The first Dave Clark Award, in memory of the former industry stalwart and chair of the Security Commonwealth umbrella body, was made during the Association of Security Consultants’ annual conference, Consec. ASC chair Joe Connell began the tributes to Dave Clark, who died in autumn 2019, praising him as ‘a real legend within the security industry’.
Joe introduced the current chair of the Commonwealth, Jayne King, who said of Dave Clark: “He was a giant within the industry. I felt very fortunate to have known him in various guises,” from the South Bank Employers’ Group, to the Commonwealth, a group of more than 40 security industry bodies and associations, that Dave Clark had chaired as chair of the UK chapter of ASIS. She added: “We wanted to make sure the award recognised the exceptional man that he was.”
The ASC is the first association to host the award, which the Commonwealth intends to repeat around its members. She praised the quality of nominations – and there were in fact four awards made. The overall one was to the Security Institute’s diversity and inclusion special interest group (SIG). Institute sponsoring director Paul Barnard accepted the award, on behalf of the SIG organisers Anna-Liisa Tampuu and Lisa Reilly; and Mel Hipwood and Satia Rai.
Highly commended was Prof Martin Gill’s Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAs); and commended awards went to Les Allan as the chair of the university managers’ association AUCSO and head of security at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh – picked up on his behalf by AUCSO vice-chair Olly Curran of University College London – and to the Protect-ED accreditation scheme for university welfare and well-being, picked up by comms manager Lisa Ravenscroft.
About Dave Clark
Joe Connell described Dave Clark to the Consec audience, at Twickenham Stadium in west London; after serving in the Welsh Guards, he entered the industry as a security officer. He rose through the ranks and was one of the few ASIS members to gain and keep the US-based association’s three main qualifications: CPP, PSP and PCI. He chaired ASIS UK from 2016. As the security manager at the Francis Crick Institute at St Pancras in central London, he featured in the April 2016 print edition of Professional Security magazine, having given the magazine a tour of the building before its opening. More in the December print edition of Professional Security.
Picture by Mark Rowe: on stage at Consec, from left: Jayne King, Dave Clark’s widow Sarah and daughter Courtney; Paul Barnard; Houdah Al-Hakim of Quick Click Security; and Joe Connell.
More photos from Consec 2021 on the gallery section of the website. Visit https://professionalsecurity.co.uk/gallery/consec-2021/.
More events
Protect-ED is running an online seminar about services for students experiencing domestic abuse, on November 18; visit https://www.protect-ed.org/upcoming-events. Entry to the UK OSPAs for 2022 has closed; the finalists ahead of the awards ceremony in February are due to be announced shortly.
