Don Hubbard deploys power of education worldwide for PricewaterhouseCoopers

Sep 1, 2000 12:00 PM, KATE HENRY

Using education, awareness and ingenuity, Don Hubbard has successfully expanded the security program at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Stamford, Conn.

When the mega accounting and consulting firm was formed from the merger of Coopers & Lybrand and PriceWaterhouse, it was Hubbard, formerly security director for Coopers & Lybrand, who was tapped to pioneer the position of global security director. "Creating the Global Security Department and getting broad acceptance of the program into our culture have probably been our greatest achievements so far," he says. He adds that because PricewaterhouseCoopers is a partnership, not a corporation, things are accomplished somewhat differently. "Things get done not because of a mandate from a CEO, but through friendly persuasion and demonstrable results," he explains. Elements of the security program include, but are not limited to: personnel security, information security, employment screening, internal and external investigations, development of a business continuation plan, and physical security.

PricewaterhouseCoopers categorizes its holdings into three geographical theaters - the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region, and Europe, the middle East and Africa. The company employs some 155,000 people in 200 countries, and Hubbard is ultimately responsible for their security and safety. He oversees and establishes security policy, which is implemented by carefully selected security managers. "With so much going on here, my management philosophy has been to hire a small, very good staff, pay them well, give them broad guidelines, support them, and turn them loose," he explains. "And the productivity around here has been truly remarkable."

Security staff members say they are thankful to Hubbard for encouraging them to excel both professionally and personally. Several of his staffers have pursued undergraduate and graduate degrees during their tenures with the company, and they credit Hubbard with giving them not only the confidence to do so, but also the flexibility needed to successfully reach their goals.

"Everything I give to my staff by way of encouragement comes back for the betterment of the department," says Hubbard. He points out that people are the true key to anyone's success.

Accordingly, he adds that physical security, though critical, comprises a relatively small portion of the security program at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where "security is everyone's responsibility." To promote that maxim, Hubbard oversaw the production of a security awareness video, which has been recognized nationally with an Award of Distinction from the Communicator Awards.

"Operating under the theory that most people, when told they will be shown a security video, would take the opportunity to nod off, we hired scriptwriters and professional actors for the project, and used some humor where appropriate," he explains. The video shows a "mythical bad guy" obtaining access to a PricewaterhouseCoopers office by piggybacking on an employee's access card, and all the things that can then go wrong. The video is used throughout the Americas, and is currently being translated into five languages. Hubbard points out that the support provided by the chairman of the company, featured first on the video, and by the chief operating officer, featured at the conclusion, have been important to its acceptance.

Raising awareness of workplace violence company-wide is another of Hubbard's standout accomplishments. "When I came to this very professional accounting and consulting firm, I made a wrong assumption," he explains. "I did not think we would have issues of workplace violence, but experience has shown just the opposite: All the problems in our larger society are now in the workplace." His solution was to create a training program for a range of firm employees that educates and provides a plan of action in the event of an incident. "There was an incident at another Connecticut company recently where a soon-to-be-terminated employee killed several people," he says. "On the news, you saw the obligatory person in the parking lot wringing his hands and saying they just did not see it coming. But the signs are always there, and those are what we train our people to recognize."

Hubbard does not believe that people should be "managed," but led, by example. He was active in encouraging the firm to start a formal ethics committee on which he serves, that promotes the idea that no one is alone. "We coach people how to perform ethically and how to take advantage of consultation," he explains. "If you do not feel comfortable doing something, then it is probably not the right thing to do, but there are always other people to consult about it. We set up a toll-free hotline for just that purpose." According to Hubbard, the security department functions as the investigative component of an accompanying ethical awareness program, consulting on matters such as drug or alcohol abuse.

To Hubbard, education is of paramount importance. His department utilizes the training services of PricewaterhouseCoppers' Learning and Education group, which, he says, offers courses on virtually any topic one can think of to help the workplace run better. In his community, he is an adjunct professor in the justice and law administration department at Western Connecticut State University. "I do not teach classes for the money," he says. "I do it because I love these kids and want to help them. I look in that classroom and I see myself when I was 18. Had I not had the opportunity to attend Wake Forest University as a kid, I would probably be working on an assembly line somewhere and be very unhappy."

Hubbard earned his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest and holds graduate degrees from Coppin State College and the University of Baltimore. He is a member of the International Security Management Association (ISMA), the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) where he serves on the white-collar crime committee, the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, and is a certified fraud examiner. His background includes service in the military police of the U.S. Army, nine years as a special agent for the FBI, and executive security posts with corporations including Playboy Enterprises and TWA, which was free of catastrophic incident under his direction, he points out.

In his community, Hubbard and his wife are enthusiastic supporters of the Salvation Army's Adopt-a-Family program, through which they anonymously provide for a family in need every Christmas. "We have been participating in the program since 1991, and recently, my lovely wife was featured in a front page newspaper article on the program, and before we knew it, we had school children and others calling up, wanting to know how to participate, which has been wonderful."

Looking ahead, Hubbard says his biggest professional goal is to expand the Global Security Department's role in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "I emphasize to my department that every single person at PriceWaterhouseCoopers is our client. I tell them to call the client back today, or pretty soon someone else will," he says. His personal goal for the coming year is to learn and master the French language, taking the view that "the world is an increasingly smaller place."

In their leisure time, Hubbard and his wife take golf lessons together, and enjoy vacations that involve golfing, unwinding and relaxing.

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