Richard “Rich” Widup Jr., CPP, has been named president of ASIS International. A longtime ASIS member, Widup joined the organization in 2000 and joined the ASIS CIO Roundtable in 2008. He currently serves as senior director, corporate security, for Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma.

One of Widup’s main goals for his one-year term as ASIS president is to focus on building strong leaders through the organization’s training offerings.

“The security profession is evolving at an incredible pace and will continue to do so. ASIS is focused on developing and delivering the knowledge and professional development resources that security practitioners require to protect and secure people, property and information,” Widup said. “Beyond meeting potential rising gaps in knowledge and skill sets, my hope is to expand and strengthen ASIS offerings in the area of leadership and business management, which I view as critical to security practitioners achieving the greatest degree of success moving forward.”

Prior to joining Purdue Pharma, Widup served as director, Americas Region, for Pfizer Global Security, where his responsibilities included oversight of brand protection involving counterfeiting, tampering, theft and diversion of the company’s products. With Purdue Pharma, part of his role is to be responsible for those same kinds of brand protection matters. Widup also has 27 years’ experience in law enforcement as a special agent for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations.

During the 14 years he’s been an ASIS member, Widup has served in a number of volunteer leadership roles, including Transportation Security Council chair, council vice president and director of the ASIS Foundation board of trustees. He was first appointed to the ASIS board of directors in 2007 and has served successively as director, secretary, treasurer and president-elect. As president, he will serve a one-year term.