January 29, 2025

ASIS International’s Vision: A Conversation with Bill Tenney

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In this episode

What does it take to lead one of the most influential organizations in global security management? Join us in this episode as Chuck sits down with new ASIS CEO, Bill Tenney. From his origins in naval intelligence to navigating corporate and nonprofit leadership, Bill shares his remarkable career highlights and the guiding principles that have driven his success. Discover his vision for ASIS, the importance of mission-driven teamwork, and how AI and collaboration are shaping the future of security.

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View the transcript

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Ch 1: Introduction

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0:00

Chuck Randolph:

Hello and welcome to the Ontic Connected Intelligence Podcast. I’m Chuck Randolph, Ontic’s Chief Security Officer. Join us as we delve into valuable insights and practical advice that will empower you to navigate the complexities of modern corporate security and risk. We’re here to share knowledge from experienced leaders and innovators in the field. All right, get settled and let’s dive in. William Bill Tenney is the newly appointed CEO of ASIS International, the leading organization for security management professionals worldwide. With nearly 35 years of leadership experience spanning from national security to global corporate security, Bill brings a wealth of expertise to his new role. Previously, Bill has held executive security positions at MetLife, Bloomberg and the Target Corporation and served as a U.S. Naval officer for eight years. Bill is committed to advancing the security profession and fostering innovation, collaboration and excellence on a global scale. And also a personal friend of mine, William, Bill Tenney. Welcome to the Ontic Connected Intelligence podcast, my friend.

Bill Tenney:

Thanks very much. Great to be here. Appreciate the invite.

Chuck Randolph:

And allow me to say officially, although I’ve said it already, congratulations on the new role Mr. President slash CEO of ASIS.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, and I would be remiss if I didn’t say I’m the CEO. The president actually is a volunteer role. So you may be aware that the outgoing president, the first president I’ve had the opportunity to work with is Cy Oatridge. And then Joe Olivares is the incoming. He’ll start that role in January.

Ch 2: Bill’s career and leadership evolution

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1:41

Chuck Randolph:

Well, I was amazed and outstanded and absolutely I’m happy to hear of you taking that role. And we’ve talked about this, but for those who are listening in, Bill, I know that we’ve known each other for quite some time and we go, I would say air quotes here way back, but walk me through or walk us through the audience. Kind of your career and your leadership evolution and how you kind of landed as the CEO of, you know, this massive enterprise.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah. Well, look, I started my career in the national security space. So a child of the 80s during the Cold War and started out after undergrad into the naval intelligence space serving with the a squadron on board an aircraft carrier out of Japan, Naval Forces Europe headquarters in London during the Balkan Wars, and then coming back to DIA at the Pentagon before I transitioned to civilian life, staying in that space, serving overseas in Ankara, Turkey, and coming back to New York at the U.S. mission to the U.N., and then transitioned to the private sector. And for me, going to the private sector was like oxygen. I loved the mission and I love the people, but making change in the public sector can sometimes take years and cost thousands of lives. And I found the private sector to be super nimble and offered me great opportunities, first at Target to learn a ton in my transition, to take on things like intelligence and supply chain security and that sort of traditional corporate security role, in particular with Target in the international space. And then and then moving to Bloomberg and being head of global operations risk, my boss sort of had a converged me and my peer, the CISO, and then eventually being tapped on the shoulder by a recruiter to say, hey, you should take a look at MetLife and and initially not being that interested in it. But as I talked to the leadership, it got me more and more interested. And I got a chance to be an entrepreneur within a Fortune 50 and really build a corporate security team from the ground up. And so it’s been a great run, about 35 years, and I continue to learn every day. And when I got tapped, maybe, are you interested in this job? The more I explored, the more interested I got. And one of the things I learned quickly, I’ve been a longtime member, but I wasn’t getting the full value out of my membership, nor was I ensuring my team was getting the full value out of my membership, out of the membership. So it was a great opportunity to continue to serve, to make an impact, to kind of dive into a mission that I believe in.

