The Security Circle

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Michelle Russell BIO

Michelle became the permanent Chief Executive of the SIA in November 2021 and has over 25 years’ experience of working in regulation and regulatory environments in both the public and private sectors. She held the position of Acting Chief Executive at the SIA from October 2020 and before that Director of Partnership and Interventions from January 2020, leading the SIA’s criminal enforcement and regulatory inspection functions. 

Michelle joined the SIA from the Charity Commission where she was the Director of Investigations, Monitoring and Enforcement for over 5 years. She was accountable for its high-risk investigations and compliance work and specialist monitoring, outreach and accountancy functions. Michelle developed national strategies on counter-terrorism, fraud and financial abuse, and safeguarding and sat on a number of cross government and industry groups, particularly on terrorism and serious crime issues.

Before that she held various other operational and compliance roles, and started her career as a qualified solicitor in the private and then public sector.’

 Linked In Profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-russell-2938991b/

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

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Nick Gicinto is an executive security leader and veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Tesla, and Uber as an insider threat, intelligence and security specialist.  He is currently the Executive Vice President at Red Five Security in Arlington, VA.

Nick was recruited into the CIA during graduate school and spent 10 years in the Agency amassing five promotions and 14 exceptional performance awards as an Operations Officer. His role as an OO was to collect raw foreign intelligence which was eventually briefed to senior U.S. policymakers, including in the U.S. President’s Daily Briefing.  During his CIA tenure, Nick focused on state-actor level threats and worked both counterintelligence and counterterrorism operations in the U.S. and abroad.

After leaving the CIA, Nick joined Uber’s Threat Operations team helping the company build a global intelligence capability in 40+ countries designed to keep Uber’s riders and drivers safe in addition to investigating leaks of intellectual property.  He was recruited by Tesla to build the Global Security Response team, focusing on strategic and protective intelligence, as well as digital forensics tied to insider threat and investigations into leaked information.  GSR’s investigations lead to multiple civil lawsuits vs. competitors and former employees, as well as law enforcement referrals and convictions.

Nick moved to RiskIQ (now a Microsoft company) as a Vice President to build the Incident, Investigation, and Intelligence (i3) team, RiskIQ’s managed intelligence services (MIS) capability tied to its cybersecurity SAAS product.  After growing the team to close to 40 members, Nick joined Chainlink Lab’s as the VP of Security Intelligence, helping the web3 company develop its world class security program from scratch.

Nick holds a M.S. in Defense & Strategic Studies from Missouri State University, and he has a B.A. in Political Science from William Jewell College where he is now an Adjunct Professor of Political Science.  He has been a guest on numerous podcasts, and subject of many articles, and has published his own article in Cybersecurity Insiders Online.  He has guest lectured for SET University in Ukraine, and helps to train missionaries in overseas security awareness prior to deployment into hostile areas.

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

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Professional Bio

Scott Kidd is a highly accomplished professional with a diverse criminology, psychology, and finance background. Currently a PhD candidate with an MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a BA (Hons) in Psychology, Scott is a member of The Howard League for Penal Reform ECR group and a Criminology and Criminal Justice researcher. In addition to his academic pursuits, Scott is also an Integrative Psychotherapist and Fraud Consultant with experience working with universities, the prison service, and the police force. He is a sought-after guest speaker in criminology and psychology, sharing his expertise and insights with a wide range of audiences.

Prior to his current work, Scott held managing director and corporate finance executive roles, specialising in high-value finance, corporate restructuring, and recovery strategies. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to his current work, which includes participation in various research projects and prison outreach programs. Scott has a unique perspective on financial crimes, having served 11 years for such offences. This lived experience has informed his work and research and given him a deep understanding of the complexities of the criminal justice system. Overall, Scott Kidd is a dedicated and accomplished professional with a passion for criminology, psychology, and finance. His diverse background and experience make him valuable to any organisation or project.

