New chair and vice-chair appointed to Executive Board at AUCSO

Current vice-chair Geoff Brown, head of community safety and campus security at the University of Leeds, will become the chair of AUCSO and replaces current chair Oliver Curran, who’s about to step down after serving in this role for two years.

After retiring from the police service, Brown worked in Iraq as a security consultant for oil company Heritage Energy Middle East, duly tasked with managing the logistics of local national and expat employees in search of new oil deposits. Brown has served as an AUCSO Executive Board member since 2017 and in the role of vice-chair since 2023.

AUCSO member Gary Stephen, head of security and logistics at the University of Glasgow, will take over from Brown as vice-chair. After 16 years’ service in law enforcement, Stephen changed career paths and moved into the security sector as a security-cleared security manager securing the Whitehall Estate. He then returned to Scotland where he worked as a senior operations manager for Mitie and also for the HFD Group (the commercial property company) as security and operations manager.

Stephen held the role of AUCSO’s regional chair for Scotland from 2022 until last year and is now chair of the Special Interest Group for CONTEST.

Challenging and rewarding 

Speaking about his appointment as chair of AUCSO, Geoff Brown said: “I’m excited and honoured to step into the role of chair of AUCSO. Having worked across various sectors of the security industry, I can confidently state that the higher education sector is both the most challenging and the most rewarding. I’m deeply committed to collaborating closely with our dedicated security professionals and incredible external partners in order to continue driving excellence in this vital field.”

In assuming the role of vice-chair, Gary Stephen stated: “I’m delighted and proud to have been appointed vice-chair of AUCSO. With a deep passion for delivering customer-centric services that enhance the student experience, I’m very much committed to supporting my colleagues in achieving the same end goal. I hope to bring both experience and vision to this role.”

Further, Stephen explained: “I look forward to working closely with Geoff in helping to realise his own goals as chair, while striving to showcase Best Practice in the higher education security security domain and strengthening AUCSO’s profile within the broader security industry.”

Commenting on the dual announcement, Julie Barker (chief operating officer at AUCSO) said: “We are delighted to welcome Geoff and Gary to their new roles as chair and vice-chair on the Executive Committee and look forward to collaborating with them and, indeed, all of our Executive Committee members as we drive the organisation forward. I’m confident that this will be a rewarding and fulfilling journey for both of them as we drive the delivery of further value and expertise for our membership.”

*Further information is available online at www.aucso.org