sidearea-img-1

Newsletter

 

Dave Crossley, Head of Security, Emergency Planning and Response, Sydney Opera House Presents the Changing Landscape Of The CSO/Head Of Security And The Board

Screen Shot 2016-05-12 at 1.10.26 PM

Closing this year’s Annual Security Leaders Summit is Dave Crossley, Head of security, Emergency Planning and Response for the Sydney Opera House. Dave gives a talk on the Changing Landscape Of The CSO/Head Of Security And The Board. Dave spoke on the roles of security professionals and their relationship with the board. He also provided his take on how to deal with the board in his own role of Head of Security. It was a thought-provoking discussion that provided a lot of insight into one of Australia’s most iconic landmark.

 

David is the Head of Security, Emergency Planning & Response at the Sydney Opera House. He is responsible for Security Risk Management, Emergency Management, Fire Safety & Operations, Organisational Resilience and Event Safety & Security. Prior to being appointed at the Opera House, David worked on key projects in Australia and Internationally for a number of major global companies in the Oil & Gas, Finance, Manufacturing & Government Sectors. He has worked with organising committees for the Commonwealth Games 2006 Melbourne and Sydney Olympics 2000. He recently consulted to the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (ANSTO) developing and delivering the Business Resilience and Emergency Management Frameworks.

 

David emphasised for as long as there has been security, there have been difficulties, and differences of opinion, between the CIO and CEO. A lack of buy-in from the top often meant a lack of buy-in for security – however the arrival of the Chief Security Officer threatened to change that model, and those old lines of communication. More and more Board members are well aware of the potential risk to the business and the risk of resignations of board-level roles if they get it wrong. Breaches occurring in large organisations affecting share prices, reputation, loss of life, loss of IP, loss of customer or internal dataset are in the news more frequently nowadays and thus, are a major cause for concern.

 

This presentation opened up many questions from security professionals. To join the conversation you can tweet to @LeadersSecurity and use #SecurityLeadersSummit.