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Recognizing Those Who Shaped the Security Profession
Legends
The Life Safety Alliance (LSA) Legends Program is a paramount distinction honoring individuals whose contributions fundamentally shaped the security industry across its full spectrum. This includes global impact within physical security, life safety, investigations, intelligence, business continuity, emergency management, loss prevention, and cybersecurity.
This recognition is reserved for those whose work did not simply advance their discipline but altered the collective direction of the profession. A Life Safety Alliance Legend is someone whose influence redefined how organizations and practitioners conceptualize risk, protection, and resilience. Their legacy is evident in the standards, systems, institutions, and professional norms that continue to guide security and life safety practice long after their involvement ended.
This program exists to preserve and formally recognize those whose impact became part of the profession’s permanent foundation.
Selection and Recognition
Legends are selected through a disciplined, structured process grounded in peer accountability, professional rigor, and historical significance. Nominees must satisfy six foundational criteria addressing thought leadership, enduring influence, professional integrity, institutional legacy, leadership continuity, and sustained contribution to the field.
After nomination and confirmation that all six foundational criteria have been met, candidates enter the most advanced stage of evaluation. They are reviewed and voted on by the prior year’s Top 40 Thought Leaders in Security and Life Safety, the individuals actively shaping the forward direction of the profession. In this role, they serve as stewards of its lineage, formally acknowledging those whose legacies established the practices, disciplines, and structures that continue to define how the industry protects organizations and their people around the world.
LSA applies this level of scrutiny deliberately. The Legends designation is not awarded for prominence or visibility alone. It is reserved for individuals whose work has indelibly shaped the profession at a structural level and set the conditions upon which future progress now rests. Nominees must demonstrate impact so clear and sustained that recognition becomes a matter of record, not opinion.
Approval therefore requires extraordinary consensus. A minimum seventy-five percent threshold is enforced to ensure that only those whose legacy is historically definitive are elevated to Life Safety Alliance Legend status.
Inductees are recognized as part of an annual class announced each January. Each Legend is preserved within the official historical record of the Life Safety Alliance as a figure whose influence continues to guide the profession across generations.
FAQ
Does a person need to be retired to be considered for the LSA Legends Program?
No. A Legend is defined by the impact and legacy of their work, not by their current employment status. While a legacy may be more evident after a person steps away from active roles, many individuals create enduring influence while
still serving in the profession.
Does the LSA consider posthumous awards for the LSA Legends Program?
Yes. Some of the most significant contributors to our fields are no longer with us, and their work continues to shape the profession. Posthumous nominations are welcomed and will be evaluated with the same focus on lasting legacy and
influence.
Who can submit a nomination?
Nominations may be submitted by security professionals from any field of the security industry, academic or research partners, and members of the broader LSA community. Self-nominations will not be considered.
Is the Legends Program limited to security and life safety practitioners in the United States?
No. The program recognizes global contributors whose work shaped the profession internationally.
Can teams or organizations be nominated?
No. The Legends Program recognizes individuals whose personal contributions created lasting influence.
Does a nominee need to have held a senior title?
No. The Legends Program recognizes achievement, not job titles. Influence, advancement of the profession, and lasting impact are the defining factors.
Nominate a Legend
Know an individual whose work permanently reshaped the security and life safety profession?
Nominations are accepted annually and require a concise description of the nominee’s defining contribution and their lasting significance. All submissions are reviewed by the Legends Committee and evaluated through the formal selection process.