The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the leading organisation for security professionals working in higher and further education worldwide, has announced its new chair and vice chair, who take up their positions in April 2025.
Current Vice Chair Geoff Brown, head of community safety and campus security at the University of Leeds, will become the AUCSO chair, replacing Ollie Curran, who is stepping down after serving in this role for two years.
After retiring from the police, Geoff worked in Iraq as a security consultant for oil company Heritage Energy Middle East, managing the logistics of local national and expat employees in search for new oil deposits. Geoff has been an AUCSO executive board member since 2017 and vice chair since 2023.
Current AUCSO member Gary Stephen, head of security and logistics at the University of Glasgow, will take over from Geoff as vice chair. After 16 years in law enforcement, Gary changed career paths and moved into the security sector as a security cleared security manager, securing the Whitehall Estate. Gary then returned to Scotland, where he worked as a senior operations manager for MITIE and for HFD Group, Scotland’s leading commercial property company. Gary held the role of AUCOS’s regional chair for Scotland from 2022 until 2024 and is now chair of the special interest group for CONTEST.
“We are delighted to welcome Geoff and Gary to their new roles as chair and vice chair on the executive committee and look forward to collaborating with them and all our executive committee members as we drive the organisation forward,” said AUSCO COO Julie Barker.