Ch 3: Leadership from public to private sector

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4:34

Chuck Randolph:

Let me ask you a question. So it just occurred to me that immediately I’m off script. But my first thought is, I think about these sectors, you know, whether it’s government, and then within the private sector, retail, and then finance. And now let’s say nonprofit leadership, is there a through line for any of that, that is kind of held to like a leadership edict or something for you? Or I just imagine like, hey, one day I’m working, I’m in the government, that G ride, the next day I’m at a massive retailer, supply chain is everything. And now I’m in the financial sector, only to transition into nonprofit.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah. Well, look, I would say my own through lines would be and I kind of hit on this was mission. I cut my teeth playing team sports as a kid, I think in my formative years, starting out as a young military officer, where it’s all about the mission, it’s all about the team. And that gives me energy, that gets me up in the morning and makes me excited. The other piece is probably the opportunity to be a continuous learner. I think that’s exciting to me, is to take a skill that you have, adapt it to something else, and how do you add new skills to the toolbox as you go along? And I don’t think that’s just important for me. I think I’ve seen that in probably every corporate security professional I’ve worked with, or even in the public sector, the security professionals that I was honored to serve alongside.

Chuck Randolph:

Yeah, absolutely. I think the ones who, who progress and go beyond are the ones who wake up and that they have that mission first people always mantra. But then learning, you know, mission first people always, and always learning. I mean, I think you’re, you’ve hit it on the head. I wonder, like, did you envision back when you were young, you know, a young naval officer, like, this is the way my career would go? Did you have like some preconceived notions that either played out or didn’t? Or you just said, hey, I’m going to ride this thing and see where it takes me.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, look, it’s funny. Almost every security professional that I’ve spoken with, in particular, those who have transitioned into the corporate world, when you ask them if this is where they plan to be, it’s like, no, this is not. So it’s sort of a long and winding road. And I think a lot of us end up in this space for some of the reasons maybe that I mentioned, that I think we do seek service to a bigger mission. We do like being part of a team. We do like, we want to deliver for companies and for organizations and deliver mission success. But I think we always want to be a part of something that’s bigger than ourselves. I won’t speak for anyone else, but that’s certainly part of my motivation and drive throughout my career.

Chuck Randolph:

I agree. Look there, this industry is full of veterans, veterans of something or another policing, military government. And I would say the thing that connects them all is service. to the greater, the greater good, if you will. So I think connecting, if you have veterans in your organization, I mean, connecting them to that mission and helping them understand how it fits in the bigger picture. I mean, that little bit of context goes a long way.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, amen. And the other thing I would add, I’ve learned a ton for from in my career, from those people who don’t have that public sector background, I work with super solid folks who really just began like straight on undergrad into the business world. And they’ve got that business sort of savvy from the beginning. And I think that was really instrumental to helping me add that tool to my toolbox, sort of coming with some of those skills you learn in the private sector and having that experience, but adding the business side.

Chuck Randolph:

Yeah, I agree. And I think that’s where the always learning comes in, because there’s a whole new set of language. And I think about your career in particular, I’ve got government to government language, to government language, to private sector language retail, to private sector language finance, and now to nonprofit language. I mean, it’s all business. Yes, of course, but there’s little nuances and probably micro language and cultures to deal with in that. So I think the learning piece probably helps there, doesn’t it? It does, indeed. Absolutely. 

Ch 4: Supporting the ASIS vision

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8:53

Chuck Randolph:

Well, let me ask you about ASIS or ASIS? I mean, what’s the right way to say that? And I always say both and I know there’s a preferred.

Bill Tenney:

It’s ASIS. That’s the preferred.

