Here are the 15 finalists short-listed for the 2016 Women in Security (WiS) awards. Briefly, the aim is to honour the accomplishments, value and contributions of women within the wider world of security; and the awards are in three categories.
Security manager
Georgia Hillyard – intu Bromley Shopping Centre
Edit Bori – Westminster Abbey
Tracey Pretorius – Microsoft
Dawn Holmes – Bloomberg
Jayne King – Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Contribution to security
Michelle Bailey – Active Response
Baroness Angela Harris – UK Parliament
Yasmeen Stratton – SSR Personnel
Dr Alison Wakefield – University of Portsmouth
Kay Aitkin – NSI
Front-line
Caroline Sadler – Vanguard Security Services Ltd
Maverney Jones – CIS Security
Lorraine Mansfield – VSG
Kelly Cooper – Securitas; and
Dorina Popoveniuc – Sodexo.
Professional Security MD Roy Cooper thanked the judges for giving up their time to make the final decisions – picking three winners from the 15. Roy also apologised to the judges, as they have more work than previous years, as there’s been more nominations – more than 170; which prompted organisers to make longer short-lists – five in each category, compared with the previous three. Roy said: “There were some fantastic nominations – sadly they can’t all win. So much so it was difficult to decide on the short-list.
“It’s getting bigger and bigger, and it’s quite satisfying to see that so many people are trying to promote women working in the industry and the good things that they are doing.”
Besides the variety of backgrounds and ages in the nominees and those short-listed, what the short-listed 15 have done to merit their place varies – some are there for their work on industry bodies. To single out just a couple (and don’t read anything into this!), Baroness Angela Harris has been the patrol of the UK chapter of ASIS; while Dr Alison Wakefield is a vice-chairman of the Security Institute. Other short-listed women are there not for the time they have put in on committees and other work for the greater good of UK private security, but for acts of bravery, whether in working hours or outside using skills gained through their security work.
Readers of the August print issue of Professional Security will recall the well-attended IFSEC 2016 panel of women that debated past, present and future; besides Alison Wakefield, panel members were other short-listed finalists Jayne King, the head of security at Guy’s Hospital in London and the chair of the National Association for Healthcare Security (NAHS); and Dawn Holmes, women’s lead for ASIS UK, who works in corporate security, at Bloomberg.
Pictured are the rather elegant 2016 awards themselves. Whose names will be on them?! Each year the presentation is at an event by a different security industry body. The first in 2012 was at the ASIS Europe conference in London. The 2016 winners will be announced at the Security Institute’s black tie gala dinner at the AMBA Hotel, Marble Arch on the evening of Thursday, September 22, after the Institute’s annual conference at the same central London venue. Pre-dinner drinks from 6.45pm and dinner from 7.30pm.
If you missed the awards for whatever reason and want to send an application for 2017, keep an eye on the print issue of Professional Security and https://professionalsecurity.co.uk/security-events-and-conferences/.
