As the Chief Security Officer and Chief Information Security Officer for The City of Calgary, Owen Key’s favorite part of working in the government sector is the variety of his work. “I’ve also worked for both the police service in New Zealand and the private sector here in Canada, and the variety of work extends from looking after water and waste water treatment plants to the full transit system we have here,” Key says. “We have roads, golf courses, community-enabled services, including youth probation, recreation centers and arenas. You name it, we do it.”
Calgary’s corporate security mission statement has two parts; to protect the assets of The City of Calgary and to assist other business units in providing solutions for public safety, says Key. “We don’t just look after internal assets anymore. Now we actually run and monitor all the cameras in the downtown core on behalf of the Calgary Police Service,” he says.