TechSec Solutions brings best and brightest together

TechSec Solutions, which wrapped up this week here in Delray Beach, Fla., brought together thought leaders from across all areas of the security industry to discuss the current state of the industry, key trends and technologies impacting and shaping security, and what the more successful companies are doing to stay relevant and profitable.

PSA's Bill Bozeman � SIA's Don Erickson � Securitas' Jim Henry � ESIConvergent's Pierre Bourgeix � DICE Corp's Cliff Dice — the list of speakers at this year's event represented the who's who of security. Together with many other great speakers they provided a stellar day and a half of learning and networking. Moving outside the education room, attendees were able to check out some of the newest technology and services from this year's sponsors, which included DICE Corp., Hikvision, ISC West, Lifesafety Power, Secure Utility and simPRO.

In addition to the incredible lineup of speakers and sponsors, the “20 under 40” award reception on the evening of day one provided a great capper to a tremendous day that included an “Integrator State of the Union” from Bozeman, a killer session from Bourgeix that featured Peter Rung from NCODED Communications and Samuel Trotman from KLJ, a consulting firm. Gretchen Gordon from Braveheart Sales Performance was another highlight on day one, as she tackled one of the greatest challenges for everyone in security today — finding, hiring, training AND retaining good people.

Day Two started with the highly anticipated Security Mega Panel featuring Bozeman, Erickson, ESA CEO Merlin Guilbeau and Michael Gips from ASIS International. The session exceeded expectations, as this group that has more than 100 combined years of experience in the industry riffed on the key issues, challenges and opportunities facing the industry today.

The second day also featured former “20 under 40” winner Rob Simopoulos, co-founder of Defendify, whose presentation on the importance of cybersecurity struck a nice balance between showing the audience the real threats that are out there (and many times in a humorous way), while providing tangible solutions and strategies to build a better “cyber posture.”

Closing out the conference was the session, Protecting Critical Infrastructure, which featured two of this year's “20 under 40” end user winners — Colby Meshey, Deputy Director, Security Services, Pentagon Force Protection Agency and Kevin Didden, Senior Manager, Security Programs and Administration, MTA Bridges and Tunnels — as well as Meshey's colleague James Ell, Electronic Security Services Branch Chief, Pentagon Force Protection Agency, and Joe Morgan, Business Development Manager for Critical Infrastructure, Axis Communications. Moderator Mike Lavway, Senior Manager, Enterprise Security Risk Group (eSRG), Aronson Security Group (ASG), was able to cover a lot of ground with this talented group, looking at specific examples from each on how they are using new technologies and strategies to improve security.

Many of the conversations sparked within the sessions spilled out into the exhibit room and lunches, and audience participation added some great energy to the sessions and discussions.

Getting back to the “20 under 40” reception. The fun-filled event, which was sponsored by SIA, brought 10 of our winners together by the pool to receive their award in person, network with their peers and celebrate a well-earned recognition as one of the rising stars in the industry.

Speaking of “rising stars,” SIA sponsored the event because they understand how important it is to recognize and support young professionals in the industry as they become the thought leaders of tomorrow. SIA's RISE program does just that and there is great synergy between the “20 under 40” and RISE program's goals. SIA also just announced its AcceleRISE conference, which is Aug. 16-18 in Minneapolis, Minn.

Keep checking back to the website for more coverage from TechSec 2019 — including some live video footage from sessions — as well as more information on the big announcement that Cloud+ will be joining TechSec Solutions in early 2020! Stay tuned for more exciting news about that two great shows finally coming together.