#security-leadership

#security-leadership

Ali Larijani was a symbol of the complex interplay between power, family, and ideology in Iran; a politician who, drawing on his military experience, nepotism, and pragmatism, managed to consolidate a unique position within the complex Iranian power structure and become a central player in the country's defining moments.

It's been really interesting. Early on, [security] was really not a high priority for companies, and so I often found myself in a back office somewhere, kind of far away from where the main activity was in the corporate environment, or kind of low down the totem pole. And we've seen how that's flipped over these past 20 - and especially the past 10 - years, where companies have really started to realize that the focus that they need to place on this so much more, and so from an organizational standpoint, you see so much more energy and resources being put to security.

Various forms of artificial intelligence have been woven into our technology and work life since the 1960s, starting out in robotics and expanding into expert systems and early chatbots. This has, and will continue to evolve, in ways that make it imperative that security leaders have a solid understanding of how to use and integrate these readily available tools in their day-to-day operations and program deliverables.

I started my career in law enforcement, working for many years (17) as a police officer. That experience grounded me in investigative work, crisis response, and people leadership under pressure. I later worked in high-risk international environments like Afghanistan and Libya, advising and managing complex security operations - experiences that deeply shaped my resilience and strategic thinking. After transitioning to the private sector in 2015, I held leadership roles in the retail and automotive industries before joining BASF in 2022.