Chuck Randolph:

Thank you. I stand corrected and 25 pushups coming after this. For ASIS now and in your vision, you know, that organization has been the cornerstone for security professionals for decades. It’s the very first place I ever went to back in 1993, when I was looking at, you know, at the industry, you know, in it, and it’s been around for a very long time. I mean, what’s your vision for the organization as it continues to move forward and support?

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, well, look, maybe I’d take a little step back first and highlight sort of any vision is not just going to be mine. It’s going to be the boards, right? The board. And it’s the board plus the staff, plus the volunteer leaders, plus the members. And as you know, and we’re kind of talking about, it’s that team that really kind of brings you can take vision and bring it to life. So how do you make sure that you’re kind of bringing everyone along in the same space? You kind of highlighted that historical mission where ASIS sort of started. is being really the educator for the industry. How do we develop standards and guidelines? How do we develop certifications? More recently, moving into the area of certificates, sort of more bite-sized chunks of initial training that people can, security professionals can take, or even they can share with their partners around things like workplace violence. being a premier sort of education event in delivering GSX and delivering content there, delivering through webinars, connecting members through community. So there’s a long tradition of ASIS being the educator. And I think one of our approaches and strategies is, OK, we need to continue to lean into that. That’s something that I think ASIS has done historically. We’ve done well. There’s still opportunities to do more of that. So how do we make sure we’re not forgetting where we came from? But I think in today’s world, there’s an opportunity to do more. And so the board about a year ago sort of started a new kind of look forward strategic plan. And what came out of that was to lean into this role as a facilitator. as a connector. How can ASIS leverage its position to help bring security professionals, security associations, along with public-private partnerships and even government entities and bring us all together so we can do more together than any one of us could do separately? And what I really appreciate about that is that reflects the experience I’ve had in my career, especially in the private sector, but also in the public sector, that security really is a non-competitive space. We’re connecting with each other all the time. We’re benchmarking we’re sharing intel we’re sharing insights on new tools or technology or providers and especially when you know what hits the fan we’re always connected with each other and that’s how you and I met right as you were at Microsoft and I MetLife and you guys were particularly open. be willing to share your knowledge experience expertise the hard yards you learned and sharing that knowledge i was grateful for that in my career and the opportunity to give it to give that back to others when i talk to them is important. And so how do we now, as an association, let’s not compete with each other. Let’s reflect back to the industry the values that that demonstrates every day, that those professionals demonstrate every day. I think that’s what our members expect of us. And I think that’s what we’re going to try to give back. And so leaning into that facilitator space, I think, is something we’re going to try to add to our strategy and mission.

Chuck Randolph:

Bill, it’s an absolute unknown or underdeveloped superpower of the organization. I mean, I think about the recent MOU with ASIS and the International Protective Security, ASIS and the International Protective Security Board around executive protection, because you’re right. It’s an open book quiz that we’re all looking at. Risk is the risk is the quiz. And I think oftentimes we try to make it into something it’s not when in fact, it’s an open book. It’s an open book, open discussion, open concept. quiz. And we, we all know those of us that have been around for more than 25 minutes knows there’s ways without, there’s ways to obfuscate your company, your organization’s precious, um, you know, codes or, or keys of the kingdom, but still talk about the risk to make sure that your, your sister and your brother on your right and left understand what the threat is because together we prevent it. Um, it absolutely is, has a powerful community. I mean, look, ASIS is in what over 150 countries. I mean, how you know what, I guess the follow on to that first question is how are we ensuring that that the organization remains relevant and impactful to that massive, continually growing and evolving global community?

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, well, if you don’t mind, let me just kind of double click on that IPSB-ASIS relationship, because I think that’s super important. And in particularly now, as we see executive protection really come to the forefront. You mentioned that those two groups and you’re a past president of IPSB, we should note. And Chuck Tobin, the current president, is also the leader of the ASIS technical committee that is working on an executive protection standard. For anyone who’s sort of worked in this space for any amount of time, that’s probably something that’s long overdue. But it’s so that’s a great initiative for those two organizations to work together and do more together than we could alone. In addition to the other content that’s already out there. So I would say if you’re a company or a person, a professional who’s struggling with how to justify your program or explain your program, how are you managing risk for your executives? You know, IPSB, ASIS, we’ve got content, and we’re looking to advance that to advance the profession.

