Page 8 - the SyI Quarterly

Know your Institute
Know your Institute

It’s What and Who So back to the nitty gritty.
Some may know me for the work I do with the Register of Chartered Security Professionals, of which I am
the lead Director, responsible for strategy, etc. That perhaps is for another day, but that brings with it,
You Know representing the Register on the Chartered Security Professionals Registration Authority (CSPRA), and many
will know me via the workshops we run for the Register.

I sit on the Institute’s Audit Committee, which has a fairly wide remit and as it says on the tin, we make
By Bob Martin CSyP FSyI sure all the finances are in order. In addition to the basic finances, we are also charged with ensuring
procurement; salary reviews, and all those other good type of things, are being managed efficiently for the
membership.

As many will have gathered, the workings of the That makes good use of my sound financial background.
Security Institute is basically made up of two distinct
groups. Those high-profile individuals who do such Governance – a word that depending upon where you may look, comes with different meanings.
a fantastic job on your behalf in the Head Office, Let us be frank here, the Institute has grown from that ‘village football team’ to being at the top of the
some of whom have been re-introduced recently on Premier League. I am known to say, we can therefore no longer meet in the local village pub and decide we
Social Media. The second group, who are also doing need a new set of nets. We have outgrown that, and as part of that growth, we need to look at our Articles;
a fantastic job, but are less known, are your Board of Regulations; and all Processes to ensure they are fit for purpose.
Directors. That is one big elephant, and the small group I am part of, is just starting on the toe nails!
Years of Corporate working come into play here for me.
Those of you who know me, will also recognise, that
‘flying below the radar’ is my modus operandi, so One of the streams that the Directors have identified, and are working on to focus the future of the
being asked to write ‘what I do’ as a Director does not Institute is ‘Influence’.
come easy.
I sit on that group, and we are not just looking at engaging much better with our Patrons, but we are also
This is my fourth year of being a Director, a position very cognizant of the fact that we as an Institute, with so many professional members, are often looked to
I have held with some trepidation on occasions, but for advice. That extends across Governments and Commercial sectors.
also with great pride to be fortunate enough to have We are therefore working to ensure that the Institute, and the members are the first point of call.
the ability to be able to ‘pay back’ to the profession Reputation driver is used here by me.
that has been my life for over 40 years.
The Institute aspires to become a Chartered organisation, but diplomacy has now come into play.
I guess the first thing to establish is that Directors are responsible for your Institute. So, in addition to
any specific areas we may have been allocated, the overall smooth running and efficiency of the Security It’s not what you know, but who you know!
Institute falls to us, both morally and legally. Perhaps one of my biggest achievements is securing Royal Patronage for the Institute.
We are honoured to have Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal as a Royal Patron, but what is really cool
That in itself keeps me busy! about that – the Institute never applied to the Royal Household for Patronage.
No more to be said there!
However, down to the nitty gritty of what I do, which is based to some degree, as it is for all Directors, on
our individual backgrounds and experience. In my spare time
My own has been entirely in the commercial world. Okay, I was in the Royal Navy, but once they did away I am heavily involved with other non-security related organisations on a voluntary basis, which enables me
with sails there was no fun in it anymore! to give ‘pay back’, and yes, one of them does meet down the village pub!!
From the Royal Navy I joined a large Petrochemical organisation as a telex operator. Now this may test
some of you – remember when there were only three rows on a keyboard? The good old days eh?
From that I became a systems controller, lots of flashing lights and magnetic tapes, and then IT was
invented, and because I sat in front of lots of flashing lights and magnetic tapes, it was decided I was IT.

Databases were my niche, (DataEase; DataMaster, all those good old names before Microsoft came
on the scene), and then there was a job to run the newly to be installed security system in the two
head offices. What are Access Controls systems other than databases after all? I ended up being the
organisations global security consultant, and after 34 years I set myself up in business and continued
doing global work.

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