In his inaugural address to the BSIA’s members at the Association’s Annual Luncheon, Zeidler stressed the importance of “absolute clarity” in setting the long-term direction of the organisation against a challenging backdrop of a changing regulatory and market environment.
Reflecting on the past two years, Zeidler acknowledged the achievements of his predecessors – among them Julie Kenny CBE DL and Stuart Lowden – and pledged to build upon their successes:
Speaking about the future, the new chairman described police reform and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as the two most imminent challenges for the UK’s private security sector.
“In these tough economic times we are all under pressure to demonstrate a return on our costs and investments, and our counterparts in the public sector are feeling this pressure even more acutely. Police forces across the country are beginning to explore different approaches to delivering a critical public service and, in recent months, many forces have engaged with the private sector to investigate innovative ways of partnering to save cost and enhance service without compromise to their responsibilities for core policing.”
Finally, Zeidler called for renewed commitment to Association activities and widespread participation in establishing how a proactive BSIA can best help its members and support the industry:
“The results of our recent members’ survey show membership is of greatest benefit to those who get involved, and the reason is simple. There’s a tremendous amount going on in the BSIA, and it’s guided and driven by those who actively participate. I look forward to working out how best to get even more members engaged, and ensure that the BSIA remains relevant and representative while becoming even more effective for all current and future members.
Zeidler will serve as BSIA chairman for a two-year period and be supported in the first year by Julie Kenny vice-chairman.
CV for the new BSIA chairman
Zeidler studied Manufacturing Engineering at Cambridge University and then joined the London office of the strategic consulting company Bain & Co as an associate consultant.
In 1988 he moved to the Corporate Finance Department of Robert Fleming & Co where he built the Business Development Team, becoming a director in 1992 and specialising in providing salient advice to global companies in the defence, industry and technology sectors.
In 1997 Zeidler joined Bowthorpe plc as the director of business development, leading the transformation of the business into a focused communications group through a series of acquisitions. The company was renamed Spirent plc and, in 2000, Zeidler moved to an operational role as president of the Europe and Wireless Divisions which achieved significant organic growth through the market downturn.
He left the company in 2005 and undertook interim roles at organisations including De La Rue before being appointed the commercial director for the Government-owned Forensic Science Service in 2006. He worked closely with the police and Home Office on the development of both the company and the commercialisation of the forensic services market.
In September 2008, Zeidler was appointed country president of Securitas in the UK and Ireland. The operation is part of Securitas AB, the GB pound 6 billion Swedish world leader in security.
Following a re-invigoration of the core business, Zeidler presided over the acquisitions of Reliance in September 2010 and Chubb in January 2011 to create the UK’s second largest security guarding business.
Zeidler is a member of the Security Industry Authority’s Strategic Advisory Committee and the RISC Council.