Two leading U.S. organizations specializing in intelligence analysis and corporate security are pooling their resources as part of a new partnership designed to heighten security in corporate America.
The Security Executive Council (SEC), the leading research and advisory firm on corporate security risk mitigation, and the Ridge College of Intelligence Studies and Applied Sciences at Mercyhurst University, the oldest and largest intelligence studies program of its kind in academia, today announced the expansion of an existing relationship into a more strategic partnership.
“We have already had great results placing Mercyhurst interns into client projects and piloting interns for some of the SEC’s own research projects,” said Bob Hayes, managing director of the SEC. “This is a window of opportunity to bring two great organizations together in a synergistic partnership.”
Per the partnership, the SEC will connect its broad community of corporate security leaders with Mercyhurst’s students and faculty, creating opportunities for data analysis and intelligence studies internships, capstone research, and other projects jointly coordinated by the SEC and the university’s Center for Intelligence Research Analysis and Training (CIRAT).
According to the SEC, the COVID-19 pandemic has awakened many private-sector organizations to the need for corporate security intelligence analysis, cyber analysts, data science, and competitive intelligence. The Ridge College, named after the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, helps meet that need by developing intelligence, information management, and applied science practitioners for the 21st century work environment.
The SEC brings to the partnership its unique security-specific research and Collective Knowledge™, its subject matter experts – all former security executives – who will help manage and coordinate projects, and its reach to a dedicated community of security leaders and vetted service and product providers.
“The SEC has provided so many internship and project opportunities that have allowed our students to gain real-world applied experience that we wouldn’t have otherwise been exposed to,” said Brian Fuller, director of operations for Ridge College. “We look forward to the further growth of this partnership and to increasing its value for both the SEC and their clients and Mercyhurst University and our students.”
