HS Daily Wire conversation with Tim Williams of ASIS International

plus to be a mega-event in the industry,” he told HS Daily Wire. “But, for me, the real benefit comes from walking the halls, talking over problems, sharing experience. The opportunity to meet with your trusted peers on a regular basis is critical in this field. It’s helpful professionally. It’s helpful personally.” From all accounts it is also very enjoyable, in an industry that fosters collegiality more than most. Williams noted that relationships forged in his early years at the ASIS Seminar are as strong as ever. “I’ll keep those connections hopefully for a lifetime,” he said.

An emphasis on interaction is, in fact, part of the broader ASIS culture and will be actively promoted in Atlanta: at receptions, in a spacious and comfortable international lounge, and in exhibition halls designed to encourage attendees to discuss together the current crop of emerging technologies and techniques for handling manmade and natural disasters. (“Especially valuable for new entrants to the field,” Williams observes.) Networking opportunities include the ASIS Foundation 12th Annual Golf Classic, the Get-Acquainted Mixer, the President’s Reception, Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, and a variety of daily breakfasts and lunches.

Founded in 1955 as the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), the professional, not-for-profit organization in 2002 officially changed its name to ASIS International to better reflect its expansion into a worldwide society now more than 36,000 members strong. The ASIS Foundation, also non-profit, operates as its research and educational unit. The ASIS Professional Certification Board administers a qualification and testing program for security managers, investigators, and those in the enterprise security field.

Tim Williams, himself a Certified Protection Professional (CPP^TM) as designated by ASIS, has pursued a heavily security-oriented career. Director of Global Security for Caterpillar Inc. since 2006, he previously was the chief security officer at Nortel, where he also served as vice president, business ethics, from 1994 to 1997. Earlier stints included director of corporate security services for Boise Cascade Corp. and international security coordinator for Procter & Gamble. This background in the imperatives of domestic and international security clearly informs the composition of ASIS 2008 Seminar and Exhibits. New topics include “What Hackers Don’t Want You to Know;” “Campus Strategic Security Initiatives Emphasizing Early Warning, Early Notification, and Layered Communications Systems;” “Pandemic Influenza Planning and Response;” and “The Business of Ethics in Today’s Security.” Additional sessions include “Transforming the U.S. Government Security Clearance Process,” “Implementing International Enterprise Security Solutions,” “Security and Illegal Immigrants in the Workforce,” “Successfully Selling Security to Executive Management,” and “Options for Disaster Recovery Exercises.” Eighteen sessions will be offered in Spanish; an additional nine sessions will be simultaneously translated from English into Spanish.

Several Pre-Seminar Intensives, optional educational programs on a range of subject matters, are scheduled prior to the opening of the Annual Seminar and Exhibits. Topics include “Public and Private Perspectives on Critical Infrastructure Protection,” “Detecting Deception in Verbal and Written Statements,” “Investigating Mortgage Fraud,” “Business Acumen for Security Managers,” “Understanding Guidelines: A Framework for Voluntary Preparedness,” and “The Path to IP Video Manufacturer Certification for End Users.”

Williams, however, returned repeatedly to the theme of personal give-and-take as a critical component of the security enterprise, facilitated in the highest degree by the ASIS show. “It offers a chance for everybody to catch up on specific verticals, such as crisis management,” Williams said. “Sharing peer-tested strategies, we realize we need to employ a new technique, or make a change in the corporate culture. Or we see we have to do a minor adjustment to the old wheels, or attach them to the cart in a new way. We could, of course, discover that we’re doing just fine. Any way you look at it, it’s a net benefit for the security professional.”

The ASIS International 54th Annual Seminar and Exhibits will be held 15-18 September, 2008 at the Georgia World Congress Center. For more information go to the conference page at ASIS’s Web site.