“He went in to work one morning and a person called his name and when he responded the man shot him point blank. That’s what shaped things for me early on,” says Nichol, the Manager of Security and Life Safety at the City of Toronto.

Later, Nichol says he lived in what he calls “a bad domestic violence situation,” which further influenced his career path — one in which he would dedicate himself to being proactive in the protection of people.
“It really made me want to do as much as I could to help others and it made me understand that kind of situation better and how difficult it can be to move on from it,” says Nichol.

When he graduated from high school Nichol was considering law and security or criminology and opted for the loss prevention management program at Sir Sanford Fleming, an Ontario college, because it touched on all areas of the security field. He was the top student in the class and realized he had found his calling.

He worked for a time at the Parliament buildings and National Library in Ottawa the summer before graduation and officially started his career in 1992 in the old municipality of Metropolitan Toronto as a security officer. He then moved to senior security officer and was supervisor of security for the metro government. At the time of amalgamation (which brought together seven municipalities to create a single city of 2.4 million people), one of the earlier jobs posted was for Manager of Security and Life Safety. He was the successful applicant then and has been doing the job ever since.

At just 37 years of age, he says he has endured more than his share of ageism. Many expect the person in charge of security and safety for Canada’s largest municipality — 45,000 employees and 1,500 facilities — might be a little older.

“I sometimes do get age discrimination because if they’re talking to me for the first time or they’ve only talked to me on the phone, often they’re expecting my boss to come in any minute,” says Nichol, who is married with two children, ages 12 and six.