Gina Lindsay-Crawford has been announced by the organisers of Women in Security Awards Aotearoa (WiSAA) 2023-24 as the winner of the ‘Securing organisations and infrastructure’ category for her role as Manager of Client Services at FIRST Security.
Security guarding and patrols leader Gina Lindsay-Crawford joins the winners of seven other categories across defence, law enforcement, government, and the private and community sectors, as a 2023-24 WiSAA recipient.
Ms Lindsay-Crawford, the award’s only recipient from the private sector, took out the ‘Securing organisations and infrastructure’ category.
This category recognises a professional who has through their commitment, capability, professionalism, innovation, and/or leadership made a significant contribution to the security of an organisation or critical infrastructure asset. The category requires that the organisation or asset is essential to the functioning of Aotearoa New Zealand’s society or the economy or to the safety of its citizens.
Ms Lindsay-Crawford’s Category Winner citation reads:
Client Services Manager Gina Lindsay-Crawford is recognised for implementing a range of initiatives that have improved the security posture of several nationally significant customer organisations across a range of critical sectors, including financial services, communications, and local and national government.
Ms Lindsay-Crawford’s engagement style and innovative solutions focus have been identified by several FIRST Security customer organisations as having driven positive security outcomes. These include tailored customer-specific training packages, as well as an online ordering system for the booking of specialised Security Officers in response to concerns over the safety of a customer’s field teams.
During the 2023 Auckland floods, Ms Lindsay-Crawford took charge of a significant local government contract, successfully managing a large guard force at very short notice to cordon off flood-damaged suburbs, ensuring that her staff were safe and equipped to protect the community.
The Women in Security Awards Aotearoa (WiSAA) initiative was established in 2020 to promote the role of women in sectors where they are still significantly under-represented, and to recognise women who are advancing Aotearoa New Zealand’s security, risk and resilience sectors.
Nominees must be women, or identify as women, with more than three years of experience in any occupation within the defence, law enforcement, physical security, personnel security, information security, national security, cybersecurity, investigations, intelligence, risk management, emergency management or resilience domains, and be actively practising either in Aotearoa New Zealand or overseas in the interests of New Zealand’s security.
Nominations for the 2023-24 awards were received from across the government, military, law enforcement, private, and community sectors.
Winners were announced via the Defsec New Zealand website on 05 June. It is anticipated that a call for nominations for the 2024-25 awards will be made in late 2024 with winners to be announced in time to be celebrated on International Women’s Day (08 March) 2025.
