Life Safety Alliance Announces 2026 Top 40 Global Thought Leaders

MEDFORD, N.J. — The Life Safety Alliance (LSA) today unveiled its annual list of the Top 40 Global Thought Leaders in Security and Life Safety. Now in its third year, the recognition continues to refine its methodology for identifying individuals shaping the industry’s future. A closely contested race for the final spot on this year’s list ended in a tie, pushing the number to 41 honorees. The 2026 honorees “span the breadth of the industry, from physical security and life safety to cybersecurity, risk and crisis management and occupational health and safety,” according to the alliance announcement. This year’s list includes practitioners, technology and service providers, researchers and academics from 13 countries across six continents. The 2026 scoring criteria added two new categories: Expert Witness, recognizing individuals called upon to provide specialized testimony in litigation, insurance or investigations; and Legislative & Regulatory Testimony, for those who influence policy through formal testimony before legislative bodies, regulatory agencies or standards organizations. Who is in the Life Safety Alliance Thought Leaders Top 40? The Class of 2026 includes 13 three-time honorees, 14 returning for their second appearance and 14 new honorees. Nineteen of the 41 honorees for 2026 are from countries outside the United States and four of those — Austria, India, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay — appear on the list for the first time. “Introducing new categories for 2026 enabled us to identify types of influence previously overlooked,” says Andrew Thorburn, enterprise security & risk manager at Wesco Anixter in New Zealand, who led candidate outreach on behalf of the committee and helped refine the scoring criteria for this year’s field. “We will keep refining these categories for the program to make sure we include the most important efforts shaping our industry,” he says. Final scores for this year’s period, May 1, 2025, through April 30, 2026, were calculated using a proprietary algorithm that weighs factors such as conference speaking engagements, webinar and podcast appearances, authored articles and mentions, academic instruction, awards and honors, board positions and volunteer leadership. LSA reviewed the credentials of hundreds of professionals across the life safety and security fields and invited more than 200 candidates identified as “leading voices in the industry” to submit evidence supporting their nominations. “A tie at the very bottom of the list tells you everything about how competitive this recognition has become,” said Becky Lane, CEO of the Life Safety Alliance. “Rather than artificially break the tie, we chose to honor both candidates, and I think that decision reflects the spirit of this program. “What strikes me every year is how differently thought leadership can look. Some of our honorees have built decades of visibility in this industry, while others are only now stepping into that role. Both belong on this list,” she says. LSA 2026 Top 40 Global Thought Leaders in Security and Life Safety (alphabetical order): Prof. Obadare Peter Adewale, Digital Encode Limited, founder and chief visionary officer (Nigeria) Fayadh Alenezi, Jouf University, professor and consultant (Saudi Arabia) Dr. Anmol Agarwal, Nokia, security product manager (United States) Dr. Arian Avila, Capital One, vice president of technology & security operations (United States) Farah Benis, FFA Security Group, managing director (United Kingdom) Garry Bergin, Manguard Plus, commercial director & security consultant (Ireland) Bonnie Butlin, Security Partners’ Forum, executive director (Canada) Eric Sean Clay, FMOL Health, vice president (United States) Shawnee Delaney, Vaillance Group, chief executive officer (United States) Jane Frankland MBE, KnewStart Limited, chief executive officer (United Kingdom) Michael Gips, Kroll, managing director (United States) Alex Goldenberg, Silent Index, founder (United States) Yolanda (YoYo) Hamblen, The Security Circle Podcast / IFPO (United Kingdom) Kasia Hanson, Alcatraz, vice president (United States) Tannu Jiwnani, Microsoft, principal security engineer (United States) Eduardo Jany, LinkedIn, chief security officer (United States) James Junkin, Mariner-Gulf Consulting & Services, chief executive officer (United States) Marcel Lehner, Wiener Stadtwerke GmbH, chief security officer (Austria) Kirk MacDowell, MacGuard Security Advisors, founder & CEO (United States) Bruce McIndoe, McIndoe Risk Advisory LLC, president (United States) Don Morrow, HighlandTech, founder & CEO (United States) Madhuri Nandi, Nuvei (Till Payments) / Australian Women in Security (AWSN) board chairperson, chief information security officer (Australia) Drew Neckar, COSECURE Enterprise Risk Solutions, principal consultant (United States) Fredrik Nilsson, Axis Communications, vice president, Americas (United States/Sweden) Dr. Fene Osakwe, EC Council, advisory board member (penetration testing) (United Kingdom) Kevin Palacios, HELPS LatAm, chief executive officer (Ecuador) Henrik Parkkinen, HenrikParkkinen.com, cybersecurity leader (Sweden) Elizabeth Parks, Parks Associates, president & chief marketing officer (United States) Kavya Pearlman, XRSI, founder & CEO (United States) Jon Polly, ProTecht Solutions Partners, chief solutions officer (United States) Matthew Porcelli, Harvard Protection, security manager (United States) Paul Sarnese, Secured & Prepared Consulting, owner (United States) Dr. Gavriel Schneider, Risk 2 Solution / Institute of Presilience, group managing director and chairman/founder (Australia) Bruce Schneier, Inrupt, chief of security architecture (United States) Vandana Verma Sehgal, Snyk, security leader (India) Jeffrey A. Slotnick, Setracon Enterprise Security Risk Management Services, president (United States) Confidence Staveley, CyberSafe Foundation, founder (United States/Africa) Christopher Stitt, CrisisLead, chief executive officer (United States) Scott Taylor, Praesidium, managing director (Australia) Fernando Vaccotti, FV Consulting, consultor (Uruguay) Alfredo Yuncoza, Smart Management C.A., president (Venezuela) The post Life Safety Alliance Announces 2026 Top 40 Global Thought Leaders appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.