40 under 40: Haley Glover, Sapphire Risk Advisory Group

The demand to secure cannabis facilities continues to grow as the number of U.S. states that legalize marijuana continues to increase. Haley Glover and her team are ready to answer the call, making sure that these businesses comply with state and city regulations before they could open.

Glover, 31, is the senior security consultant at Sapphire Risk Advisory Group, based out of Dallas, Texas. Her day to day consists of constant communication with clients and vendors.

“Our company is a nationwide security consulting firm with focus in the cannabis industry,” she explained. “We do the security section of city and state applications for applicants who are wanting to open a cannabis facility. We also act as the project manager for the security build out once they win their license. Since I am a licensed alarm technician, I typically will guide clients on particular equipment in order to make their facility cost effective as well as operationally efficient.” 

Glover has been with Sapphire since February 2020, having previously worked at Sapphire’s sister company, Rolland Solutions. She originally got into the security industry after seeing a recruiter.

“I’d been teaching early childhood through 6th grade ESL (English as a Second Language) and Special Education,” she said. “After many changes within the district, I found that I was seeking change. I began my security industry career as an administrative assistant which evolved into becoming a project manager, and then I took numerous courses with the Electronic Security Association. Over time, I found a huge interest in it. I won’t lie… I’m nosy, so security seemed quite suitable for me.”

Top Trends

Glover pointed out a number of trends that she sees emerging in the security industry.

“I look at this question in a few different ways,” she noted. “One of the top trends that I honestly noticed as I first got into the industry was that it’s extremely male dominated. Many times, when attending trade shows or trainings, I am the only woman in the room. However, over the past few years, I have seen more of a presence of women which I love to see! I think diversity in any industry can be crucial to success.

“Another trend I’m seeing in the industry is the use of cloud-based services. Many of our clients in the cannabis industry have locations across multiple states. Having access to all of their systems is a necessity, and having an option like cloud-based services makes that process a bit easier for the user and for the integrator.” 

A third trend she points out is how data security has been implemented more within the physical security industry.

“I previously worked for a company that was UL certified to provide security to UL 2050 clients (Department of Defense),” she said. “Something that was crucial for their equipment was for everything to be protected in regard to items like encryption on devices, using camera equipment that was not manufactured in China, etc. I believe that there are many manufacturers who can meet the physical and data security needs to protect our most high-security and sensitive facilities.” 

During these challenging times, Glover explained that adaptability has been one of the keys to success as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on.

“The key to success is to always be nimble. The world is changing, and we will have to change with it,” she said. “For example, as the height of COVID hit, out came the temperature readers and cameras, as well as mask detection devices. Now, places like Amazon warehouses and airports are using these readers. As we all know, life must go on, so we have to find ways to safely move forward.” 

Getting Fresh Blood

Glover noted the importance of getting younger people aware of the security industry by showing them how interesting the field actually is.

“I would have gotten into the industry when I was much younger if I had the knowledge of everything it involved. I find security to be interesting,” she explained. “One of my hobbies is watching crime shows, one of them being a show called “See No Evil” on Investigation Discovery. The show revolves around solving murders based off of evidence from CCTV. When I had a package stolen from my apartment doorstep (even though I had my Ring peephole camera), I wasn’t able to capture the person’s face. However, I noticed that he had entered through an access-controlled door which is located directly next to my front door. This meant I had the date and time stamp for when it occurred. Since our individual fobs are programmed to our apartment, I was able to contact my leasing office and identify who stole the package based off of that information.

“Security is involved in so many places in your day to day. By making young people aware of everything it includes and all the different jobs within the security industry, I believe the talent will only get better.”

As she looks at the security industry going forward, Glover compared it to the Apple iPhone. 

“The industry will evolve endlessly,” she explained. “There seems to be something new every few months. I believe equipment and software will continue to improve and take cyber and data security into consideration more than it used to. The possibilities of a breach will always be high, but as long as we continue to improve our data security and knowledge on how to prevent these, security will only get better.”