Award accolade for FIRST Security’s Jill Priest
FIRST Security’s Tauranga-based Client Services Manager Jill Priest has just been named by the New Zealand Security Sector Network as the winner of the 2021 Women in Security Awards Aotearoa ‘Leader’ category.
The Women in Security Awards Aotearoa (WiSAA) initiative was established in 2020 to recognise women who have advanced the New Zealand security and resilience sectors.
This year, the awards attracted high quality nominations from across the security sector from physical to cyber to national security. According to the award organisers, only the slimmest of margins separating the eventual winner from the next placed finalist and in many of the awards’ nine categories.
“We’re over the moon that Jill’s professionalism and leadership has been recognised in this way,” said FIRST’s COO Steve Sullivan, who had nominated Jill for the award. “Jill is an inspirational leader to her teams and an inspirational colleague and mentor to so many people across our organisation and beyond.”
As FIRST Security’s Client Services Manager for the Bay of Plenty, Jill has responsibility for over 70 staff throughout the Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, and the Hawkes Bay and Gisborne areas. It’s a large area of responsibility.
The award organisers published the following profile of Jill, which summarised key aspects of the nomination:
“Jill gives a human face and a formidable personality to security for her clients, and this, combined with a mastery of her trade and an exemplary commitment to her communities, makes her a truly inspiring leader and mentor to her teams of security officers, patrol officers and regulatory enforcement officers.
Based in Tauranga, Jill is responsible for employees and clients across the Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Hawkes Bay and Gisborne areas – a large area of responsibility with dozens of key clients from local government, to education and healthcare, to retail and large urban and rural enterprises.
“Her relationship with Private Investigators, Police, other security providers and Councils in her region demonstrates that she collaborates with multiple agencies to provide us, as her customer with the multi-faceted solution to a problem and collects information and intelligence from organisations that trust her,” stated a senior client security manager in relation to Jill.
Jill was a finalist in the 2021 New Zealand Security Industry Awards, and it is demonstrative of the level of positive impact she has had in her region that her nomination was supported by testimonials from several external customers.
Jill creates jobs for people that they want to come to, where they learn and grow as individuals and security professionals, and where they can make a difference. Always community-minded, Jill’s holistic approach to security and community safety puts people first – whether they are a client of FIRST Security or not.”
Congratulations Jill from all of us at FIRST Security. We are super proud of your achievements!
