The Life Safety Alliance (LSA), an organization committed to improving global life safety and security through best practices, networking and collaborations, announced the inaugural class of the Life Safety Alliance Legends Program, formally establishing a recognition within the global security and life safety profession.

The Legends Program was created to define, preserve and uphold the profession’s most enduring contributions. It acknowledges individuals whose contributions have significantly benefited their organizations or fields. These leaders helped shape the modern practice of security, safety and risk across sectors and generations. 

“From the outset, we wanted this program to reflect the full breadth of our profession,” said Michael Gips, president, Life Safety Alliance and co-chair, the Legends Committee. “We evaluated dozens of nominees across physical and cybersecurity, life safety, intelligence, loss prevention, resilience, governance, investigations and so on. Our goal is to recognize those whose influence transcended any single role or sector.”

The selection of the inaugural class was thorough and carefully considered. Nominees were assessed using a structured process based on professional judgment, historical importance and long-lasting, influential contributions to the field. From an accomplished pool spanning disciplines, sectors and geographies, only a select group met the threshold required for elevation to Legends status.

“We set out to establish the measure of a Legend, which is an order of magnitude above the top, the best or even the most popular,” said Jonathan Perillo, co-chair, the Legends Committee. “Legends are the few who turn the tide of theory or practice, whose stories are carried through generations, and whose efforts are frequently invoked to inspire greatness. To capture this, we abandoned traditional measures and instead collected what truly resonates as a Legend. I’m delighted to announce that we were successful in this pursuit across all fields of the security spectrum, and we are thrilled to announce our inaugural class of Legends.”

The Life Safety Alliance is honored to announce the Inaugural Life Safety Alliance Legends, listed alphabetically by last name: 

• Marene Allison, a barrier-breaking security executive and among the first women to graduate from West Point. She pioneered the integration of physical and cybersecurity leadership at Fortune 500 corporations, setting the model for converged security functions.
• Steve Bellovin, an Internet security pioneer who co-invented encrypted key exchange, password-authenticated key agreement methods, and coauthored the seminal Firewalls & Internet Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker, helping define the technical foundations of modern network defense.
• Jason Brown, a transformative corporate security leader who advanced enterprise-wide security strategy, operational resilience and executive engagement across global organizations.
• Russell J. Cancilla, a distinguished security executive and educator who elevated the professional stature of corporate security through leadership development, industry service and standards advancement.
• Tim Crowe, a criminologist instrumental in the development and global adoption of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), reshaping how the built environment reduces crime and enhances public safety.
• Sandi Davies, a driving force behind the professionalization of frontline security, she expanded education, certification and global engagement through her leadership of the International Foundation for Protection Officers.
• Whitfield Diffie, a co-creator of public-key cryptography, whose groundbreaking work on asymmetric encryption and secure key exchange fundamentally transformed global communications security and enabled modern digital commerce.
• Eduard Emde, a longtime international security leader and standards advocate who strengthened global collaboration, certification frameworks and professional governance within ASIS International and across the worldwide security community.
• Larry Fennelly, a prolific author and educator in physical security and CPTED whose publications and instruction shaped generations of practitioners and embedded environmental design principles into mainstream security practice. 
• Martin Gill, a criminologist, researcher, academic and longtime editor of Security Journal who elevated evidence-based scholarship and helped bridge research and real-world security practice.
• Godfried Hendriks, a global security strategist and certification champion who advanced international professional standards and strengthened cross-border collaboration within the security field.
• Sandra Jones, a respected public- and private-sector security leader who advanced professional standards, mentorship and the development of diverse leadership talent within the industry.
• Bonnie Michelman, a pioneering healthcare security executive who elevated hospital and campus safety into a strategic discipline and championed collaboration between public safety and private security.
• Ray O’Hara, one of the principal architects of Enterprise Security Risk Management
• (ESRM) and an ASIS President, he helped align security strategy with organizational objectives while advancing global standards and certification.
• Don W. Walker, an ASIS President and cofounder of the CSO Center who played a pivotal role in aligning corporate security with business leadership, strengthening executive skillsets and advancing professional standards and certification.

Collectively, these Legends represent the architects, stewards and standard-bearers of modern security and life-safety practice. Their influence spans physical security, cybersecurity, risk management, governance, research, education, intelligence and professional standards development.

The inaugural class also lays the foundation for the program’s future. Designed as an enduring institution rather than a one-time recognition, the Legends Program will continue to identify individuals whose careers demonstrate the same level of transformative and sustained impact.

“This first class establishes the standard,” Gips added. “In the years ahead, the program will continue to recognize those whose work has shaped, and will continue to shape, how our profession protects people, information, organizations and communities.”