Aug. 26, 2009, Dallas, Texas -- At the Carrollton, Texas, offices of ADT Security Services, corporate security directors and police chiefs weighed in this week on the nature of their duties in today's world. Following the discussion, which was provided to a "summit" of various trade media publications, it was clear that for the security executives, whether they're having to make decisions on technology or align their department with business operations, the decisions aren't easy and require an amazing amount of departmental self-knowledge. The panel included (seated left to right in accompanying photo), Jay Montgomery, corporate director of security for oil-and-gas pipeline company Kinder Morgan; Ken LeCesne, global director of security for technology services company Perot Systems; Robert Picasio, senior manager of global security affairs for commercial gaming services company GTECH; Ty Morrow, police chief (retired) of Bryan, Texas; Peter Scheets, deputy police chief of Bryan, Texas; and Steve Foster, police chief of McGregor, Texas. All individuals were customers of ADT's services.

Without reproducing the entire roundtable, we pulled the "quotable quotes", the most salient parts of the discussion that SIW thinks are relevant to any corporate security director struggling with managing and operating a corporate security presence. Take these little nuggets of wisdom back to your own operations to improve your business efforts.

On aligning your goals with the company/organization:

"My main goals are managing our risk, so that we can continue our core business of safely operating our assets. We have to have processes to assist us. And anytime you can demonstrate how you are helping your customers, it's a business benefit."
-- Jay Montgomery/Kinder Morgan:

"We try to build relationships with the company's other business units – the ones that bring in the money – so that we are enablers. We think about how we are also customer service; the first person any of our visitors meets is the security person at the gate and the second person is often the one that provides them an access control or visitor card."
-- Ken LeCesne, Perot Systems

"We want to be a strategic partner for the business. It's all about making sure our internal and external customers are safe."
-- Robert Picasio, GTECH

"I was able to come into an organization [the city of Bryan, Texas] that wasn't accustomed to being engaged [by police decision makers]. You have to pick the brains of the power brokers, because that gets them on board and eliminates pushback."
-- Ty Morrow/Bryan, Texas