Natasha joined Premier Risk Solutions in January after a lengthy career as a news reporter/anchor at several stations across the country. Natasha’s last stop was the NBC affiliate in Seattle. Having the experience of watching the worst case scenario play out in daily newscasts, Natasha is elated to now be a part of a company that actively helps people avoid those situations.
One of her favorite life experiences was working at inside the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. She did the college program while attending Penn State. Natasha lived all over the world as a child (military brat) but is happy to finally be settled in Edmonds, Washington. While she takes her job here at PRS seriously, the most important part of her day is being with her daughters. Get to know Natasha in the video below, as her older daughter dishes out the questions:)
This week in lieu of our video series, we have decided to do a get to know our founder/CEO, Michael Delamere. Although to those of us who work for him, with him or call him a friend, he’s Mike. At PRS, we value relationships, especially with our clients and colleagues. That’s why we wanted to take a minute and share a lighter experience this week with all of you! Here’s the Q&A we’ve released on our social media channels.
Mike grew up in Massachusetts, moving to Boston to go to college. If you listen, you can still hear his accent:) He grew up with his younger brother and sister, joking that he kept everyone in line. Apparently sometimes security is just meant to be. Here’s why Mike chose the security industry….
Mike has worked in the security industry since he was 19, while attending school. He has a rich history in the security industry and branched out on his own with PRS in 2014. Listen to the video clip as Mike tells us what’s it been like to watch the company grow and what sets PRS apart from competitors.
One of the best things about working at PRS is knowing your boss values family above all else. In this clip Mike talks about his family and explains how that ties into providing the best services for his clients.
As we’ve said, Mike is a Boston native with but couldn’t be happier to also call the NW home for his family and it happens to be where PRS is headquartered. Hear what made him fall in love with the NW in the clip below.
When you’re in the security business, all sorts of calls come through on a daily basis. For Mike, business always comes back to relationships and building on that throughout the years. Listen as he describes his favorite kind of call to get.
Natasha here, the Communications Director for PRS! As a former Disney cast member I could not be more elated to tie magic into security. All thanks to my old friend, Carlos Francisco, the Corporate Security Translator. Carlos applies the principles he learned at Disney to every security position he holds and believes if more people did that in our industry, leadership would be at all time high level of efficiency and brilliance. He has a rich history at Disney (21 years), as the Parks Security Manager and then moved on to Amazon and Facebook. In addition, Carlos’s passion is to help people cross over in corporate security and just launched his new book, So You Want to Get into Corporate Security?.
The first thing that has to be set right in Carlo’s security M.A.G.I.C. tactics is “M”indset. Carlos says a security professional needs to understand that when they are walking into a potentially hostile/volatile environment, it’s probable the security agent will not be liked. If they can come in with the proper mindset, understanding the situation, they will learn to not take that personally.
Carlos says as a manager/leader, you have to take interest in what people are saying, whether that’s your clients or the employees. Critical success points are vital for Carlos. He says for management brilliance, as a leader, you have to be vulnerable and individualize approach with everyone you come into contact with. Whether it’s a guard, the VP of the company or an accountant, everyone should have the same mission and contributing to make that mission successful. He always leads by example with all of his employees as well. At Disney, if there was a moment where bag checks needed to begin, he was the first to jump on and lead. Carlos’s favorite tactic was “friendship walks.” Watch the video to check it out what that means and be sure to continue to visit our website for more videos just like this one.
In the past year, we have seen the media become the target during protests/riots. It is imperative when security agents are guarding media personnel, they know how to handle an always evolving situation. That’s the topic is this week’s video series, “Strong, Safe & True,” with Scott Castleman. Scott is former law enforcement, instructor, and owns an investigative and security firm. Castleman actually teaches courses on how to keep the media safe.
Protecting media comes with its own separate challenges. With most guarding situations, a plan is formed and enacted. In the news business, it’s hard to have a plan, as crews are constantly redirected and you are typically dealing with crowds that are always moving and could become unruly in a matter of seconds. Scott says that’s why he always has one hand on his client while moving through a crowd. He has learned little tricks along the way, like not turning on the light on the top of the camera until absolutely necessary and learning how to blend in with the crowd, to not attract attention.
Scott says the biggest mistake security companies tend to make is when the first flash bang hits, agents grab media personnel and take them away. He says it’s important to understand, that the chaos is what the media is there to capture. So agents need to learn how to effectively protect the media amid the drama, not yank them out as soon as it starts. This can be tricky but Scott says anyone he protects knows if he says it’s time to go, it’s definitely time to go.
One other thing to watch for is what you say because media crews typically are streaming live, even during downtime in a protest. That means anything that is said is broadcast for all to hear. For more tips check out the video and remember to visit our website for more videos like this one!
Scot Walker is a private investigator and a veteran mentor. Walker helps former military and law enforcement transition into the private security sector. He says a new influx of those particular careers is coming and companies can invest in them and technology to stay relevant, hence build resilience.
We talked about how the differences in generations and the difference in interest in certain types of careers and what that means. He says the generation that will take over the workforce in the coming decade, is more technology driven and less service oriented. Meaning, there will be some that want to serve as police officers or members of the military, but not as many as in years past. He believes we also need to change the way we are defining change within police departments. Given the lack of necessary officers across the country, he suggests “reimagining” police departments instead of “defunding” them. Walker says we need people with a background of being resilient and he hopes to help brings some of those folks into all facets of corporate America, not just the security world. His motto is leave no one behind. He says that means companies have to invest in people and people have to invest in themselves.
We also talked about the importance of staying resilient during these times of crisis and change. Walker says, “We can plan for the invasion of Eastern Europe and we do plan for that in the military. What we are seeing in future war is what we are seeing today. Russian hackers getting into meat supply and oil companies. That is a training run, that’s practice. Our future war will always have a large cyber component and we need to be ready for what’s coming.”
The three takeaways Walker gave us: 1) Invest in People 2) Invest in Reforming Archaic Processes 3) Invest in technology but be smart about it. Don’t put yourself in a position of not being able to do business if that piece of equipment fails.
Walker offers much more knowledge and thoughts for both employers and employees. Check out the video below and be sure to visit premierrisksolutions.com for more videos.
