Securitas has appointed a new Human Resources Director. Karen Morris-Lanz, pictured, joins the security firm from Waponi HR and brings with her HR consultancy experience across a range of business sectors. A Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development, Karen will be responsible for overall HR strategy, based at Securitas’ new £15m Security Operating Centre in Milton Keynes, as featured in the September 2015 print issue of Professional Security.
Brian Riis Nielsen, Country President at Securitas, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Karen to this pivotal role at a time of exciting growth and investment for the company. She is an accomplished leader with a track record of delivering extensive business and organisational change in highly complex environments. She will be a valuable asset to the team, helping our people to achieve their maximum potential whilst providing an excellent service to our customers.”
At Waponi, Karen recently worked with the Department of Innovation and Skills to support the set-up of the British Business Bank. She has also held roles at Network Rail, retailers including Marks and Spencer and Next, and has gained experience in central and local government including the Ministry of Justice where she lead a complex programme of change, advising on an enforcement and compliance project and restructuring .
She said: “I am looking forward to supporting Securitas’ new global change from being a traditional guarding company to becoming a leading international company specialising in protective services based on people, technology and knowledge. How we can combine our people skills with technology solutions will be the focus of the change and this is an area I am particularly excited about. We are set to challenge the view of the ‘traditional’ security industry and to set new standards and I am excited to be part of this move. The executive team here is supportive of the recent government announcement on the living wage and we want to invest in all our people and support a new way of thinking about what it means to be in the security industry.”
Karen has written ‘Employing and Managing People’ published by Pitman, and later Pearson, with National Westminster Bank small business book shelf. She was consultant and editor to the ‘Which Guide to Employment’.
