Australian Senior Leadership Team

Renee Duffy is the Chief Financial Officer of Certis Security Australia.

With 17 years’ experience in the constantly changing and merging Australian media industry, Renee has held senior CFO leadership positions across the media sector with Fairfax Media, Nine Entertainment Corporation and Australian Community Media.

Renee is an integral member of the Australian Senior Leadership Team. Her appointment as CFO is a testament to Certis’ desire to advance, develop and create new ways of doing business in a digital age.

Renee holds a Bachelor of Business Accounting Law from Charles Sturt University, CPA member, Lean Six Sigma and Foundational Leadership from Melbourne Business School Executive Education.

Ying Loong Lee is Managing Director, Security Business at Certis Security Australia, he works closely with the operations team providing strategic leadership and guidance.

Ying Loong has extensive expertise in the development and implementation of advanced Ops-Tech solutions, facilitating a number of successful projects across Singapore and Australia, including one for Sydney Trains. He is a strong advocate for the role technology can play in modern security solutions, and his passion extends to the entire Certis Security Australia team.

Ying Loong is a gadget geek and loves interacting with new technologies, particularly if they help foster efficiencies among our customers’ operational needs. Ying Loong has a Master in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Imperial College in London, UK.

Christian Dorau is the General Manager, Sales and Marketing for Certis Security Australia. Christian is an accomplished leader with career highlights over 25 years from front-line to senior management leadership roles in North America, Europe and Australia.

Christian was formally the Sr. Director of Sales and Customer Service Europe and Africa for Fire Protection Products. He also held various leadership positions including Pacific Sales Director Tyco Fire and Security, Group Sales Director ADT North America and National Sales Manager Pentair Valves and Controls Australia. His experience ranges from all levels of sales structures and companywide program development responsibilities within physical security, electronic fire and security installation services, and product manufacturing sales.  He has successfully operated in multiple go to market structures such as program partners, leading large global region sales teams, and distribution networks.

His experience demonstrates a track record of leading results in high growth competitive markets. Key factors of success include organisational leadership development, senior talent acquisition, performance management, process development/implementation, organisational sales structure alignment, sales metric design and management, channel development and change management.

Yalda Assef is General Manager and Head of Aviation at Certis Security Australia, appointed August 2022.

A security leader with 22 years’ experience in the international security market, Yalda is adept at managing large teams and delivering tailored security solutions to both private and government sectors across Aviation, Healthcare, Transit, Education and Entertainment. She has a demonstrated ability to optimise strategy, navigate change and create new levels of success across the businesses she has managed. Yalda has led very large teams across multi-billion dollar companies through listening and understanding her clients challenges, process evaluation, training implementation and team empowerment to create a positive culture every step of the way. She has also led teams through major organisational changes such as mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcies and operational inconsistencies. Yalda also founded and managed Centerpoint Security in Los Angeles, CA a licensed private patrol operator, named after Centrepoint Tower in Sydney.

Yalda holds a Bachelor Arts in Linguistics and Master of Science in Criminal Justice with specialisation in Terrorism. Yalda was selected by Allied Universal to attend the Weatherhead Business School (Case Western University) for emerging leaders in Ohio, USA. She is currently pursuing additional studies in Law. In 2020, Yalda was accepted into the Reserve Program of Los Angeles Police Department. She also holds instructor certifications in pepper spray, batons and handcuffing. Yalda has also held active roles in associations such as ASIS where she was the Chapter Chair for Los Angeles, CA.

Sam La Spina is General Manager, Human Resources, at Certis Security Australia. He’s a twenty-year veteran of the HR industry, and intuitively understands how to build organisational capability in large, complex and geographically diverse companies.

He’s worked in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Qatar supporting oil and gas industries, in addition to state government rail, power generation, commercial aviation, telecommunications and financial services sectors.

Sam’s strengths are diverse. He’s adept at delivering deep people and culture programs, as well as using analytics to improve employee engagement. Sam is an effective communicator and has the ability to influence all parts of the organisation through his HR strategies.

Before joining Certis Security Australia, Sam has held positions including senior HR Specialist at the Ministry of Development, Planning and Statistics, Doha, Qatar; HR Manager Asia Pacific at AGR, and Senior HR Advisor, State Rail Authority, NSW, Australia.

Sam holds a Master of Science, Human Resources Management and Development (International) from the University of Manchester, and a Bachelor of Business Administration, Management, from RMIT in Australia.

Tom Roche is Senior Advisor at Certis Security Australia. He has over 30 years of experience in the security industry, and has a vision to transform Certis Security Australia’s operations to become the #1 technology-led security services company in Australia.

In his thirty years in the industry, Tom has led the formation of the joint-venture Telstra SNP Security Monitoring (TSM) service, and was also a key architect in the sale of SNP to Certis, an effort which cemented SNP’s position as the leading security company in Australia.

Tom’s many industry recognitions include receiving the prestigious Australian Security Medal, an award for an exceptional career and outstanding character within the security industry. He is also a dedicated supporter of the Smith Family Challenge, and completed his tenth challenge in 2019. Overall, the Challenge raised $5 million to support disadvantaged Australians.

Tom has a Master’s Degree in Management from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and has also completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of Wollongong.