End Users '20 under 40' 2017—Jessica Borst

Jessica Borst, 33

Security specialist - financial and data analyst/physical security services project manager, Ferguson

Newport News, Va.

Jessica Borst first started working at Ferguson in 2006 as an administrative employee and her role has changed to cover various aspects for the company.

Ferguson is a wholesale supplier for various markets, including plumbing, HVAC, lighting and waterworks, among others.

Within Ferguson's security program Borst works with the company's field and facilities groups to ensure that new physical security projects are meeting requirements, “whether that's assisting them with alarm issues for existing services, or setting up new services, conducting walk-throughs virtually with the branches to make sure that the camera needs are being met before those services are installed.”

The company is switching vendors for background check and drug screening after 20 years, Borst said. “So, a significant portion of my day-to-day at this point is working with that vendor to set up the transition process,” she said. “We have 1,400 locations and 24,000-plus employees, so, making sure that transition is smooth so that we can continue hiring and then make sure that � drug screening program is set up correctly, has been a massive overhaul.”

Borst sees data collection as an emerging technology for Ferguson. “We are huge into data mining and trying to use the information that's already out there in a way that can improve our overall posture,” she said.

Borst expects data will be more relevant to security in the future, such as in “continuing to identify areas [where] we can use data to pinpoint what we need to improve. The information's already out there; it's just a matter of figuring out a way to use that.”