Ignore the message of the Scouts’ motto: “Be prepared,” when planning for an earth shaking event such as the Olympic Games and you could be planning to fail, but the Close Protection Section of the British Security Industry Association would not want to leave things until the very last minute, hence it has elected Mike O’Neill as its new Chairman as Vigilance can report.
A Chartered Security Professional, Mr O’Neill was among the first group of Registrants admitted to the Register, having served in the Parachute Regiment until 1990 before founding his own security company in 1993.
O’Neill’s expertise covers a wide range of business risk services including crisis management, business continuity planning, investigations and close protection.
O’Neill said: “Close protection has experienced significant growth in recent years, and is expecting increased demand in the run-up to the events of summer 2012, where close protection services will no doubt be required on an unprecedented scale.”
He added: “I am delighted to have been elected Chairman of the BSIA’s Close Protection section and welcome the opportunity to become involved in the industry’s preparation for next year’s exciting events across the UK.”
Mr O’Neill served for eleven years with The Parachute Regiment, seeing active service in the Falklands and Northern Ireland before leaving in 1990 as a Major.
He founded Greymans in 1993 and has since expanded it into providing a wide range of Business Risk Services including: threat and risk assessment; crisis management; business continuity planning; integrated security systems; pre-employment screening; investigations and close protection. After the recent merger with Perpetuity Consulting the company has rebranded as Optimal Risk Management.
O’Neill is a member of ASIS and holds both their Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and Physical Security Professional (PSP) qualifications. He is a Fellow of The Security Institute and has also been a Director there since 2009.