View from the Chair

Brad Minnis, CPP

View from the Chair

Fellow members of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter:

The first quarter of the year has passed, and many things are happening. We held the annual St. Patrick’s Law Enforcement Appreciation Luncheon on March 20th at the San Mateo Marriott Hotel, which turned out to be an exceptional event, under some very difficult circumstances. The night before the event, the U.S. Military launched Operation Iraqi Freedom, the morning of the event there was a major anti-war protest underway in San Francisco, and we were very worried that our law enforcement guests may be called away on homeland security operations.

I am happy to say that, even though world and local events were not in our favor, the event turned out to be a huge success. Over 180 members and guests were in attendance, we had a wonderful guest speaker from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, and the food was great!

Guest Speaker,
Craig Floyd

Los Gatos Pipes and Drum Corps

I would like to thank Art Lesser, the 2003 Law Enforcement Appreciation Luncheon Event Chairman, for his hard work and efforts to put together this luncheon, our first large event for the new year. The only thing I won’t mention, are the “comedians” who closed out the event, except to say that what was most funny about it, was Curtis Given’s reaction when it came time to pay the bill!

Now we look forward. The April 17th membership meeting will be held at Sun Microsystems in Santa Clara. We have a wonderful speaker planned, Ms. Naomi Fine, President of Pro-Tec Data in San Leandro, who will be talking to us about Intellectual Asset Management. I have known and worked with Ms. Fine for many years and can tell you that she is one of the most knowledgeable and credible individuals you can find when it comes to the protection of intellectual property. She is known throughout the industry and has even been an invited speaker for groups such as SCIP, the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, where she has given alternate viewpoints on the issue of market intelligence gathering and information protection. It should be a terrific presentation, and I look forward to seeing you there.

Planning is continuing for the May Seminar, which should prove to be the best seminar ever. Fliers have been sent to all Chapters in Region 2, we have many more exhibitors than in the past, a fabulous seminar lineup and a wonderful luncheon speaker, Ms. Bonnie Michelman. Bonnie is Director of Police and Security at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, is a past President and Chairman of the Board of Directors for ASIS International, and is the current Chair of the ASIS Foundation Board of Directors. She has numerous books and publications in Security Management, and is a fabulous speaker. By the way, I am in Boston as I write this, and saw on the news a few days ago, that there was a murder/suicide that took place at Mass General Hospital this week. I’m sure Bonnie has her hands full with that incident and may provide us with some insight on their programs to combat workplace violence.

Needless to say, the annual seminar is our best-attended event, so please get your reservations in early to ensure your seat at the seminars and the luncheon.

And finally, Steve Duell, our Newsletter Committee Chairman, and Ramon Silano, Committee Co-Chair, have introduced a new and much-improved Printable version of the newsletter, which you will now be able to link to directly for printing and reading later. It is a quality format, and we are now soliciting for advertising in the printable version. Those members and/or companies interested in advertising in the monthly newsletter should contact Steve Duell at webmaster@sfasis.org for more details and pricing.

Sincerely,
Brad Minnis, CPP
Chapter Chairman