Security Director News' '20 under 40' end users face challenges

DELRAY BEACH, Fla.— Collaborating with other departments— especially IT—the practical use of video analytics and biometrics, and seamless integration were among the pressing concerns of young security pros at the TechSec Solutions conference held here in late January.

Four of Security Director News' “20 under 40" winners were panelists for and educational session called: “Security directors' perspective: Young security professionals' use of new technology on the job.” �
Each panelist said it would be too difficult to make it in the physical security field today without a good working relationship with IT and without strong communication with other departments in their enterprises.

Adam Parker, director of loss prevention, Lamps Plus, is responsible for 43 high-end stores in seven western states. He'd like to be able to use analytics to quickly identify fraudsters—from ORC members to individuals using stolen credit cards—from the moment they walk through one of his store's doors and then get that information out to his other stores.

Ron Self, director of safety and security for the Blytheville, Ark., public schools uses biometrics to prevent his 2,500 students from stealing lunches at his six schools and would like to use it to prevent time theft among his 450 employees.

Leveraging his PSIM and using mobile technology for his access control system was on the wish list of Nick Santillo, director, operations security, American Water, the largest investor-owned water utility in the United States, covering 16 states He also addressed the challenge of bringing physical security information from multiple states, across 3,000 geographically separate assets, back to one centralized team.

At Switch data centers in Las Vegas, Mike Wiley, senior VP of security, spoke of having to keep many of his security systems separate, because he doesn't want one going down to have an impact on the others. He'd like to see that change.

In addition to the above four, the other SDN winners that were in attendance to receive their awards at a special reception were:
������ Greg Black, senior systems administrator, Florida Power & Light
������ Demerle Lewis, security manager, New York State Insurance Fund
������ Dante Moriconi, physical security manager, L-3 Communication Systems West
������ Ralph Nerette, manager, security services, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
������ Chris Russell, director of security and assistant director of engineering, Montage Beverly Hills
������ Patrick Wood, manager, security integration, John Deere & Co.

Photo, from left to right: Adam Parker, director of loss prevention, Lamps Plus; Patrick Wood, enterprise manager, security integrations, John Deere & Co.; Chris Russell, director of security and assistant director of engineering, Montage Beverly Hills; Greg Black, senior systems administrator, Florida Power & Light; Ralph Nerette, manager, security services, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Mike Wiley, senior VP of security for Switch data centers; Ron Self, director of safety and security, Blytheville, Ark., Public Schools; Demerle Lewis, security manager, New York State Insurance Fund; Nicholas Santillo, director of operations security, American Water; and Dante Moriconi, physical security manager, L-3 Communication Systems-West.