Chuck Randolph:

And Bill, that’s just not with EP. I mean, the CSO Center is a phenomenal place to find and share information about programs. I mean, you know, you’ve got councils and communities again, all over the globe that are sharing important details about the certain slices or sectors of the industry. And I think I remember, you know, again, I go back to a young, young, young version of me looking, where do I start and how do I get going? And I went to ASIS or as is, as it was called back then, and found the document and said, okay, this is, this is the baseline primer. Here’s how, you know, here’s what I build off of. So I’ve always, I’ve always felt indebted to the organization for things like that.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, look, it’s interesting. One of the things I’d highlight is this is actually one of our opportunities. I think I sometimes feel like I’m a leprechaun sitting on a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. And it’s not just me, it’s the staff, right, and the volunteer leaders and all the people who come together to create this content. But how do we make sure people know where they can find it? And we at ASIS have a big opportunity to make it easier for members to find. So while there isn’t yet an executive protection of standard, we do have the protection of assets manual, six volumes, and there’s a whole section on executive protection. So there’s content there. Do members know it’s there? Can they easily access it? And that’s an opportunity for us. We need to be more kind of lower those barriers so members can get what they need from us in the when they need it in the format they need it to really deliver on their jobs. Because that’s it. It’s about them and improving the profession and them being able to deliver for whoever their customer is, whether it’s a business, whether it’s a private sector, whether their service provider, whether it’s nonprofit, don’t care. How do we help them advance their professional needs and their organizations?

Ch 5: Technology as enablement for global community

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17:07

Chuck Randolph:

What strikes me also, there’s maybe there’s an opportunity for technology in there, you know, we’re in AI and large language models. And you know, I know people are frightened of it, but it’s also very powerful tool. And I can only imagine that large data lake of information and having something where somebody can come in and say, Look, I need I need to understand the septet vertical or the three or four bullets from that to inform an assessment I’m doing of maybe a county government or something and being able to find that and pull it up and help, that’s powerful. You have the hardest thing, which is the information and the data.

Bill Tenney:

Let me just add to that so people get a little bit of inside the engine room look here. We have some tech debt like a lot of organizations. And so we have, and the organization had before my arrival, a digital transformation plan. How do we get off some of our legacy technology and on to more nimble, agile commercial platforms? And we’re well on that way. And now what we’re looking at, are there opportunities for us to advance this faster? The good news we’re on pretty firm financial footing and what i mean by that is we’re not profit so we gotta we just have to be able to pay the bills and we’re there. And now we’re looking are there opportunities to invest in ways that might accelerate our transformation. more quickly. And so we’re in the midst of taking a look at that. It’s challenging for a small nonprofit. We’re only 60 people. The staff was reduced during COVID down from 100. So we’re really, really lean. And so now we’re looking for how can we increase capacity, looking at our internal processes? What can we do better? What can we automate? How can we leverage technology? Are there things we need to stop doing? to kind of focus more on the future and not always we might have to kind of pivot from legacy areas we don’t know the answer to that so there’s a lot of of that that we’re undergoing right now and you mentioned ai and that’s where you know again we’re learning like everyone else trying to understand where might there be opportunities for us to use ai internally to be more efficient and for us to use AI that might be member-facing that would make it easier for members to do it. Now, I’d caution just to managing people’s expectations. You don’t flip a switch and have that happen. We need to be super thoughtful and we don’t have the resources of a Microsoft or a MetLife to do that. How do we think through that and work through those challenges that all of our organizations are wrestling with right now?

