Not everyone grew up in the same country, state or city, and everyone brings their life experiences to the table.”