Advance Consolidates Year of Growth With Key Appointment

Following an extensive recruitment process Advance Security has appointed Donna Alexander to the key role of National Operations Director.

Donna moves to Advance Security with almost twenty years’ experience in the security industry, in both consultancy and in-house roles. Her most recent role, as Senior Security Manager at Barclays Bank, saw her overseeing ‘personal security’ requirements at a corporate level, including employee screening and travel security. She brings with her the experience of working across teams at a global level.
 
With responsibility for all operational activities within Advance Security’s corporate division, Donna’s new position will include the strategic direction of Advance’s team of senior managers to ensure that all of the company’s contractual obligations are met against its stringent pre-arranged SLAs and KPIs.

An active member of ASIS, Donna’s commitment to moving the security industry forward was a key element in her recruitment to the role. Barry Dawson, managing director of Advance Security comments: “The recruitment process for this role has been intensive but with the position of National Operations Director expanding both the operational and senior management teams it is a key position for us and represents a significant investment. As such we were determined to recruit a security expert who is equally committed as the rest of the management team to delivering innovation across our operations.

“Donna’s appointment provides Advance Security with a fresh approach to corporate security; her experience gained within Barclays, one of the world’s leading banks, will provide us with important additional knowledge within our operations structure, which completes and indeed complements our re-structuring programme, started in 2006. The move has enabled us to build a platform to support all of our clients following a successful year of growth, but will also allow us to move ahead with our new business strategy next year.”

Donna is looking forward to using both her contractor and in-house knowledge to work closely with Advance’s clients in aligning their current requirements and expectations with innovative working practices:

“My time with Barclays has enabled me to identify key areas within the corporate arena in which contract security can play a greater part in the provision of a streamlined, cost efficient and effective service. Training is a vital element in delivering this service efficiency and in moving the industry forwards and it is fantastic to be joining an organisation so committed to training and development. I am looking forward to progressing this further so that our team of security professionals is fully aware of the many dimensions of security that we can provide for our clients.”

As part of Donna’s membership of ASIS she has been actively involved in the UK chapters 2007 seminar programme. She has also embarked on the CPP accreditation course and will be undertaking her examination this November.