Women in Security Leadership Panel: The Power of Sponsorship and Allyship
Women leaders in security share their candid career journeys, highlighting the pivotal role that sponsorship and allyship have played in their professional growth. This session explores the people who made a difference by actively advocating for their success—opening doors, amplifying voices and challenging barriers along the way.
Through real-world stories and practical insights, speakers will examine why these relationships are so impactful for advancing women’s representation in leadership roles and what separates sponsorship from mentorship. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to be an effective mentor, sponsor or ally within their own organization, along with actionable strategies to support talent, drive equity and build stronger, more inclusive leadership pipelines in the security industry.
Speakers
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Alaina MeyerPresident
scDataComAlaina Meyer is owner and president of scDataCom, a member of the PSA Network. Recognized nationally as an expert in physical and electronic security systems, scDataCom specializes in large organizations with complex requirements. The organization is headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, and serves large commercial customers within the local area, as well as public agencies across the nation.
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Karen FrankManaging Director and Head of Firm Safety and Security Services
KPMG USKaren Frank is the managing director and head of firm safety and security services at KPMG, where she leads the safety and security components focused on monitoring and response, personnel and insider risk services, converged threat management and safety and physical security operations inclusive of resiliency. This includes service offerings such as key personnel and event security, threat assessment and monitoring, insider threat and security risk, supporting personnel investigations, client due-diligence reviews, third-party and supply chain security programs, travel security, safety program governance and manmade and natural disaster crisis management.
Frank brings a mix of executive leadership experience in physical and logical domains of enterprise security, risk management, justice administration, law enforcement, global IT infrastructure and service delivery built over 25+ years. Prior to KPMG, she served as the chief security officer for an aerospace and defense organization and in other focal point corporate roles where she developed, implemented and managed risk management systems, services, and solutions that strengthened the enterprise security of Fortune 100 companies.
Frank has a Bachelor of Science in law enforcement and justice administration from Western Illinois University and a Master of Business from Illinois State University. She is a 6Sigma Black Belt, a Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). Frank is actively engaged in the advancement of the security industry at large and serves on multiple professional and community service engagements, including the global boards for the U.S. Department of State’s OSAC and The Security Foundation.
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Kim FearnoRegional Vice President
Convergint -
Emy JohnsonVice President and Chief Security Officer, Security and Business Continuity
Allina Health -
Dawanna S. WittSheriff
Hennepin County, MinnesotaDawanna S. Witt was sworn in as Hennepin County sheriff on Jan. 3, 2023. She is the first woman and person of color to hold the office. In her first two years, Witt has created a new Auto Theft Unit to combat historic high numbers, reinstated the DARE program to build relationships with the community at a young age, prioritized providing Narcan trainings and free Narcan to fight the growing opioid crisis and launched a jail data dashboard for transparency inside the Adult Detention Center, and she continues to advocate for law enforcement with county officials.
Sheriff Witt has been in law enforcement for more than two decades. She started her career in 2000 as a detention deputy in Hennepin County. In 2004, she became a licensed peace officer and was hired by the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office. There, Witt worked many roles including bailiff, transport, school resource officer, detective, crisis negotiator, recruitment coordinator, diversity and inclusion coordinator and more. She was the first woman in the agency’s history to become a captain. In 2019, Witt returned to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office to take charge of the agency’s largest bureau, Adult Detention and Court Services, and was elected as sheriff in 2022. She holds undergraduate degrees in chemical dependency and family therapy and police science and dual master’s degrees in public safety administration and management. Witt is an adjunct professor at Inver Hills Community College, teaching juvenile justice and American corrections.