“40 under 40” Class of 2019 — Adam Worrall, 32

Adam Worrall, who has been with American Electric Power (AEP) for six years, works as the security manager overseeing the physical security operations center, security systems and compliance, and the company's drone program.

“Our 24/7 security operations and events monitoring center handles alarms from about 600 different locations across our company's footprint,” Worrall explained. “The operations center also answers the company's security hotline, assists with our compliance program, troubleshoots badge and access control problems, as well as e-key and e-lock issues, to name just a few.”

Worrall came to AEP out of college, after graduating with a degree in criminal justice and psychology. “My first job was in our operations center as a SOC operator where I learned about the wide variety of opportunities in corporate security that I did not know about. It has been inspiring to work with a team here at AEP that really believes in the mission to protect our company's people, assets and customers' way of life.”

The drone program at AEP is continuing to grow, Worrall noted, and helping others do their job better and more efficiently. “Drones are a fascinating technology that are being used in our company and different business units in a number of different ways — making things safer and easier, and allowing us to do things in faster and more effectively,” he explained. “The drone program will continue to be an area of growth.”

Another program that security oversees is workplace violence and insider threat training. “The rise in these incidents has forced our team to provide more education and training,” Worrall noted.

Some new technology that Worrall is interested in includes newer analytic cameras, thermal cameras, ground radar sensors, as well as VR for training.