End Users '20 under 40' 2015—Mike Cholubko

Mike Cholubko, 36

HRIS & corporate security administrator, City of Windsor

Windsor, Ontario

"I fell into it by chance," Mike Cholubko said of his start in the security industry.

“I started in a role in a human resources department [at the City of Windsor] and they needed some help with their card access system. Initially I did some picture-taking and making some photo IDs. … As the city's needs changed, my role changed to include CCTV and other security-related functions and design work.”

Planning can be the biggest physical security challenge, he said.

“There is an eye to understanding … how the incremental steps that we take along the way get us to the execution of the plan,” he said. Proper planning involves making decisions “not solely based on fiscal challenges or constraints, but rather that they're the right decisions for the long term.”

Validating decisions to stakeholders is also difficult, Cholubko said.

He oversees all corporate security systems in the City of Windsor, he said, “approximately 1.7 million square feet across more than 40 sites; 6,000-plus active access cards, 700-plus cameras.”

Cholubko described his ideal solution as “a combination of systems that are intuitive for people to use, in concert with systems that are over-arching.” This system would work “not just with CCTV, card access, or any one style of system, but rather a fully integrated top-to-bottom system … with ease-of-use for all end users at top-of -mind.”

Cholbuko said he hasn't seen an ideal solution like this come out yet. “Integrating those disparate solutions into one overarching [system] would be a technology dream.”

In five years' time, he predicts keeping up with technology while, at the same time, managing risks will be the biggest physical security challenge.