ASIS International has held its 11th European Security Conference and Exhibition on April 15 to 17, 2012 at the Hilton London Metropole in west London. The event gathered a record attendance of 501 security people from 46 countries. The 2013 event is in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, from April 14 to 16.
Delegates were welcomed on the Monday, April 16 by London Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe QPM. The event continued with Adrian Kendry, Senior Defence Economist and Head of Defence and Security Economics, at NATO Headquarters who spoke about the changing balance of economic power in the world and risk management.
On the second day, delegates were welcomed by Baroness Angela Harris of Richmond, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords and Patron of the ASIS UK Chapter. The first plenary session that day included the presentation of Professional Security Magazine’s Women in Security Awards were presented by Baroness Ruth Henig Chairman of the Security Industry Authority (SIA). They went to Marva Jackson, of Birmingham-based guarding company Leon Security Services; Kathy Ridgard of Sodexo; and Sue Seaby of Aon. James Brokenshire, the Conservative MP and Home Office Minister for Crime and Security then gave a presentation on cyber-security.
The closing ceremony featured two keynote speakers. Stephen Cooper, Head of Security for the Olympic Park and Village spoke about securing major events. He was followed by Sir Ian Andrews, chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) who predicted that soon all organised crime will occur over or be enabled by the internet. ASIS President Eduard Emde CPP the presented an award to Peter French CPP in recognition of his years of volunteer service to ASIS International. The evening closed with a reception at the House of Lords hosted by Baroness Harris.
The conference featured 44 sessions provided by speakers that included Mike Croll, Head of Field Security, European External Action Service European Union (Belgium) on Diplomatic Security – Exercising Duty of Care in a Strange New World; Glenn Schoen, Executive Advisor, G4S Risk Advisory (Netherlands) on Olympic Terrorism Concerns – Past and Present; Volker Wagner, Senior Vice President Group Business Security, Deutsche Telekom AG (Germany); and Martin Smith, Chairman and Founder, The Security Company (International) Ltd (UK) on The Case for Converged Security; Professor Martin Gill, Director of Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International (UK) on Security in the Future: the Positive Business Differentiator.
Sessions designed especially for Chief Security Officers (CSOs) were organised by the CSO Roundtable, the ASIS forum for the most senior security people from large and influential organisations.
The event also featured an exhibition where 31 sponsors, exhibitors, media and supporting organisations presented their products and services. For more information, visit www.asisonline.org
