Leadership

Joseph Sordi, Chief Executive Officer / President, oversees the daily operations of the company. Joseph brings 20 years of experience in federal, state, city and special leadership positions and 23 years in commercial / contract development and management which resulted in Strategic Security’s growth.

Prior to serving in his current role, Joseph was vice president of operations, general manager and program manager where he oversaw 30 federal government contract, designed, implemented and led the largest contingency operation of private sector integrated security solutions firm specializing in Guard Services, Emergency Response, Executive Protection, Emergency Wrap Around Services, Integrated Technology, AI and Temporary Life Support Facilities with annual sales of in excess of 54 million operating nationwide and in Mexico.

Joseph is a 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department (NYPD). His public service assignments included the Strategic Response Group whereas he was tasked with supervising and responding to Labor/Civil Unrest, Terrorist Acts and Active Shooter Incidents. He was also part of the Reengineering Management Team, Transit Division, Intelligence Division, Weapons of Mass Destruction Team, Detective Bureau and Organized Crime Control Bureau.

Joseph an NRA Certified Instructor, a Certified Project Manager, a Certified Crisis Manager, Certified Security Instructor in several states, frequent guest speaker and business advisor for companies and industry trade organizations. He holds a Master Degree in Protection Management from John Jay.

Douglas Ruhl, Vice President, is responsible for Strategic’ business development to include Global Support and Training Operations for Strategic, Doug leads the company’s training and mission support lines of business for which he is responsible for all operations and strategy. As a domestic security subject matter expert, Doug also provides operational and financial expertise to business development for use in the design of winning strategies and proposal preparation to secure new federal, local and commercial business.

Prior to his current position, Doug worked for Harrah’s Entertainment as the Director of Security and Compliance as well as an international security firm for 8 years, rising quickly through the ranks to become the director of operations. In this role, he was responsible for the administration and program management of all company-held federal government and commercial security programs throughout the United States to include the Unites States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

Doug came to the private sector after a distinguished career in law enforcement for the New York Police Department (NYPD) for 10 years that was cut short due to a on the job service-related disability.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in English literature and is distinguished veteran of the United States Navy and New Jersey National Guard.

Donald Gossage, Director of Government Relations, is a seasoned law enforcement and emergency management professional with a distinguished career spanning over four decades in public service. He retired after 25 years with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., where he rose through the ranks to supervise a team of 75 officers and six sergeants at the peak of his tenure. His leadership and operational expertise were instrumental in maintaining public safety in one of the nation’s most complex urban environments. 

Following his tenure in the nation’s capital, he served nine years as Chief of Police for the Hancock Police Department in Hancock, Maryland—a full-service law enforcement agency safeguarding the gateway to Western Maryland. In this role, he led department operations, enhanced community policing initiatives, and strengthened interagency partnerships. 

Expanding his expertise beyond law enforcement, Don dedicated 14 years (2010-2024) to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), where he held multiple roles within the Office of the Chief Security Officer. He was deployed on over 70 disaster responses, including Type I, II, and III-level disasters, contributing critical security and emergency management expertise. Additionally, he served as a Contracting Officer Representative, overseeing the acquisition and management of more than 40 security-related contracts to enhance disaster response capabilities nationwide. 

Now serving as Director of Government Relations at Strategic Security Corp, Don brings his extensive experience in law enforcement, emergency management, and federal operations to support the company’s mission as a leader in disaster security and response. His focus is on fostering strong federal and state partnerships to expand and enhance Strategic Security’s operational capabilities.

 With a career dedicated to public safety, emergency response, and security operations, Gossage remains committed to ensuring resilience and security at all levels of government and private-sector collaboration.

Christopher Ward, CPA, Financial Controller, is a seasoned financial executive with extensive experience in strategic financial management, mergers & acquisitions, and operational leadership. As Chief Financial Officer, he brings a wealth of expertise in private equity ownership, capital asset utilization, and financial strategy to drive sustainable business growth.

With a career spanning over four decades, Christopher has held executive finance roles in various industries, including environmental services, construction, and financial consulting. His leadership has been instrumental in securing critical funding, optimizing working capital, and implementing robust financial systems that enhance organizational efficiency. He has successfully managed financial operations for multi-million dollar companies, spearheaded due diligence efforts for acquisitions, and facilitated seamless integrations of newly acquired businesses.

Prior to his current role, Christopher served as Vice President of Finance at Kleet Lumber Co., Inc., and Chief Financial Officer at Capitol Environmental Services, Inc., where he implemented sophisticated revenue forecasting models and secured essential credit lines to fuel business expansion. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at National Response Corporation, overseeing financial strategy, risk management, and compliance for global subsidiaries.

Christopher is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Maryland. He is a recognized leader in financial management and continues to drive fiscal excellence and strategic innovation in every organization he serves.

David Wright, Director of Operations, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Strategic’s Government and Commercial programs as well as providing insight and advise relative to company operations, infrastructure, and growth initiatives.

David has over 15 years of experience in senior leadership roles both in the public and private sectors. Prior to being promoted to Director of Operations, David served as Assistant Director of Operations where he was responsible for overseeing Fortune 500 companies contracts nationwide requiring approximately 26,000 HPW of service and more than 1250 personnel. His responsibilities included oversight of Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators designed to meet contractual expectations. Prior to his role as Assistant Director of Operations, David served as Senior Manager of Strategic’s Global Security Operations Center where he developed Overwatch Solutions™ a proprietary patented pending technology to provide a holistic security solution that combines command and control with state of the art technology that utilizes high tech intelligence gathering systems.

Prior to his role at Strategic Security, David held the rank of Police Officer with the Red Hook Police Department.

