Meet Dave Tyson - ASIS 2015 president

Dave Tyson has 30 years of experience in all facets of enterprise security

The incoming president of ASIS has volunteered with industry groups for years. His goal: to help people get better at their jobs.

With 30 years' experience in all facets of enterprise security, Dave Tyson, CPP, CISSP, looks forward to his 2015 term as President of ASIS International (ASIS). “I’ve spent a lot of years working to make a difference in the security industry,” Tyson says. “The goal has always been to try to help us all get better at our jobs. ASIS is where you can make that happen.”

Currently the senior director, information security and chief information security officer with Racine, Wis.-based SC Johnson & Son, Inc., Tyson has also led security programs for PG&E, one of the largest power utilities in the U.S., and served as the global security operations lead for eBay. In 2010, he was the chief security officer for the host city — Salt Lake City — of the Winter Olympics.

Tyson attended his first ASIS luncheon in Vancouver in 1994 while working for a guard company. He was hooked immediately.

“They were talking about issues our customers were facing,” he says. “I thought it was amazingly useful. I joined right away.”

Over the next few years, Tyson worked his way up in the local Vancouver chapter, moving through the posts from secretary through chapter chairperson. Eventually, he earned an appointment as assistant regional vice president for certification in Western Canada.

While in that role, he was asked to join the Professional Certification Board (PCB), the body that governs ASIS professional certifications. The board works with outside best practices organisations to ensure the quality of the certification skills and testing.

He also participated on the IT Security Council and the Awards Council.

Converging career

As his career moved forward, Tyson earned an MBA in Business Administration specialising in Digital Technology Management, which led him to become a recognised expert in convergence. Convergence, of course, brings together physical and IT security as well as security functions carried out in other enterprise departments, such as risk management.

In 2007, Tyson authored a book on convergence, entitled “Security Convergence: Managing Enterprise Security Risk.”

Tyson speaks frequently at conferences and educational events in North and South America, Asia and Europe. He has published dozens of articles in industry magazines and earned numerous awards.

Tyson has identified four major achievements made by the organisation during the years of his ASIS membership.

• International growth. Today, ASIS has 139 U.S. chapters and 94 international chapters for a total of 233 chapters worldwide. China, India, Russia and other countries around the world maintain chapters.
• Convergence. ASIS has become a driving force for convergence. The ASIS partnership with (ISC)² illustrates this movement.
• ISO and ANSI Standards. In the late 2000s, ASIS began developing and publishing standards under the aegis of the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). “The movement we have made into writing security standards has changed the face of the security industry around the world,” Tyson said.
• Women in ASIS. ASIS membership roles testify to the growing presence of women in security. One of the fastest growing ASIS membership areas the organisation’s Women in Security Group.

What are Tyson’s key goals for ASIS for his tenure as President? “We are working hard to do a couple things,” he said. “We want to continue to globalise, to bring in more people so we can all learn from each other.

“We want to continue creating member value. I don’t necessarily mean do more things. I mean create real value that members can use in their careers.

“Finally, we want to continue the conversation with our cyber peers — to cross pollinate and learn from each other.”