On-the-Job Training for Physical Security Leaders

While information security leaders have relatively few options for pursuing a CISO-oriented degree, it’s even harder to find advanced academic degrees that focus on the corporate and physical side of security.

According to George Campbell, former head of security for Fidelity Investments, entry-level corporate security employees frequently sport an undergraduate degree in criminal justice, or what Campell describes as a spin off of criminal justice: security administration. Campbell mentions Michigan State University and Northeastern University as offering mature, exemplary programs. However, Campbell agrees that higher-level security leaders require a broader knowledge base that includes management strategies, risk measurement and business concepts. In the absence of a full-blown CSO-worthy degree, some universities do offer short, intensive training programs in security leadership.

Georgetown University, for example, teamed up with ISMAthe International Security Managers Association, whose members are the security leaders at Fortune 500-type organizationsto create just such a program. Campbell, who as a former ISMA president was involved in developing the course, says the focus is on strategic planning. Attendees first spend three days in the classroom, designing a particular strategic planning project related to their current job. They return to their employers for three months to execute the projectswith an ISMA member assigned to coach each student through the process. Then it’s back to Georgetown to present their work in a two-day intensive wrap-up session.

Similarly, in May, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business announced a program designed in collaboration with ASIS International (another security membership organization). Participants in the Wharton/ASIS Program for Security Executives spend one week on campus, one month back at the office to apply what they learned, then another week back in the classroom. The Wharton curriculum covers a broad range of business functions, including marketing and finance.