Chuck Randolph:

Well, I mean, let’s go back to the reach and that global community. I mean, what a way to connect all those folks to through technology or, you know, people process technology. I mean, you’ve got the people and maybe the processes down. And, you know, again, I’m not trying to write checks that ASIS has to fulfill. But I mean, just the idea of technology is an enablement for global community.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah. And look, the great news, it already is. You mentioned the ASIS Connects platform. So we have that ability for members to connect globally. Are there opportunities to sort of advance that platform and make it more user friendly? There absolutely are. We’re a buy not build sort of organization generally or up to this point. So how do we think through that? How do we work that into sort of a digital transformation roadmap? And those are the kind of questions and conversations we’re having right now.

Chuck Randolph:

I think you’re smart. Look, you and I both have gone through, you know, I love the idea of like buy not build either because it also understands like, look, if we build something, understanding that might be the mantra now, you know, if we build something that comes with an extended price, that’s going to continue to cost and have to have a resource invested in it to upkeep and everything else. So, you know, as always, you’re coming at this with a very measured approach.

Ch 6: Solving business problems with security solutions

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21:28

Chuck Randolph:

Let me ask you another question about like, we’re in kind of a state of permacrisis we have been maybe one might say for several years, maybe a decade, we just see it now more with social media. But you know, you have cyber, you know, as is is risk, you know, it’s cyber geopolitical supply chain, all of it. I mean, How are you trying to and how are you and the board thinking about positioning yourself to help people stay to forecast and stay ahead of the curve? Because you said something earlier, I think it’s important, which is, we need to enable our membership to go enable whoever they support, whether it’s a CEO, or high net within with individual or another security organization? Or I mean, it’s a broad stroke. So you know, how are you thinking about helping members and helping the organizations have that like, above the parapet and beyond the horizon? Look?

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, I mean, look, I can that one. This is a that’s a really long conversation. I’ll give you a couple of insights. And I’ll start with one that’s maybe a little bit more strategic, and then go one with it’s a little more sort of operational. On the strategic side, I recall showing up to MetLife and talking to my boss, who is a very seasoned financial services technology and operations professional. And he says, hey, I’ve got my industry framework and maturity model. Where’s yours? And I’m like, you know, we don’t have one in the industry. Well, what we do have is we do have standards and guidelines. And one of the things we’re looking at is how do we put that into a framework that is more strategic, that now a professional can come to ASIS and see, okay, here’s the industry framework, here’s the pieces that apply to my company. Now I can take those standards, whether it’s sort of at the top level for the CSO position or security risk management, or whether it’s some of those verticals around executive protection, like we talked about, around workplace violence, around supply chain security, around organizational resilience, And how do I take that and now I use that to help build my program? How do I leverage the content of the protection of assets sort of manuals and use that to build my program? So I think there’s an opportunity for us to help security professionals position themselves strategically as solving business problems with security solutions.

Chuck Randolph:

