Michael Foyle and his security department are 'at your service' at Mellon Bank

Sep 1, 1997 12:00 PM, KATE DOHERTY

The corporate security division at Mellon Bank Corp., Pittsburgh, has a mission: to protect the assets of the corporation. Michael Foyle, director of corporate security, aggressively leads his staff on that mission. His department's motto is "at your service." "Trying to resolve problems efficiently is what we're all about," says Foyle. "We've developed a staff that operates that way: what's the problem, how do we fix it, fix it, then analyze how to prevent it from happening again."

A resourceful risk manager

Mellon Bank Corp., is a broad-based financial services company with a bank at its core. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Mellon's principal subsidiary is Mellon Bank, N.A., and its mutual fund business is The Dreyfus Corp. Financial security presents unique challenges. In late 1992 and early 1993, a few of Mellon Bank's retail offices fell victim to several armed, takeover-style robberies. Robbers would strike as a team, trying to get as much money as possible from a vault or from teller stations. In separate instances, two tellers were injured by a pair of bandits who escaped but were eventually arrested. "The security systems in place weren't preventing robbers from coming in the door," says Foyle. "They may know you have a security system, but they don't care."

Foyle, as a member of a newly formed security task force focused on keeping bandits out, fought back with a robbery suppression initiative that has since snared four robbers. The task force sought out new technology to supplement the measures in place and decided on access control units (ACUs), which were being used successfully in Puerto Rican banks. An ACU comprises two portals that work in conjunction with a metal detector: an ingress portal that has an interior ingress door and an exterior ingress door; and an exit portal that prevents people from coming in the exit side. A customer passes through the exterior ingress door and is screened by the metal detector, and, if successfully screened, is admitted through the interior ingress door and into the bank.

According to Foyle, the beauty of the system is being able to actually capture a bank robber in the portal. Built-in measures such as weight-sensitive floor mats ensure that only one person at a time can pass through, and the whole unit is bullet-resistant. To date, 24 ACUs have been installed in the bank's network of approximately 430 retail offices, and more are being added.

A man of vision Rob Ambrosini, a security specialist/safety officer on Foyle's staff, describes Foyle as having vision, initiative and an unparalleled work ethic. Among Foyle's other accomplishments at Mellon Bank: uniting fragmented regional security representatives into a corporate security department; and consolidating the alarm network and card access systems to allow 24-hour central monitoring of all locations-a multi-million-dollar enhancement project that took more than two years.

Says Foyle of the system's consolidation: "We hired a consultant to come in and study our system, which was old. We were buying other banks and were ending up with multiple sites with different systems. It was time to look at how we wanted to operate in a PC environment. We analyzed the situation and went to senior management with money-saving recommendations such as piggybacking on data lines. We in security had to understand the direction the bank was moving with its data, and present an enhancement that made sense."

A captain and motivator Foyle says his biggest challenge as a corporate security director is being proactive and "selling" the department to its customers. "We have to portray the security department as a partner. I think the way security used to run in a lot of banks was that it was in a basement and called upon only when needed. We have to sell ourselves, and assess and meet the needs of business groups which are ever changing in the financial industry."

Foyle holds a B.S. and M.S. in psychology, is past president of the Financial Security Officers Association of Western Pennsylvania and is a member of ASIS, the Western Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association and the National Association of Police Chiefs. He has been a security/law enforcement professional for 22 years, working first as an adult parole and probation officer for Allegheny County, and then for Mellon Bank, where he was hired as a special fraud control agent and later transferred to corporate security as a security specialist. He was quickly promoted to director of corporate security.

"He is a tremendous motivator who never fails to credit his staff for a job well done," says Mellon Bank security specialist Michael Mingey. Foyle encourages his staff to pursue professional affiliations, and, as a result, his staff consists of members of ASIS, the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators, and the Financial Security Officers Association. He also encourages his direct supports to undertake graduate study and to take the Certified Protection Professional and Certified Fraud Examiners examinations. He frequently nominates his associates for Mellon's Premier Achievement Awards in recognition of security accomplishments and enhancements.

When corporate security undertakes an investigation, it is a team effort in every sense, with Foyle as captain and motivator, says Ambrosini. Foyle's commitment to teamwork and to the power of knowledge is evident in his personal pursuits as well.

For eight years, he served as school director for the Brentwood School District. He is active in community sports, regularly participating in 5 and 10K races for charity, and he recently organized a soccer club for local youth. Involvement with his community and with his staff is important to Foyle.

"I'm not a hands-off manager," he says. "I like to do some of the things my staff does, and I'd like to do more. You've got to challenge your staff, because they're going to grow from it. The security officers at Mellon Bank are empowered to assess problems and make recommendations." Foyle says one of the most valuable things a security director can do is to keep an open mind-to new technology, new products and new ideas. He cautions against thinking your way is the only way.

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