Name: Fern Abbott
Title: Director
Company: AFI Security Training Institute
Location: Metuchen, N.J.
Birth place and date: Brooklyn, N.Y., November 23
Family: I'm "Auntie Fern" to generations of children
College: John Jay College of Criminal Justice
First job outside of security: Receptionist at my Karate school (in my teens)
First job in security: Administrative assistant to two VP investigators in a company that performed background investigations, specifically due diligence, where I ultimately learned how to conduct investigations.
What do you do now and what are you planning for the future? Expanding my businesses, Guardscreen (the Security Officer Employment History database) and AFI Security Training Institute. I'd like AFI to be the standard that other security officer training schools hope to measure up to, and for Guardscreen to be the resource that security companies use before starting their background investigations on the security officer candidates.
Hobbies: Reading, carpentry, putting things together
Favorite book: Too many to list; I go through 1 to 3 books per week.
Favorite movie: Just about anything with Tom Selleck in it
Person you admire most (outside of family): One of the best bosses I ever had, Mike Redmond, taught me a lot by his example.
Key to success: Be honest in your dealings with people and make your subordinates feel like part of your team.
If you had to choose another vocation what would it be? I combine security and teaching; what better vocation could there be? Tags: