Life Safety Alliance Announces Second Annual List of Top 40 Global Thought Leaders in Security and Life Safety

More than half of the recognized candidates are new in 2025, hailing from more than a dozen nations.

MEDFORD, N.J., July 15, 2025 — The Life Safety Alliance (LSA), an organization dedicated to enhancing global life safety and security through partnerships and collaborations, today announced the results of its Second Annual List of Top 40 Global Thought Leaders in Security and Life Safety. This honor represents an effort to bring enhanced objectivity, transparency, and rigor to the process of identifying influencers and thought leaders in the field. While several Top 40 thought leaders from 2024 make a repeat appearance, more than half of this year’s honorees are new. The Life Safety Alliance is a not-for-profit member organization open to all professionals within the security and life safety community.

The recognized contenders represent the entire industry, including life safety, physical security, cybersecurity, risk management, loss prevention, and intelligence. Honorees comprise practitioners, service and technology providers, researchers, academics, and other professionals from over a dozen countries. (See list of honorees starting on page 3).

This year, renowned security expert Andrew Thorburn, Enterprise Security & Risk Manager at Wesco Anixter, formerly Atlas Gentech NZ Limited, from New Zealand, led the effort to identify candidates. He also chaired the committee that revised some of the scoring and categories used in 2024 to better reflect both the breadth and nuances of thought leadership.

Candidate scores were determined using a proprietary algorithm that considered various factors, including conference presentations, webinar and podcast appearances, LinkedIn reach, academic courses taught, and volunteer leadership positions held, among others, from May 1, 2024, to April 30, 2025. A formula weighted these factors to generate a final score.

After reviewing the credentials of hundreds of professionals in the life safety and security fields, LSA contacted more than 200 candidates it identified as some of the most active and influential thought leaders in the industry. Candidates were given the opportunity to provide evidence of the criteria requested to better showcase their activities. For those who didn’t respond, LSA searched for information on LinkedIn, other social media platforms, blogs, professional publications, websites, conference agendas, and various publicly available sources.

“After an inaugural year that exceeded our expectations for both interest in the recognition and quality of the Top 40 recipients, we are delighted to see both repeat honorees from 2024 as well as a large group of fresh faces,” said Becky Lane, acting CEO of LSA.

“As awareness of and interest in this recognition has grown, 2025 was even more competitive than 2024,” Lane continued, “especially since Andrew Thorburn led an effort to draw in as many candidates as possible from everywhere around the world.”

“I’m very proud to lead the LSA Top 40 recognition program because it uniquely reflects the direct and measurable impact of practitioners and academics on thought leadership in security risk management and life safety,” said Thorburn. “We cast a wide net to identify individuals who have demonstrated impact, innovation, and ethics, while also considering factors such as geography, market size, and market maturity.”

Those who made the list will receive an LSA challenge coin commemorating their achievement as well as a digital certificate.

For more information on LSA, or to become a member, visit lifesafetyalliance.org.

 

About the Life Safety Alliance

The Life Safety Alliance is a 501C3 not-for-profit organization supporting the international Security and Life Safety community by sharing knowledge, promoting best practices, and providing a platform for global networking. Our mission is to be a worldwide resource and authority on best practices for the Security and Life Safety industry through collaboration with trade associations, academic institutions, and members in areas of standards, professional development, technology innovation, research, and certification. Visit www.lifesafetyalliance.org for more information, or our LinkedIn page at www.linkedin.com/company/lifesafetyalliance-org.

LSA 2025 Top 40 Global Thought Leaders in Security and Life Safety (alphabetical order)

Prof. Obadare Peter Adewale, Digital Encode Limited (Nigeria), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Melissa Agnes, Crisis Ready Institute (US)
Farah Benis, FFA Security Group (UK)
Garry Bergin, Manguard Plus (IE)
Dave Cohen, Risk 2 Solution (Australia)
Mike Croll, Buckinghamshire New University (UK)
Chris Cubbage, MySecurity Media – Space and Earth Partners & Advisory (Australia), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Terry Cutler, Cyology Labs (Canada), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Shawnee Delaney, Vaillance Group (US), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Nicholas Dynon, Optic Security Group (NZ)
Jane Frankland MBE, KnewStart Limited (UK), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Michael Gips, Kroll (US), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Alex Goldenberg, Narravance (US)
Scott Goldfine, Elite Interactive Solutions (US)
Florian Haacke, Porsche AG (DE), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Yolanda Hamblen, IFPO / The Security Circle Podcast (UK), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Kasia Hanson, KFactor Global Security Advisory (US), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Mike Hurst CPP® CPOI, IFPO Global Advisory Board / HJA Consult (UK), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Eduardo Jany, News Corp (US)
Kathy Lavinder, SI Placement (US)
Kirk MacDowell, MacGuard Security Advisors (US), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Taylor May, SVIP (US)
Tim McCreight, TaleCraft Security Inc. (Canada)
Bruce McIndoe, McIndoe Risk Advisory LLC (US), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Don Morron, HighlandTech (US)
Fredrik Nilsson, Axis Communications (SWE)
Kevin Palacios, HELPS Latam (US/Ecuador), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Elizabeth Parks, Parks Associates (US)
Jon Polly, ProTecht Solutions Partners (US)
Matthew Porcelli, Harvard Protection Services (US), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Paul Sarnese, Secured & Prepared Consulting (US)
Tyler Schmoker, Donaldson, Inc. / Maritime Support Concepts LLC (US)
Dr. Gavriel Schneider, Risk 2 Solution / Institute of Presilience (Australia), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Gastón Hernán Schulmeister, Organization of American States (OAS) (ARG/ES)
Jeffrey A. Slotnick CPP PSP, Setracon Enterprise Security Risk Management Services (US)
Confidence Staveley, Cybersafe Foundation (US/Africa), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Christopher Stitt, CrisisLead, LLC (US)
Tino Urbina, Commend, Inc. (US)
Tim Wenzel, Kroll & The Kindness Games (US), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader
Alfredo Yuncoza, Smart Management C.A. (VEN), 2024 & 2025 Thought Leader