David is a Certified Project Manager and holds a Master’s Degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Protection Management.

Benito Basile, Assistant Director of Operations, is responsible for providing operational continuity and management, emergency response, information management, documentation, training and exercising, strategic consulting services for the coordination, policy-making and integration of business practices and processes in the Strategic Global Security Operations Center (GSOC) that is operated 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Through Benito’s ingenuity, he drives the further innovation and enhancement of Strategic Security’s Overwatch Solutions™ a proprietary patented pending technology to provide a holistic security solution that combines command and control with state of the art technology that utilizes high tech intelligence gathering systems, communications networks and augmented analytics to provide driving transformation in Strategic’s analytics, BI, social media and threat matrix machine learning and intelligence driven workforce systems to provide customers with one centralized decision-making tool on potential threats and communicates the related risks to key stakeholders in real time.

His highly diversified executive leadership and management experience in law enforcement and the private sector in emergency operations, cross-echelon integration, training, force integration and artificial intelligence delivers a converged operations/intelligence rhythm through real-time data sharing and collaboration across organizational divides right down to our officers on the ground protecting client assets.

Benito holds a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice  from St. John's University, a Master's Degree in Education from Stony Brook University, a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from St. John's University and is a member of the St. John's University's Homeland Security Association.

Gabriella Sordi, Director of Human Resources, is responsible for providing strategic guidance and leadership for all aspects of the human resources function and establishing a vision and direction for the full complement of core human capital programs, policies and services. This includes providing leadership and direction in the development of HR policies that promote maximum effectiveness in the Strategic workforce while supporting the Strategic mission.

Gabriella advises the Director of Operations and other senior agency officials on human capital management in support of the implementation and execution of key company programs.  She has changed the function, culture, and impact of HR across the Company to support its business goals and strategies as well as the needs and aspirations of its employees nationwide. 

Gabriella has overseen efforts that have resulted in: more effective and streamlined companywide talent acquisition practices that better utilize technology; a companywide diversity and inclusion strategy, including initiatives to improve diversity at the executive level, expanded hiring of veterans, launch of a global workplace and women’s initiative, and launch of a companywide Black and Hispanic initiative; a redesigned 401k program; an initiative to harmonize compensation and benefit programs across the Company to promote efficient internal movement of talent; and more thoughtful, comprehensive talent management and talent development programs.  

Isabella Goodwin, Development Coordinator for the Center of Training and Standards at Strategic Security and Strategic Special Police. Isabella is responsible for delivering and supporting training and exercises with a dedicated focus to ensure first-responder disciplines receive the highest level of attention. She collaborates on training and exercise initiatives with many government and non-governmental organizations, staff, management, planners and technical groups, and provides training to elected officials and public works, health, technology, and communications personnel. Isabella assists existing SSC and SSPC training, reviewing contractual obligations pertaining to duties and responsibilities, state mandates and the ever evolving threat landscape. She provides specialized training on instructional delivery methods through lecture, practical exercise, and practical evaluation to new instructors. 

Isabella oversees our national platform of training instructors that have experience working in agencies responsible for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) response or have served in law enforcement at the Local, State and / or Federal level and serve as consultants to organizations such as the Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP), The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

John Alder, Chief of Domestic Programs, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Strategic’ domestic programs to include contract operations, strategic planning, customer relations, transitions and emergency responses. As a domestic security subject matter expert, John also provides operational and financial expertise to a team of project and account managers.

For 14 years, John has been a program manager for numerous federal contracts in Florida, Texas, North Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, New Jersey and New York totaling over 2.5 million manhours.  He also headed numerous protection details including the 55th Presidential Inauguration detail.

Prior to joining Strategic, John was the operational section chief of Special Activates Services which was designed to select, train, equip, and mentor security operators to conduct global combat and peace keeping operations in any environment. John also oversaw a Federal Firearms Licensed company engage in a business pertaining to the manufacture or importation of firearms and ammunition.

John is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He began his career in the Navy and then transitioned into law enforcement, serving in a large Florida Sheriff’s Office and then transitioning to a City Police Department. While at the Police Department he served on their SWAT Team covering High Risk Warrant serves and narcotics.

Hamdoon Mahmood, Regulatory Compliance Officer, serves as a compliance resource and SME (subject matter expert) to business units, internal team members, and management providing a range of support across multiple business verticals. Hamdoon ensures that as company, Strategic Security operates or complies with the Federal, State and Local regulations, bylaws, policies, and other legal requirements throughout the United States via internal controls to control and manage risks. 

He efficiently manages licensing, certification processes, audits, and training documentation, while also ensuring adherence to ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, and other critical standards for information security and risk management.

Hamdoon reviews and set standards for outside communications for the safety of the employees, company offices and facilities we operate at. Hamdoon builds, designs, or updates internal policies to mitigate the possible breaking of regulations and laws while conducting audits of all employees, assets, offices in addition to organizing employee training sessions on a regular basis. 

Before his current role, Hamdoon worked as a Private Investigator, where he gained expertise in open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools, digital investigation, and surveillance operations. His experience in data analysis and uncovering complex relationships has greatly contributed to his attention to detail and investigative approach in compliance management.

Hamdoon holds a bachelor's degree in computer science with a focus on Cybersecurity from Northwestern University, where he developed a passion for Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC). This foundation in cybersecurity has influenced his work in compliance, particularly in ensuring robust data protection practices across all security operations.

Earlier in his career at Strategic Security Corp., Hamdoon worked in operations, managing security personnel and overseeing daily site operations, including monitoring alarm systems, CCTV, and dispatching security forces. This hands-on experience has given him a deep understanding of both security and compliance, making him an invaluable asset to the company’s ongoing commitment to regulatory excellence and top-tier security services.