Think about this. I mean, most everyone probably listening to this and most people, a lot of people in our industry, we’re security people by choice and business people by necessity. Not everybody, because as you mentioned earlier, there’s some amazing people that came up through the business who just, you know, embraced the idea of risk management and love it. But I would say, and I’m kind of taking a straw poll here, there’s probably, you know, where business people is, is a tertiary task. So I think the idea of enabling, enabling the greater organization or the greater industry to come in and have those conversations to help business decision makers do what they need to do. I think that’s powerful.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah. And I think us, I think we’ve got an opportunity to help the profession in that space position ourselves as managers of risk. And how do we enable the business? What are the risks that are out there? What are the exposures to the company, whether it’s strategies or assets or people or whatever? And then how do we think about risk appetite? How do we think about controls and having difficult, sometimes conversations, but also being very cognizant to the business leader? Hey, you own this risk. I’m not supposed to be in the business of saying no, I don’t want to be there. I’ll tell you what I think you need and how you can get risk to a level that you’re comfortable with, and then we’re going to go execute. Let’s be continuous learners. Let’s make sure we’re continually grabbing data, whether it’s data based on incidents that have happened to us or other people, or even just how we see the threat landscape change. Then we can dial in our controls and think about how’s our risk appetite changed. So that’s one thing I would call out, it’s sort of the strategic level. At the operational level, I think what we’re trying to do, I shouldn’t say I think, we are doing this. We’re trying to make sure that people understand when these incidents occur, what resources do we have that we can leverage? And so security management, quote unquote magazine, right? It’s all online, so it’s not really a magazine. But one of the things we’re really trying to do is people already know the what, the what happened. What we’re trying to do with that is inform with the three questions of intelligence my good buddy Wayne Hendrickson McCorry says our intelligence answers the questions of what so what and what’s next and security management is more the so what and what’s next and having those opinions informed. by ASIS members and other security professionals, not just ASIS members, the broader security profession. So how can we bring those voices into the mainstream so other professionals, so we can learn from each other at some kind of scale? We’re always having these individual questions or groups that we belong to that are having conference calls or connecting online. Is there an opportunity for us to bring those voices into the public domain and make sure that we’re informing that conversation? And at the same time, reminding people, hey, we have resources, come use them. Because if they’re not, they’re just sitting back here. And if you’re not using them, then we’re not doing any good. How do we remind people about what we have and what resources they can rely on for ASIS to do their jobs better, to bring mission success, to enable their businesses to serve customers?

Ch 7: Challenges and trends on the horizon for the industry

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27:19

Chuck Randolph:

I love it. I mean, look, if it’s a Porsche, you’ve never taken it out of second gear. Think of what you’re missing. Or if you have a Jeep and you’ve never taken it off the road, think of what you’re missing there. You said something there about like trends and things. And I’m curious, I’d like to go back to like, Bill Tenney, person of security and in 35 years in the industry, and now where you where you sit, and you kind of have an overwatch and a lot of things like, you know, I know, I know, we’re no more businesses are no longer into that three to five year planning cycle. So I’d ask you like the next 36 months or so, Are you thinking about any significant challenges or trends that we, other security leaders might, you know, should think about? And it doesn’t necessarily have to be an ASIS thing, but just something Bill Tenney’s looking at.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, look, I don’t know that I’m going to offer any sort of earth shattering insight. I’m probably going to reflect on the things that I felt like I was seeing and my peers were seeing regularly. And you kind of hit on it. We used to talk internally to the company that Our job is to identify and assess risk, develop prevention and mitigation measures, and help the company be ready to planfully respond. Because in today’s day and age, when you think about disruption, it’s not if, it’s when and where, and the answer to that is now and everywhere. On one hand, we’ve seen over the past two weeks, the government of Syria collapse and the Mideast kind of, which was already in a large area of already highly uncertain, is become even more so. We saw an executive, you know, brazenly assassinated on the streets of New York City. And those are the issues that are in the sort of public conversation. But the reality is security professionals all over the globe are dealing with civil unrest, protests, crime, threats in their workplace, other man-made or natural disasters all the time. How do we leverage what’s happening or understand what’s happening, but again, try to get out in front of that to explain to the business leaders or organization leaders if we’re in a non-profit space or public sector space, here’s the risks we see, how do we think about managing risk? How do we think about we’re going to respond? I always felt like my role as a security professional was to keep people in the middle. Wake up the people who might be asleep to the risks that are going on and maybe accepting more risk than they realize or they should be taking on behalf of the company. But also equally important sometimes more important to calm the people down who are worried that the whole thing was on fire and we should just kind of lock the door and hide under a blanket. And it’s you know Brad Brecci at target used to say hey we can make risk go to zero will lock the front door not a very successful business model so given the fact we’re willing to accept some rest need to accept some rest how are we gonna operate in a way that’s appropriate. And again, I think you got to start with a strategy. And that strategy needs to be tied to not only the business objectives, but the business culture, the people who’s in that. And then how do you dial in your approach to meet that and manage it and enable it?

