Grant Lecky

Co-founder, Security Partners’ Forum
Security Management – Class of 2007

Grant Lecky’s unflinching dedication to global security in troubled times has earned him a long list of Canadian and international honours and accolades.

To name only a few, Sovereign Magazine named him “a global visionary” on the cover of its April/May 2019 issue. Also in 2019, he received the “Leader of the Decade” Award in Risk and Resilience by the Women Economic Forum, a multinational organization supporting women entrepreneurs and leaders. In 2018, Lecky earned the Bill Zalud Memorial Award for professional excellent/outstanding service in the security profession, and in the same year was named to the Canadian Who’s Who, joining an eminent group of people who have made significant contributions to society.

Lecky has come a long way since he worked as a security guard with Initial Security (now GardaWorld) in 1999. He says he enjoyed the work but recognized his interests were propelling him toward a different kind of security career. Once he completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Carleton University, he enrolled in 2004 in the Security Management program at Algonquin College.

“No matter where I go with my career,” Lecky says, “I can always trace it back to my time at Algonquin. I had an excellent experience. I had great classmates, some of whom I remain in contact with, and terrific professors who inspired me to keep moving forward in my studies. While I was there, I acquired the working knowledge I needed so that when I was hired by the Government of Canada after graduating, I could walk in the door and contribute right away.”

He emerged from the College with a special interest in business continuity (the procedures that keep a business in operation during disruption events like cyber disruptions, pandemics, catastrophic weather). After a few years in the industry, his focus would move to organizational resilience, the ability of an organization to prepare for and adapt to everything from incremental change to crises. Organizational resilience (OR) requires a deep understanding of the strategic and operational components of an organization in all its complexity.

He began working in corporate security at the Privy Council Office one month after graduating from Algonquin in 2007, and discovered he had a knack for strategy. “Some people graduate and focus on investigations, technical security or other areas. Mine was exploring strategic elements.” Keen to enhance his knowledge and skills, he earned his Master of Science Degree in Security and Risk Management at the University of Leicester while continuing to work full time in the Government of Canada. Later he took advanced certificate programs in corporate security executive leadership, crisis management, strategic risk management and advanced security management, and earned — among other credits — the prestigious Chartered Security Professional designation (CSyP).

One of his many accomplishments was the co-founding in 2011 with his colleague Bonnie Butlin of the Security Partners’ Forum (SPF), the first ‘plug-and-play’ agile network of the global security community. (The ‘plug-and-play’ model allows organizations and individuals to plug-in or un-plug as needed. The ‘agile’ element means the network can rapidly adapt to a continuously changing security landscape.) The SPF is dedicated to enhancing communication and collaboration between security organizations and security and resilience professionals across all jurisdictions and levels of government, and between the public and private sectors.

Today Lecky continues to work with the SPF and with the Government of Canada as a security and resilience expert. In addition, he is a Global Advisory Council Member of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network in Risk and Resilience.

Closer to home, Lecky has inspired one young woman in particular to follow in his footsteps and study at Algonquin College: his stepdaughter graduated with honours from Police Foundations in June, and has expressed interest in entering the security field. Lecky has high praise for the College, and believes there is a promising future for students whose interests draw them into one of the many kinds of jobs in the security field.

“It’s a fantastic field, and chief security officers know they’re getting a person of quality in an Algonquin College grad. There are so many opportunities open today: state and non-state actors are changing the complexity of the environment, and that makes it all the more attractive to young people. Security is everyone’s responsibility and it doesn’t have a finish line. It’s something we are always going to have to work at.”