Former president George W. Bush to speak at ASIS 2017

DALLAS—ASIS International recently announced a few speakers for its 63rd Annual Seminar and Exhibits to be held here, Sept. 25-28, including president George W. Bush, futurist Scott Klososky, and Boston Marathon bombing investigators Richard DesLauriers and Ed Davis.

Selecting the speakers required gathering input from many internal ASIS sources as well as conversations had outside of the organization, Peter O'Neil, CEO of ASIS International, told Security Systems News.

“We tried very hard, this year, to really be as diverse as we could in our line-up, in terms of diversity from all kinds of different perspectives,” he said. While he noted that the line-up may not have hit that goal entirely, “We're really excited about the line-up that we've got here.”

O'Neil said that ASIS is currently working with former president George W. Bush on the exact content of his keynote presentation, which will take place Monday, Sept. 25. “We're working with him right now to make sure that it's a well-rounded discussion, that it takes into account not only what's happening in the U.S. in terms of security and other types of related issues, but also globally,” he said. Topics could include how security efforts in the U.S. and abroad work together, O'Neil added.�

Scott Klososky will be the speaker on the following day, Tuesday, Sept. 26. “He's a very well-known futurist,” O'Neil said. “He talks a lot about artificial intelligence and � wearable technologies. He'll talk a lot about it from the perspective of personal lives and how these technologies can both help and maybe sometimes thwart security.”

During the conference, on Wednesday, Sept. 27, will be ASIS 2017's law enforcement and military appreciation day. “You'll see an interesting line-up of diverse CSOs and different viewpoints about law enforcement and military and how we go about celebrating the contributions they make—not just to the United States, but around the world,” said O'Neil.

Ret. FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers and former Boston Police Department Commisioner Ed Davis, lead investigators for the Boston Marathon bombing, will present during ASIS' law enforcement and military appreciation day.

“As we talk to different people, it was clear that � our members are very interested in what happened in Boston,” O'Neil said. “They'll come and give their perspectives of what it was like, talk a lot about teamwork, talk a lot about how they coordinated there in the early minutes and hours and days � of the investigation.”

More speakers will be announced prior to the show, O'Neil said.