Ch 8: Cybersecurity as a strategic necessity

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30:45

Chuck Randolph:

Yeah, I love that, especially like, it’s we could we could lock all the doors and that what a great uh what a great quote from brad i mean we could we could stop everything put everything in a box lock the doors our stock diminishes our money diminishes and we are we’re all out of jobs and eventually at some point you know institutions fail because nothing is happening. 

Bill Tenney:

One thing maybe I’d add Chuck as I think about it you know because you mentioned cyber and I’d be remiss if i didn’t say something about cyber. I think anybody who’s spent enough time in this space, you know, kind of recognizes that, you know, we’re in a cyber war. There is a cyber war going on between nation states, cyber criminal activity, activist groups, like it’s just that’s not stopping. And we as from the corporate security side can’t be afraid of that. We need to lean into that. And our approach was, hey, cyber is just a vector. they’re doing the same. The actors that I kind of mentioned, I think of the main ones, nation states, criminals, activist groups, insiders, they’re doing the same things that they do in the physical world. They’re just using cyber as a vector. And so, you know, people talk about convergence. And I think sometimes the challenge with that is I think sometimes we narrowly think about it like, hey, we all need one budget. We all need to report to the same person. And I think convergence looks very different. depending on what organization you’re in. And I learned that, I think, talking to you all at Microsoft, as you described some of the relationships you had between your cyberspace, your cyber team, and your team. And we have the same thing at MetLife. How do you understand what do the cyber guys do and do well? What do the corporate security people do and do well? And just like the place we’re talking about with ASIS, how do you do more together than you could do separately? And I think there are clear skills that the corporate security sides brings to the table that can be additive to that cyber discussion. And in my experience, Intel is absolutely one of them because I think we’re pretty good at speaking English to non-experts. And the cyber guys sometimes are good at speaking technical language and that sort of MO to technical experts. And I think we can help them put it in a bigger, broader strategic context and wrap in their data. And together we can do more than we could do separately. I certainly saw that at MetLife.

Chuck Randolph:

Security leaders have the ability to, they’re coordinators, you know, look, I don’t need to know all this, but we’ve got to get to an answer about this risk. So I’m going to need somebody from, I need somebody from the stores here that will walk me through how these packages got here. I need somebody from EP that’s going to tell me how are we going to protect our, you know, executives as they’re going, you know, to visit these stores. And then, you know, somebody from cyber to say what is happening with the network, because ultimately you got to get that threat informed picture and you know, and explain it like I’m five, maybe to somebody who can say, okay, I understand the threat is this. What are my options? And then you’re right. Intel is very good at helping pull out the insights that will help develop, you know, options management.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, absolutely. The other place I would especially point to is resilience. You know, the approach we took at MetLife was, let’s take an all hazards approach. Let’s be cause neutral and focus on impacts. And I don’t care whether the network got brought down by an earthquake or a war or a cyber attack, the network’s down. What are we going to do about that? the people are impacted, the building are impacted, our services, how do we think about that? And I think we were able to come up with a very integrated approach. And again, together, we did more than either one of us could do separately. And ultimately, that is what enables mission success.

Chuck Randolph:

I mean, you bring up a good point. I mean, you and I both served when the idea of like, all air quotes here, all hazards, Intel was a thing. And I actually think you’ll see that coming back where it’s like, look, we don’t have We don’t have the financial environment to have 15 analysts or 15. We have an environment to have analysts. So I need intelligence support to fill in the blank. I need investigation support to fill in the blank. I need protective support to fill in the blank. I’m not saying that’s happening tomorrow, but I can see a way I can see a economic environment that forces those types of conversations to happen to take place maybe.

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, absolutely.

Ch 9: What does Connected Intelligence mean to you?

