From March 1999 to March 2020 – over more than two decades, that is – former Guilford County Security Director Jeff Fowler served in the role as the head of security for the county. The Security Department was formed in 1987, and there were only two directors before Fowler. So, from 1987 to 2020, over a 33-year period – there were only three security directors. Since 2020, there has been much faster turnover at that job than before, and the county has had several security directors who only held the job for a very short period.

After a long selection process, the county has now named a new security director that county officials hope will be protecting county buildings, employees and commissioners for a long time to come. Amanda Vutsinas (pictured above) has been chosen to fill that position.

She’ll start that new job on Monday, Nov. 21.

According to information that Guilford County provided the Rhino Times, Vutsinas has more than 16 years’ experience in the security field, where she’s specialized in “investigations, threat management, intelligence analysis, and workplace and domestic violence prevention.”

Vutsinas earned a Master of Public Administration Degree with a concentration in Public Leadership and Management, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Forensics and Criminal Justice Studies from Florida Gulf Coast University – the school very well known for its men’s basketball team’s utterly amazing run in the 2013 NCAA basketball tournament, when the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, a #15 seed, defeated #2 seed Georgetown and then became the first 15th seed ever to advance to the Sweet 16.

Vutsinas has worked in both the private and public sector and in a broad range of security jobs including corrections and energy security. Most recently, she served as the safety and security program manager for GuideWell – a large, Florida-based health solutions company.

According to the information provided by the county, over her career in security, Vutsinas has “developed multiple successful physical security programs, both foreign and domestic, conducted internal and external investigations, and managed threat incidents and business continuity operations.”

In addition, she specializes in “building cross-functional relationships and emergency/disaster management” and she has “successfully implemented a corporate security threat management program which included analyzing, monitoring and managing threats, conducting investigations, and policy/procedure development.”

Vutsinas holds a Certified Protection Professional certification from ASIS International and has served as the Certification Chairperson and the Law Enforcement Liaison Co-Chair for ASIS International's North Florida Chapter.

She’s a member of InfraGard, which is a partnership between the FBI and the private sector meant to help protect America’s critical infrastructure.

In addition, she holds certifications from the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Infrastructure Protection, OSHA and the North American Center for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response.

In the past, when Guilford County has hired a security director, they were never smiling in their headshots – perhaps because they wanted to come off as very scary and intimidating. However, Vutsinas, who exhibits a very warm smile in her headshot, obviously isn’t following in that security director scary-headshot tradition.

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