LinkedIn:    www.linkedin.com/in/scott-kidd-475aa01ba

Twitter:     https://twitter.com/criminologykidd

Threads:   https://www.threads.net/@kidd6733

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

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John Rodriguez is the founder of Empathic Security Cultures LLC based in Austin, TX

 John brings 41+ years of pure corporate security experience working for major corporations including General Motors, Kimberly-Clark, Levi Strauss & Co., and Cardinal Health. He previously was the CSO for Temple-Inland in Austin, TX.  He also owned a consulting firm for 10 years with over 100 Fortune 500® clients from 1995-2004.   John’s career started in 1982 as a third shift proprietary security officer with General Motors progressing to positions of higher responsibility up to CSO. He has also worked in Latin America and the Caribbean for 33 years.

While with Kimberly-Clark Corporation, security director for Latin American operations, the company was ranked #1 of 1,900 companies from 2009-2011 by the Great Place to Work Institute® John’s innovative security strategies were recognized by senior leadership as critical contributions to those years of #1 rankings.  Business sales ranked 1st or 2nd place in every country of operation.

John’s is a bi-lingual, bi-cultural (Spanish/English) security generalist with passion for security culture development, mentoring, and mental health in the workplace for a psychologically safe workplace and mitigating hostile environment risks.  He also developed the Security Culture Professional’s Attributes Model™
(SCPA Model) for the security professional’s character development and their security culture journey.

He holds a Master’s of Liberal Arts, Texas Christian University and a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice, North Texas State University. He completed the Chief Security Officer Executive Development Program, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.  

He held the ASIS CPP certification for 19 years and the ACFE CFE designation for 16 years.  

He has lectured forASIS International, U.S. State Dept. Overseas Advisory Council (OSAC), International Security Management Association (ISMA), and others.  For ASIS International, he has been invited to present at the 2023 GSX event in Dallas, TX.  This will mark the 8th occasion he has presented at an ASIS Global forum, (5x at GSX, formerly the ASIS International Annual Seminar & Exhibits, 2x global webinars, and 1x article for Security Management magazine - How to Build a Best-in-Class Security Culture - this was 1 of the 12 most read articles in 2022. 

Current memberships:

·       ASIS International, Co-Lead Mental Wellness Working Group

·       U.S. State Dept. Overseas Advisory Council (OSAC)

·       Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP)

John has mentored security professionals in the U.S. and Latin America for 21 of his 41 years in the profession. Most recently, he was a mentor in the OSAC Women in Security (LATAM) program in 2022.

John is a Certified Family Support Group Facilitator with the National Alliance on Mental Health and gives back to the community by leading support group discussions as well as training at law enforcement academies as part of their Crisis Intervention Team curriculum in the Greater Austin, TX area.  John recently earned his facilitator certificate from the Center for Building a Culture of Empathy.

LinkedIn Profile 

www.EmpathicSecurityCultures.com

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

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New article Nov 2023
https://thecritic.co.uk/the-shadow-side-of-open-source-ai/
Octavia Sheepshanks is an intrepid freelance journalist and researcher driven to uncover compelling and demanding stories. Her diverse subjects of interest include space travel, mental health, feminism, and AI. Octavia’s current focus is on the dangerous proliferation of AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and she has dedicated herself to extensive research on the problem throughout 2023.Her work first came to prominence through an investigation conducted with The Times, which provided a sobering insight into a subject that demands immediate attention.In a subsequent investigation with the BBC, in which Octavia exposed the growing trade of illegal AI-CSAM on Patreon, and highlighted the dangerous consequences of Stable Diffusion’s open source release. In continuing to shed light on the creation and trade of AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and the terrifying scale of the problem, Octavia hopes to contribute to global efforts to fight the issue.
The Times https://archive.is/P9t8B
BBC News https://rb.gy/qjeno
BBC TV https://rb.gy/wf2xk
Mostaque on ethics https://rb.gy/u90c5
Bakz T. Future Statement https://rb.gy/4k023
5Rights https://rb.gy/j8nn4
NSPCC on E2EE

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

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Miranda is a leading international operating security and behavioral analyst with over 25 years of experience.