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35:25

Chuck Randolph:

Bill, let me ask you one more question that we, well, actually two more questions. One that we ask everybody that comes on, which is kind of the seminal to the Connected Intelligence podcast, which is, and I think you’ve kind of answered it many ways, but I’m going to ask it again. Like, what does Connected Intelligence mean to you?

Bill Tenney:

Yeah, well, like, as you and I know, since we sort of cut our teeth, started, started, that’s where we sort of started our career. Look, I think when I think about Connected Intelligence, I think, first of all, it responds to a need. What’s the problem you’re trying to solve? Get really clear on that, because that’s going to drive everything else. Then it’s, you know, how do you go to your sources? What sources do you have that are authoritative, that are trustworthy? What new sources can you develop or go find? And then you kind of hit on this. How do you really fuse all those sources into one? If you’re a single source, you’re probably not delivering a good Intel product, certainly not a connected Intel product. How do you fuse that together? And then most importantly, it’s got to be delivered to a decision maker when they need it. And ideally, it’s driving action. How is that helping you think about, again, back to the problem you were trying to solve? And I think that’s where that’s the best sort of vision of when everything works. That’s what connected intelligence looks like.

Chuck Randolph:

I love it when everything works. And you’re absolutely right. Bill, how do people like where’s the best place for people to follow you and then also follow you as the CEO of ASIS?

Bill Tenney:

Well, look, following me, I probably am like a lot of security professionals. I’m probably the guy who’s who’s comfortable sort of just being part of the team and being in the background. I’m not a huge LinkedIn poster, but I’m trying to kind of get better at that. I’m trying to I’m stretching myself.

Chuck Randolph:

It takes a while, but you can get there. Trust me.

Bill Tenney:

Definitely, you’re better at it than I am. And, you know, getting with you on podcasts like this and trying to advance that conversation. One of the things I’ve been really trying to do as I’ve come on board ASIS is doing a lot of member outreach, meeting members and volunteer leaders on their turf where they are. So in six months, you know, I was in Phoenix arizona for lead her you know really that’s something we do with sia around advancing women in security cuz i’ll just get on the soapbox there for a minute. Women don’t need security but security needs women if we’re only like recruiting from half of the gene pool then we’re gonna. As a CSO, I want to make sure I’m getting the best talent. So I’m at LeadHer in Phoenix. I’m at ASIS Africa in Nairobi. I’m at ASIS Asia in Singapore. I’m at the Women’s Security event in Panama. Later, I’m at the LATAM ASIS event in Costa Rica. So there’s a lot going on and seeing members where they are going to be at Dublin in March in the SIS Europe event so if you’re if you’re in Europe in march come on and see us in Dublin that’s gonna be a great event but but making sure that i’m hearing from them and meeting them where they are and helping us advance the profession globally. We’ve got our headquarters team and the global board, but we’ve got regional boards that can help advance that and make sure that we’re addressing the needs of members in each of those regions because each of those regions are different. We want to make sure that we’re responding to the needs of members and being there when they need us.

Chuck Randolph:

I love it. I love it. Bill Tenney, CEO for ASIS, thank you, my friend, for being on Ontic’s Connected Intelligence podcast.

Bill Tenney:

It’s my pleasure. Very happy to join you. Thanks, Chuck.

What you’ll learn

How mission and continuous learning drive effective leadership in security management

Bill Tenney’s plans for ASIS and its global impact on advancing the security profession

Insights into utilizing collaboration and technology to enhance organizational resilience

More about our guest

William “Bill” Tenney is the newly appointed CEO of ASIS International, the leading organization for security management professionals worldwide. With nearly 35 years of leadership experience spanning national security and global corporate security, Bill brings a wealth of expertise to his new role. Previously, he held executive security positions at MetLife, Bloomberg, and Target Corporation and served as a U.S. Naval Officer for eight years. Bill is committed to advancing the security profession and fostering innovation, collaboration, and excellence on a global scale.

Connect with Bill