Hailed as the "global security industry’s highest honour" by CPS International Magazine, the GSIA Gold Shield Awards are claimed to be one of the most coveted awards in the global security industry. The GSIA Gold Shield Awards are given out bi-annually to persons that have made “outstanding contributions in the global security industry”, according to the awards jury.

Lennart Alexandrie brought the security trade magazine Detektor to the market back in 1989, at that time dedicated only to the Swedish market. In 2000 Detektor International, a pan-European edition was launched. In 2001, the Swedish edition was transformed into a tri-lingual (Swedish, Danish and Norwegian) Scandinavian edition. Before that, in 1998, Ar Media introduced SecurityWorldHotel.com - the first online portal with daily news for and about the security industry, ,covering the global security market as well as the local markets of North America, Middle East, UK and the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway and Denmark). In 2001 Ar Media International partnered with the International Stockholm Fair to launch the successful Sectech events, held bi-annually in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. After that Ar Media has launched the end user oriented website and tabloid paper SecurityUser.com, currently serving the markets in Sweden and Denmark. This was, in 2011, followed by the launch of the bi-annual exhibition SecurityUser Expo in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

“Lennart Alexandrie has been a pioneer in promoting security in Europe since the late 80s. It is very rare that someone remains in the business for so many years. His dedication to the good of the security industry is memorable. That's why we nominated him for the award”, stated Michael Yang, Director of GSIA, and VP of Shenzhen Security & Protection Industry Association, before the prize ceremony took place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel where more than 1500 attendees had gathered to witness the event.

12 winners from 50 nominees

Richard Chace, former CEO and Executive Director of Security Industry Association in the USA (2000 – 2011) and now chairman of the GSIA, explained that the GSIA Gold Shield Award is an industry gold standard award that recognises significant contributions that enrich the global security industry.

“The Awards Committee had the very difficult task of choosing just 12 nominees out of a slate of 50 outstanding candidates. All twelve award winners have histories of statesmanship in the global security industry. This award is a testament to their professional achievements, leadership ability, knowledge, ingenuity, and legendary contributions in the development of the global security industry” concluded Richard Chace.

“I feel grateful, honoured and very proud to get the GSIA Gold Shield Award. It was a total surprise to me. However, the award should be shared with all individuals in the AR Media team who have achieved outstanding work to bring the very best quality to the security market throughout the years”, commented Lennart Alexandrie happily in conjunction with the prize ceremony.

All 12 winners of of the GSIA Gold Shield Awards 2013

This year’s GSIA Gold Shield Award winners for outstanding contributions to the global security industry are: Jincai Yang, Chairman, Shenzhen Security and Protection Industry Association – SSPIA (China), GB Singh, Managing Director, 1st Academy of Security Science Education Training (India). Lennart Alexandrie, CEO, AR Media International AB (Sweden), David Tobin, Vice President of International Sales, Reed Exhibitions (USA) , Selma Crusco Migliori, President Associação Brasileira das Empresas de Sistemas Eletrônicos de Segurança - ABESE (Brazil) SK Hong, Chairman, KFairs (Korea), Chaowu Chen,Deputy Director – Researcher, The First Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security PRC (China), Ricardo Lerner, Vice-President, Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo – FIESP (Brazil) , Pedro Durate, Vice-President of Latin America, Samsung - Techwin (USA), Weidong Zhai,President, Shenzhen ZNV Technology (China) Tam Hulusi, Senior Vice-President, HID Global (USA) , David Meganck, Founder and COO, Acsys Technologies (China).