She has been an awarded Global Security Influencer for Security and Fire (via IFSEC) in June 2021 and for the International Security Journal in December 2022. 

She is the Founder of MC Global Security Consulting and the co-founder of Salus Operational. 

Next to that she serves as a Board member on several international Boards and is active on various international security groups and networks. 

Her free time she volunteers to fighting human trafficking by assisting various organizations, globally.

Miranda is well known for her leadership, coaching and trainings for various international organizations and industries. She has an extensive background in working with law enforcement, executive & close protection, aviation, counter human trafficking, counter terrorism, humanitarian, corporate and private security organizations.

During her career, she has lived around the globe, gaining a broad understanding of numerous languages and cultures. Over the years she has built a large valuable international network and following.

Her core business focuses on:

• Behavioral Analysis: Advice and Training.

• Psychological Threat Assessment Analysis reports.

• Confidential Mentoring & Coaching Services
• Counter Human-Trafficking Education
• Behavioral detection and negotiation training 
• Forensic Interviewing

• Investigation Analysis and Interrogation Support
• Close Protection assistance

• Insider Threat and Fraud Advisory and Training.
• Physical, Corporate and Aviation security

• Security Risk Assessment Analysis
• Behavior Analysis implementation for Security, Risk & Contingency plans 
• HEAT (Hostile Environment Awareness Training)

Miranda obtained various diploma's and certificates from the following:
Dutch Police Force, Royal Netherlands Military Police, Ministry of Justice and Security, Maritime Academy, Wesleyan University, Leiden University, International Institute of Certified Forensic Investigation University of South Florida, Professionals, ALIVE, ISRM and more...

For a more detailed description of her experiences and company services, you are welcome to visit her LinkedIn profile or company website https://mcglobalsecurity.com/founder

https://www.linkedin.com/in/miranda-coppoolse-025b0032/

Details of organisations Miranda supports to find out more or donate to:
https://www.salusops.org/about 
https://www.theasservoproject.org 
https://www.joy.org 

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

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BIO Thorsten Neumann

President & CEO TAPA EMEA

Thorsten Neumann has 20 years’ experience in leadership roles in the Industrial Loss Prevention & Security industries.

After joining the Transported Asset Protection Association’s (TAPA) Board of Directors in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region
in 2003, he went on to serve as Chairman of TAPA EMEA between 2006 and 2019 before being appointed as the supply chain security and resilience Association’s first-ever full-time President & CEO in 2020.

Since then, TAPA EMEA has built a full-time professional team to support it membership of nearly 800 companies, including Manufacturers, Logistics Service Providers, Insurers, Security Service Providers and Consultancies, as well

as Law Enforcement Agencies and Associate Partner organisations from across the EMEA region.

As well as its highest-ever membership in the region, TAPA EMEA is also seeing record growth in companies achieving certifications for its Facility, Trucking and Secure Parking industry standards. Supported by the Association’s biggest-ever training programme. In 2022, the launch of the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) now provides members with a new and intuitive intelligence tool to support their risk management and loss prevention strategies by providing a searchable database of all cargo crime incidents reported to the Association.

As well as representing TAPA EMEA during its work with, and support of, Europol, INTERPOL, the European Commission, and other supply chain security stakeholders, Thorsten is a NATO Civil Expert for Transportation, Communication & Cyber Threats.

He also serves as Chair of the Board (Vorstandsvorsitzender) of ASW NORD, the Alliance for Security in the Economy of Northern Germany (ASWN).

Earlier in his career, Thorsten spent 10 years with Motorola and 7 years with Nokia, initially as Head of Supply Chain Security and ultimately holding the position of Chief Security Operation Officer. Following the acquisition of Nokia in 2013, he joined Microsoft, holding Director roles in Europe and the United States.

He is now based at TAPA EMEA’s offices in Germany.

