“Corporate security interacts with all the business units and we want them to know that we have better insight into who to call for help and say look I know we know we need to contact somebody so let’s contact security. It may be an HR issue or something somebody doesn’t know what to do with. It’ s not about thinking outside the box; it’s about thinking inside the circle of everyone in the company,” he says. “In corporate security we’re not just securing our facilities and employees and properties, we’re also securing the brand and that includes our employees and their families as well.”

That means Weir’s realm of responsibility will often extend beyond the immediate employee group of Direct Energy. Most people know Direct Energy from the services they provide to their homes. The company’s core businesses range from gas exploration and power generation to energy pricing and protection plans to a full line of energy-related services.

From a consumer point of view, most people may know Direct Energy because they have been approached by a door-to-door marketer selling Direct Energy products. These individuals are independent agents representing Direct Energy and not employees. To try and mitigate any risk, Weir decided the company would pay to have each one of them undergo a background check before knocking on any doors representing Direct Energy.

“It’s something we feel necessary for our customers for their protection — we don’t really advertise it. My job is to secure the brand so every marketer that comes to your door from Direct Energy to sell you a gas plan has had a criminal background check — not many companies do that. My job is not just to secure the company, but to secure the customers as well and in saying that, some may have a criminal record from years ago — perhaps possession of a narcotic — but are now in their 40s and is not relevant. With criminal background checks the thought process is they should be objective not subjective because there are a lot of things that change in people’s lives.”

Weir came to corporate security somewhat by chance. After the adoption of their son eight years ago, Weir and his wife, also a police officer in the fraud investigation unit, decided one of them should leave the job to pursue something different. He was with the Toronto Police Service for 17 years before joining Direct Energy in 2002.

“I was on Monster.ca one day looking up something for my wife and I saw there was a company looking for a Chief Security Officer for overall duties and I decided to throw my name in. I said I had been a police officer for 17 years in the Toronto area and if interested to call my cell,” recalls Weir.

 Five days later, six headhunters called him.

“I was happy on the police force and not really keen to leave so I said, ”˜Tell me what the company is?’ Typically headhunters won’t tell you right away but this but this one did, saying it was Centrica — a British company. “I hadn’t had a job interview in a while and thought it could be a good exercise.”

Weir landed the job and hasn’t looked back. He has a small team of four — two fraud investigators based in Toronto and one security manager based in Houston, Tex. He says it was those years of walking beats in Toronto’s diverse neighbourhoods that gave him a skill he never thought would become so valuable in corporate security — the ability to communicate with people on many levels.

He reports to the senior vice-president of human resources and CEO of Centrica North America, Deryk King. He sits on Direct Energy’s risk committee and works closely with all business units within Centrica North America, including executive levels.