IFSEC International – a European security industry event celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year – has announced its top 40 people in the Security and Fire agencies. The top 10 have taken the industry, the Internet and even the world by storm:

10: Nick Buckles, G4S CEO

Despite struggles with staffing the London Olympics and appearances in front of the Commons Home Office Select Committee, Mr. Buckles is head of one of the biggest security companies in the world,IFSEC reports. His leadership, since 2005, saw G4S crow to become the world’s third-largest private employer after Wal-Mart and Foxconn with revenues in excess of £7.5 billion.

9: Bruce Schneier, BT Managed Security Solutions

Mr. Schneier founded the company that became BT Managed Security Solutions, of which he remains chief security technology officer, the article states. He writes a blog, Schneier on Security, regularly writes columns for newspapers, and has authored a number of books, including Applied Cryptography. He is also one of the few members of this list to have his own Internet meme: Schneier Facts.

8: Eduard Emde, 2012 president of ASIS International

The first non-U.S. president of the 38,000-member organization led ASIS along the dual paths of traditional security management and information security. Under Mr. Emde, ASIS now welcomes chief information officers alongside security professionals.

7: Alf Goransson, Securitas president and CEO

The sheer number of nominations sent in for the CEO and president of Securitas, one of the world’s biggest security services providers with more than 300,000 employees. Mr. Goransson masterminded the 2010 takeover of Reliance Security to make them the second biggest security company in the UK, IFSEC reports.

6: Keith Bloodworth, CNL Software CEO

Despite the industry’s conflicting opinions on PSIM, CNL Software’s Mr. Bloodworth is shaping the integration technology and his vision of a connected and intelligent physical security has inspired thorse around him to build and present PSIM as an innovative and useful technology idea, the list reports. He was also one of the co-founders of Axis Communications.

5: Alexander Fernandes, Avigilon CEO

Under Mr. Fernandes’s vision, the Vancouver-based 2004 startup has grown into a major technology business. After leading a successful IPO in November 2011, Avigilon’s stock has risen by more than 250 percent.

4: Peter Hawksworth, Siemens security products CEO

Working to turn Siemens security products division into a profitable enterprise, Mr. Hawksworth saw the company focus less on producing simply market-leading products, but on creating complete security systems, including intelligent buildings and integrated thinking, IFSEC notes. Mr. Hawksworth was the first to introduce leasing options for security surveillance systems to allow end users to pay over a five-year period.

3: Per Bjorkdahl, ONVIF chairman

Mr. Bjorkdahl is new chairman of the video surveillance standards group, which was founded by Axis, Sony and Bosch Security Systems. With an unprecedented 438 member organizations, ONVIF is concentrating on improvements in their access control standards and video storage.

2: Mike Howard, Microsoft chief security officer

With 700 facilities around the world employing more than 90,000 people, Mr. Howard is in overall charge of everyone that keeps Microsoft – including data and R&D facilities – secure. He leads company-wide discussions about the importance of both physical and cyber security, which led security to be seen as an integral part of the business’s success.

1: Martin Gren, Axis Communications

Mr. Gren has been at the forefront of the IP camera revolution. In 1996, he helped invent the world’s first network camera. Axis is considered to be the second largest supplier of video encoders.