'20 under 40' 2012 - Nelson Barreto

Nelson Barreto, 37
N.Y. metro regional director
Diebold Security
Elmsford, N.Y.

How did you get into the security industry?

It kind of fell into my lap. I was part of a company called Antar-Com, which Diebold acquired eight years ago. I have an electrical engineering degree, but they hired me to run their telecommunications business and develop that business and grow it. In that time I took part in construction projects and was selling construction cabling projects. On one of the projects I had, I was asked if I would be interested in the security package. So my largest telecom package then became security.

What can be done to attract more young people to the industry?

I think security is continuing to evolve around IT and the IT world, and I think that's attractive to people coming out of college because everything is computers and infrastructure and networking. That will have a huge impact on getting younger people into the industry. One of the things (Diebold) does well is we recruit in the local education markets here. I think that's been a strong asset of ours.

Who in the industry has helped you most in your security career?

I've been lucky because I've been surrounded by some really great people, people who don't just work together, we're friends. Kevin Engelhardt, VP of security operations at Diebold, he's the one who actually hired me. He's really helped me grow and develop into the role I'm taking now. I'd have to say by far he's been my greatest mentor. I've been working with him and Jeremy Bresher and Dan Putnam. We have a real core group. … We work hard and we play hard together.