End Users '20 under 40' 2016—Bob Bernazal

Bob Bernazal, 40

Assistant director of security, National Oilwell Varco

Houston

As the assistant director of security for National Oilwell Varco, Bob Bernazal focuses on a variety of different matters, from tracking employees to running the company's GSOC.

“My primary responsibility now is to ensure the safety of our global travelers. I also run our global security operations center, [and am] responsible for the security all of our North American facilities—and there's several hundred,” Bernazal said. NOV designs, manufactures, and sells equipment and services related to the oil and gas drilling industry and production operations, such as producing rigs and servicing a broad range of oilfield equipment.

Bernazal's dream technology would be something that would help to track employees while they're abroad. “Basically, what I would like to have is a tool that allows me, in high-risk destinations, to effectively track our employees as they leave [from] one safe point to the job site,” he said. “If I'm able to track them in a near-real time basis I can � track their position and then in turn understand if there's any threats around them.”

Security abroad differs from security in the U.S., according to Bernazal. “Since our customer base is extremely diverse, the ability for various companies to commit [themselves], from a security perspective, varies quite a bit,” he said. To ensure its employees' safety, NOV analyzes the risk of working with its various customers in regards to geopolitical, military and terrorism aspects around the world, he continued.

Bernazal entered the security industry following 10 years in the Air Force, “During that time I specialized as an intelligence officer and an information operations warfare officer.” When he left the military he started working in the U.S. government, in the Defense Intelligence Agency, for about four years.

Bernazal joined NOV in late 2013, in part to help build its GSOC. “We built it based upon how the U.S. government [runs] an intelligence watch center,” he said.