To learn more about TAPA EMEA, go to

www.tapaemea.org

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thorsten-neumann-54644842/

www.tapaemea.org

https://www.linkedin.com/company/transported-asset-protection-association-emea/?viewAsMember=true

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

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Andy Bennett

VP of Technology, CISO

MIS, BA

Andy Bennett is a straight shooting, boot wearing native Texan who rolls up his sleeves to build business-centric information security solutions. Andy works with Apollo's clients to help them fully understand their risk exposure and create a strategy to mitigate those risks in alignment with the needs and risk appetite unique to their business.  From developing a strategic roadmap to reviewing and designing security architectures and how they fit into the broader enterprise, Andy ensures Apollo's clients are able to securely and confidently conduct their business and serve their customers.  Andy specializes in incident response and preparedness and can help customers prepare to weather the worst threats cyberspace has to offer.  

Andy Bennett has been in Information Technology since 1996 with experience in industries including retail, higher education, banking and finance, Fortune 500 consulting, oil and gas, applied research, law enforcement, and government. 

Andy's professional credentials include business continuity and disaster recovery planning (CBCP certified), change management, enterprise architecture, enterprise operations (ITIL certified), cloud migrations, incident preparedness and response, security architecture (on prem, in the cloud and hybrid), regulatory compliance and industry standard assessments and certifications, vulnerability management, overall security program design management (CISM certified), and teaching security education at SHSU.

Andy’s recent achievements include leading the successful response to the August 2019 Ransomware attack in Texas, the implementation of a statewide Identity and Access Management system to deliver IAM, MFA and SSO to the entire state of Texas as a unified identity solution, and the design, negotiation, and implementation of a multi-billion dollar contract to deliver the next generation of IT and security services to every governmental entity in Texas.

Andy Bennett earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Masters of Information Assurance and Security from Sam Houston State University.  Andy is currently working on his PhD in Learning Technologies from Pepperdine.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cisoandy/

Website: https://www.apollo-is.com 

Podcast: https://buzzsprout.com/2059217 

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

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Bio:

Carolyn is the CEO and founder of maiden-voyagage.com. Carolyn launched Maiden Voyage in 2008 after leading technology teams and travelling extensively for companies such as the BBC, ITV, easyJet and Sony Music.  She combined her tech and entrepreneurial skills, coupled with her experience as a solo woman traveller to create a company that is now recognised as one of the world leaders in inclusive traveller safety. Maiden Voyage provides education and training services for companies sending their employees on business travel. Carolyn has become a well-known figure in the security industry, having spent a  number of years on the Global Business Travel Association Risk Committee and is regularly featured in the press and conference agendas worldwide. She was recently received the prestigious Chairs Award at The Business Travel Magazine People’s Awards for trail blazing new ways of working in DE&I across the business travel sector.

Linked In
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpearson/

Articles
https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-business-travel-association/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BOU8Z1ezgRXCSOmwTslStMA%3D%3D

https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Management/Women-Business-Travelers-Personal-Safety-Is-Mission-Critical

https://skift-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/skift.com/2023/06/02/female-business-travelers-still-face-safety-concerns/amp/

Handles
Website  https://www.maiden-voyage.com/ 
Me  https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpearson/
Women's business travel community  https://www.maiden-voyage.com/community/ 

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

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Bio:

James Cameron is a Board Certified Protection Professional, and has over 15 years’ international security experience. James is a U.S. Army combat veteran and contracted with US government agencies providing diplomatic security around the globe.  James is the owner of Security Concepts Group (www.scg-lv.com) which provides security services internationally.  James’s focus has been providing high level Executive Protection which led him in 2021 to start The Board of Executive Protection Professionals (www.ep-board.org).  Currently he manages 180 volunteers who are presently creating the first proposed American National Standards Institute (ANSI) “Standard for Providing Executive Protection”.

Linked In Profile
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcameroncpp/

Mission Statement 

Our mission is to elevate the training, quality, and professionalism of the Executive Protection industry. 

Vision Statement 

Establish and maintain the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recognized st

Security Circle ⭕️  is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers