I was introduced to the loss prevention industry in the early 1990s when I was an executive at Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations. As I learned more and more about the retail security industry, the more I admired the practitioners and understood just how competent, professional, and valuable they were to the retail business. That was where I first realized that there was not a business publication for loss prevention professionals.
When I left Pinkerton in early 2001, the idea of a magazine for LP professionals stayed with me. Coincidentally, Jim Lee approached me about that same time asking about joining his and Walter Palmer’s retail training and consulting firm.
During our discussions, I pitched the idea of starting a magazine. Three months later in June, we had produced and printed a prototype that we distributed at the 2001 National Retail Federation loss prevention conference held in Vancouver, Canada. The magazine was received enthusiastically, so we launched our premier edition in September 2001.
Now twenty-one years and 126 magazines later, we have achieved a great deal. We have given voice to LP professionals reaching into the C-suite. We have helped create a curriculum and certification program for loss prevention. We have provided solution providers with a direct means of marketing technology and services to retail buyers. We partnered with ORIS Media to launch a Europe magazine. All of this was accomplished in large part due to the support and participation of countless LP executives who provided content as well as distributed the magazines to their LP organizations.
In January of this year, the Loss Prevention Foundation who manages the certification program acquired the magazine as part of their commitment to educating the LP industry. Because the foundation is a not-for-profit organization run by a board of directors representing the industry, the magazine for the industry is now owned by the industry, solidifying its future going forward.
Speaking personally, I am extremely proud of what we’ve achieved. I’m proud of the role I was privileged to play these past twenty-one years. And now, it’s time to pass the torch to a new team to carry on and extend the success of the magazine.
As 2022 closes, so too does my full-time role in the magazine. The new year will begin a new chapter in my personal and professional life. I have a long list of things I want to accomplish going forward, not the least of which is joining my lovely wife, Cindy, in exploring retirement together.
While this will be my final column in the magazine, who knows, it may not be the last byline of mine you see in these pages. Whatever the future holds for me, the magazine will endure, which pleases me greatly. To the hundreds of women and men in the loss prevention industry I’ve gotten to know around the world, thank you for your support and friendship. The LP industry is one of a kind. Thank you for everything you’ve given me. I will always cherish it.