2020 OPS-TECH Sponsors Event Meeting Sponsors
Media Sponsors
Interested in sponsoring? Sponsorships are available for the Annual Meeting and OPS-TECH. Learn more about the valuable benefits afforded to members who lend their support to TMA. Contact TMA Vice President of Meetings John McDonald by email at meetings@tma.us or by telephone at (703) 660-4917.
Q&A with TMA NextGen
Interview with Brandon NIles, Director of Operations, Acadian Monitoring Services, LLC What is a typical day like for you? My day typically starts around 7 AM with a strong cup of coffee and a review of all databases and work queues. From there, I usually try to check in through Slack or Google Meet with about 5-6 frontline employees. After that, my mornings are usually reserved for meetings, emails and any new business follow-up that may be needed. If my schedule will allow it, I try to walk around the campus and meet with my leadership team for status updates on pending projects. My afternoons can vary drastically depending on how the morning went. Two things remain constant with my afternoon though. The first is that I try to find 30 minutes each afternoon to brainstorm and identify areas where improvement can be made and the second is that I end my day with a review of the databases and work queues to ensure things are as I expect them to be when I leave for the day. TMA Dispatch | Summer 2020
Have you had a professional mentor? Briefly describe the experience and the value it offered. I did not have a professional mentor when I first started at Acadian. I was very lucky in that there were multiple people who were willing to help me out and educate me on things within the security industry that I would not have otherwise known. I can honestly say that there are over ten people that have helped me professionally and taught me a number of valuable lessons. The one thing I’ve learned about the security industry is that if you keep an open mind and listen to others, there is no shortage of talented people willing to assist you with whatever your issue might be. Which professional accomplishment/ achievement are you most proud of and why? The accomplishment that I’m most proud of is when I was promoted to Director of Operations. At the time I was 31 years old and the youngest person in the history of all of the
Acadian Companies to receive the title. The Acadian Companies has been in business over 45 years and has over 5,000 employees so I still take a lot of pride in the fact that I was able to be promoted to this position at that young of an age. What advice would you offer other young professionals in the security industry? My biggest advice for someone getting into the industry is to make sure to listen to those people that have made a living in the security industry. With technology changing as rapidly as it currently is, it can be easy for someone new to the industry to downplay the importance of knowledge of what many would consider “old school” security installation, service and monitoring techniques. While this knowledge may not always be relevant to the issue at hand, it can still be helpful because it is important in identifying some of the underlying issues that technology may not properly identify.
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