Ernesto Alvarado, who currently serves as president of ASIS Panama, combines in his life his two greatest passions: cooking and security.
by Santiago Jaramillo Hincapié
Our guest as Professional of the Month was born from the marriage of Rodrigo and Smyrna, an IBM executive and the Secretary of a commander of the then United States Southern Command, a curious relationship that today allows the security industry to have an excellent professional, who is a native of the city of Colón, Republic of Panama. His name is Ernesto Alvarado, and he currently serves as president of ASIS Panama.
Ernesto's connection with the security industry dates back to 1992, when he began working at GBM in Panama, a company for which he worked for five years. Then, he worked with BellSouth, a pioneer of cellular telephony in Panama, which over the years became Movistar, where he held the position of head of security for Panama and Nicaragua.
After completing nine years in this company, Ernesto Alvarado decided to accept an offer made by McDonald's Corporation, as regional security manager for Panama and Central America, with direct responsibility in Costa Rica and Panama.
"After three years in the restaurant world, I wanted to try my luck and apply one of my hobbies, cooking, so I opened a sushi restaurant together with a partner. Over time the opportunities were given and today, I have three stores and I manage three brands: Sushi Box, Hogan's Cafeteria and TelePizza/TeleBurger, which are all managed within Franchises of the Isthmus. Parallel to this, I developed a Human Resources and Security Consultant, under the name of Universal Business, with which consultancies have been carried out for companies such as Coca Cola, McDonald's, Grupo Rey, Banco del Pacífico and World Trade Cente, among others, "says our guest.
Currently, Alvarado maintains the restaurants which are managed jointly with two partners and works as a Security Officer at the International Bank of Costa Rica. In addition, he has already spent five years as president of ASIS Panama Chapter, where he has been in charge of three regional security conferences.
The first steps in the industry
Ernesto relates that his first steps in the world of security were taken at the age of 15, he worked as a support staff for Expocomer, the largest trade fair in the area. There he had to act as security and control the entrances and exits of personnel and materials. Over the years an opportunity opened up to work at GBM of Panama, in the general services department which included managing the security of the corporation.
"I had to be self-taught and seek to learn from people with more experience than me. I ran into all kinds of people, the one who said he knew and didn't know anything, and the one who really knew. I met the right professionals and others not so much. I had to choose who to learn from," said our guest.
Technology, an important point
Ernesto Alvarado says that technology advances and changes every day. "As much as you as a security professional try to stay up to date, you can't always have the latest model or the latest technology. The lifespan of safety equipment doesn't allow you to change it with the speed with which it evolves. The CFO would like to hang you," he says.
In the same way, Alvarado is convinced that the biggest challenge with employees and subordinates in the security industry is to make them understand that the equipment will be more or less useful, in the same way that they operate it. "You will take advantage of it in a proportional way to the knowledge you have," he says.
Among his anecdotes, Ernesto shares one that definitely marked his career and makes him always distrustful of the minutiae and paradoxes that converge around the security industry.
"Once, in one of the warehouses for the company where I worked, there was an alarm sensor that was activated at every moment, it was very sensitive. I didn't pay attention to it and every time it was activated, the monitoring company sent its officers and the response was the same, nothing happens. One weekend, the alarm system went live and I thought, it must be the sensitive sensor again. And I kept sleeping. And yes, it was indeed the sensitive sensor, but this time, three criminals had been introduced into the cellar, cut the phone cable, disconnected the recorder from the CCTV system and that was where everyone started running. We happily arrived on time with the police and the episode had a happy ending, three criminals caught, a robbery foiled. I learned from a scare. In security nothing is left for later. Since then, I have not trusted myself. When the systems decide to fail, that's when the thief comes to visit you," he adds.
The family, an aspect of vital importance
Ernesto, as he himself affirms, is happily married to Gisella, his inseparable companion, the one responsible for so much happiness and the one who accompanies him in all his adventures. "God has not blessed us with children, but we are sure they will come when he so chooses. However, there are two beings waiting for us when we get home, our two Cockers: Rosco Giusseppe and José Mateo. They give joy to the house, they are wise, crazy and disobedient, but they accompany us at all times."
As we mentioned before, Ernesto loves cooking and good food. As a family rule, "on Fridays I go out to eat with my wife, but on Saturdays at dinner, it's my time to cook, and I think I do it well I love the agri/sweet flavors and I cook by the eye, without following recipes. I am a frustrated musician, I love percussion and at home I have a complete set with which I mistreat the ears of my neighbors. When I have time or get a partner, I like to play tennis or racketball. I bowl very well and when I'm really stressed, I have fun riding my bike, a blue Kawasaki Ninja which I accelerate to the maximum to raise the adrenaline."
Security Management
According to Alavarado, a security manager must earn the respect and trust of his team and his clients. And this equally applies to a security agency and at all levels. The selection of office and field staff, security guards and supervisors, he stresses, "everyone must be committed to the basic objectives of the company. There must be a win-win-win relationship. The customer wins, the employee wins, the entrepreneur wins. Many times it is difficult to find a balanced security company: When the boss is engaged, employees are discouraged and the customer suffers. When employees feel like doing well, the boss is not committed to the company and the customer suffers."
On the other hand, the president of ASIS Panama comments that large investors are setting their sights and their efforts in Latin America. A situation that qualifies as positive since the labor force that is employed in each country grows.
He also points out that on the issue of security, "there are companies that have begun a process of expansion within the region. So for example in Panama, we have security companies whose headquarters are in Guatemala or Venezuela. In Costa Rica there are already companies with headquarters in Panama. Factories, transnational companies, large hotel chains are settling in the region, with millionaire investments. Most of these companies require the services of a Head of Security. The issue is that the salaries allocated for these, are not in accordance with the responsibility and experience that are demanded. No one is a prophet in their land, the saying goes, and for safety, they apply it. They want to pay a national expert less than a foreign one," he says.
Also, regarding the particularities of the electronic security industry in Panama from the point of view of the technologies that are demanded and offered, the needs of customers and the solutions offered by companies, our guest notes that definitely that security has changed a lot since he began working in this industry.
"I still remember my VHS cassette cabinet, it was complex the task of ordering them in such a way as to have recordings for 30 days. Today, in Panama, all kinds of electronic security systems are offered. The good and less good, the expensive and the cheap, the made in America and those made in Asia. In Panama, being considered a center of world trade, we have the advantage that all technology passes through here. The detail is in who sells it to you has the backing and factory support to help you in times of crisis, he says.
Moving on to the issue of education, training and updating of all personnel working in the field of security integration, Alavarado points out that continuous training is a guarantee of growth. "The issue is that the only ones who invest in training are the big transnationals. Security agencies do not invest in training their staff, because of the high turnover they have. They do not believe or invest in training. That is why the quality of service in most cases is mediocre. Years ago in Panama he opened an academy for security guards and went bankrupt due to lack of customers. We at ASIS this year included a day of specialized conferences for safety supervisors, as an experiment and trying to create the training culture and very few companies have signed up. But that's where you see the seriousness of the entrepreneur. Only serious and committed entrepreneurs want to have the best and most trained staff. The rest only aims to profit from the business at the lowest cost," says our guest.
The event organized by ASIS in Panama, for example, explains Alavarado, is made non-profit, with the main objective of training and keeping the security professional updated. That's why we promote ASIS certifications a lot here.
However, he warns, we must be careful, as Panama and the Region are fashionable, many self-described security experts come to give lectures and offer from certifications to diplomas without any support, using internet universities and non-existent organizations to justify their experience or validity of the course. "You have to investigate before hiring security courses," he concludes.
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