Alexandria, VA/Dallas, TX (12 September 2023)—ASIS International, the world's largest association for security management professionals, opened their annual conference today—Global Security Exchange (GSX) 2023 in Dallas. The event will continue through September 13 and feature more than 200 education sessions and over 470 exhibitors.
In addition to the days yet to come, this year GSX featured two days of pre-conference events on Saturday and Sunday, including Secure Horizons: An Immersive Experience for Senior Security Executives, ASIS Volunteers’ Day, and the ASIS Awards of Excellence and the Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAs).
Monday morning, ASIS International president Timothy M. McCreight, CPP, opened the conference with a moment of silence to commemorate the victims of the 9/11 attacks 22 years ago. McCreight spoke on how change can help advance the mission of ASIS International, as well as the security profession. McCreight highlighted that even with the advancement of technology and shifts in the industry, security is a people-driven industry.
“Despite the rapid pace our adversaries are moving at, despite the lack of recognition we may receive, despite a lack of investment in our work at times, despite all the challenges we fight to keep up and prevent bad things from happening, despite all those things and more, we hold ourselves and those around us accountable to preserve the sanctity of security,” McCreight said.
McCreight was joined onstage by ASIS International CEO Peter O’Neil, FASAE, CAE.
“2023 marked a record membership year on the European continent where we surpassed 3,000 members,” O’Neil said. “The past March through July, ASIS had record-breaking membership acquisition with the highest monthly numbers in the history of the organization.”
Radek Sikorski, Member of the European Parliament and Chairman of the EU-USA Delegation, kicked off Monday morning with a compelling General Session to an audience of several thousand security management professionals from across the globe. Sikorski spoke to the assembled security professionals via satellite from Warsaw due to grounded flights as a result of ongoing threats from Russia. Sikorski’s presentation titled “Securing Democracy Worldwide: Why We Must Win” discussed the threat Putin poses not only to Ukraine, but also to Poland, Europe, and democracy at large. Sikorski urged both the European Union and the United States to support the efforts in Ukraine.
According to Sikorski, “We need to defend worldwide democracy by winning (the war) in Ukraine.”
Monday featured more than 90 education sessions covering topics from across the security profession, including sessions on managing crises, active shooters, the security challenges of artificial intelligence, the current state of school security, and the benefits of having a diverse workforce for security organization. Monday’s Game Changer featured managing partner at Rezolvrizk LLC, Michael J. Bacon, who discussed the importance of ethics for security practitioners.
Monday also featured a session previewing ASIS International’s forthcoming ASIS International standard for school security. ASIS is developing an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standard that will be a guide to securing a school for anyone who works in one, from security to school administrators. The standard will also focus specifically on physical security measures, behavioral threat assessment and management, and emergency operations planning. The standard is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2024.
Program highlights for tomorrow’s GSX lineup include:
- Accommodating a Remote Workforce and Adapting Workplace Violence Strategies to Manage Company Risk Tolerances, 10:30 a.m. (CT)
- Executive Protection Risk Assessment Modeling, 10:30 a.m. (CT)
- Social Engineering—The Risks to Our Companies and Employees, 10:30 a.m. (CT)
- Active Shooter Preparedness and Mitigation— Have You Done Enough?, 11:45 a.m. (CT)
- Game Changer Session: Navigating Global Mistrust, 2:00 p.m. (CT)
