A Happy Valentine’s day everyone, now you have no excuse to forget! Yep; you can rely on me to keep you out of the doghouse. Yes, February already and we have all forgotten about Christmas. So let’s get straight onto that gossip.
Firstly let’s talk about the hot news of DVS. Midwich has acquired 65 per cent of the company’s share capital for an initial £8.6m, followed by another fixed and performance linked amount of up to a maximum of £6.4m 12 months later. The remaining 35pc will be held by Tim Goodson (Managing Director), Gavin Dunleavy (Commercial Director) and David Davies (Chief Technology Officer) who will continue to run the company. Wow, did not see that coming or did I? Midwich of course have had a small stake in the security sector; but looks like they are in, with a bang this time. The good news is that nothing seems to be changing at DVS, same staff same products same service so that’s good. As I am writing this I am just being interrupted by Jake who is calling me to join their latest podcast! Not sure if you have caught up with the three amigos that is Jake Britten, Dave Davies and Gavin Dunleavy but I have to say it’s very funny, and I am not just saying that because I have been a guest on it, it will certainly brighten up any boring day you might be having, it’s called DVS “Last Orders” and can be found in any podcast app or even youtube.
Steve Dobby has left Heras and is joining Emi Roberti at Remark AI. Who are they, I hear you cry; they are a company set up in 2019, (that aims to provide AI technical solutions from data perception to knowledge recognition, helping industries take that next step by upgrading their technology from simply informational by integrating cognitive artificial intelligence). Emi is the son of Vincenzo who was the founder of Sicura Systems, you may recall them. Steve however started in the industry at Derwent Systems, now we are going back in time with that name! That was back in 1995! He had a stint with Bosch and HIK of course. Now not many of you will know this unless you’re connected to Steve on Facebook but Steve does a blog every Friday morning where a number of people tune in to hear his words of wisdom, in fact he has even written a book called its “A Bloke’s Life” which is quite good and you can grab a copy off Amazon for a mere £6.99.
LILIN UK have started 2022 by welcoming new addition Matthew McLernon to their sales team. Matthew joins from a background in telesales, previously working with companies such as Mercedes Benz, TwentyCI and O’Donnell Moonshine. Matthew will be working alongside Wendy Ficken to provide customers with project assistance, including specification and training and demonstrations.
360 Vision Technology has appointed Dani Townsend, pictured, as Sales & Marketing Executive. She will be developing new customer relationships, and business leads. She’s joining 360 from AMG Systems, and brings experience in account management, sales support and customer relationship support.
RISCO Group appointed Hemy Fintsy as CEO with effect from January 1. Moshe Alkelai, founder of RISCO, has held both positions of Chairman and CEO for more than 40 years and will continue as chairman, allowing for dedicated focus on business and product development and entering new market segments. Fintsy has performed several key senior positions at RISCO.
The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) launches its 2022 celebration of the industry’s finest, the British Security Awards, starting with the regional rounds of the security personnel categories. After a couple of years of covid the in-person event is due on Wednesday, June 29, at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, to celebrate the achievements by security officers and teams, as well as acknowledging innovations in technology and business and career contributions made by long-servers. The first phase of the awards will be to identify the regional winners and national finalists of the five security personnel categories: Best Newcomer, Best Team, Security Manager of the Year, Outstanding Act and Service to the Customer. Regional winners will be announced at the beginning of April and will go forward to the national stage on June 29. They will also be recognised prior to the finals at events around the country.
Last but not least our own Security TWENTY events; we are bringing ST22 back to the Birmingham Metropole Hotel by the NEC, on February 17. Please do register to join us, likewise we are having the usual charity dinner on the night before. It will be covid secure for those who are still nervous about it but likewise it will be great to kick the events off for 2022. Let me know if you want to join us.
