Obtaining a post-graduate education is not a simple process. It takes years of dedication and a significant financial investment.

The schools offering these degrees often argue that they can improve students’ opportunities for moving ahead in their careers, particularly in the case of a Master of Business Administration (MBA). But has this been the case for professionals in the security industry?

Canadian Security spoke with three industry experts with MBAs to understand how effective post-graduate degrees have been for their careers.

Internal growth

Scott Young, national vice-president of security systems and technology at GardaWorld, is a perfect example of a go-getter who has focused on growing internally within his organization.
Young has worked for GardaWorld for more than 18 years, starting out as an account manager in 2006 at the company’s Edmonton office. From there he transitioned to a sales role in 2009, then moved to Calgary in 2011 to focus on business development for Alberta. That was when the idea of pursuing a post-graduate degree resonated with him.

“On the sales side, I’m listening to customers all the time, and I got to work with some great clients that I learned a lot from in Calgary. What they were looking for in their RFP (request for proposal) responses was professionalization in each of the functions of a guarding business,” Young says.

While his desire to continue moving up the corporate ladder at GardaWorld was strong, Young wasn’t entirely certain which direction he should take to try and explore more opportunities. Fortunately, he had a good mentor at the time.

“I didn’t really have an end goal in mind, I just knew I wanted to move up within the organization and be a leader and run a business. And so, it was our president at the time, Marc-André Aubé, who said, ‘You’re not going to get to the top without a master’s degree,’” Young recalls. “It was his encouragement, I would say, that really pushed me into it, and then also hearing from customers that that professionalization was important.”

Young enrolled in a part-time MBA at Athabasca University in 2013, so he could continue his career at GardaWorld. During his studies, he moved again to Vancouver in 2014, this time to focus on business development for all of Western Canada.

“There’s the expression, ‘Are you in the security business or the business of security?’ I’ve always kind of thought of myself in the business of security, and that’s what excited me — new sales and revenue growth, growing the business, and leading a team and seeing others grow, that worked for me. All of those factors came together in pursuing an MBA,” he says.

In 2022, Young moved over to the technology side of the company, taking on the role of national vice-president of security systems and technology at GardaWorld, which includes residential smart home security, commercial integration, remote video monitoring, and the mobile surveillance unit business. The skills Young picked up through his MBA have been extremely advantageous for his career growth.

“There are theories and concepts that you’re going to learn about — accounting, finance and operations management and strategy — that you just can’t really pick up naturally, or it’ll take your entire career to learn these things,” he says.

“The MBA is a way to learn those really quickly, and that’s going to apply to any business, any industry that you’re in.”

Regular upskilling

For Michael Brzozowski, a career security professional and frequent contributor to the ASIS International organization, obtaining his MBA was a natural progression in his upskilling journey. His ASIS credentials include serving on the Professional Certification Board, and a stint as co-chair of the ASIS Young Professionals group.

Prior to going to school for his post-graduate degree, Brzozowski had already completed a variety of ASIS certifications, and spent time in Philadelphia at The Wharton School for an executive development program in 2018, which focused entirely on business. Coming away from that week in Philadelphia, Brzozowski thought it would be beneficial to understand more about how the C-suite thinks, and how they approach and solve problems.

“The professors at Wharton, none of them were security people,” he says. “The professors that came and talked to us were [speaking about] negotiations or global trends… I said, in my head, I want to speak like they speak, because the businesspeople that make the decisions, that’s the language that they communicate.”

Starting in 2020, Brzozowski studied his MBA part-time at the University of Fredericton while continuing to work in the security sector, looking at it as a passion project he could complete by taking one course at a time. He completed his MBA in 2024.

Whether someone is studying for a certification or a graduate degree, completing your studies showcases an important skill, Brzozowski says.

“Be it a certification, which is shorter-term but very concentrated, or something longer, like a graduate degree… I think you learn discipline,” he says. “I think what you’re proving to your classmates, to your professors, to your employer, your future employers, is that I committed to something and I finished it, because it’s not easy.”

Preparing for growth

For Tanisha Singh, IT audit portfolio manager for Canadian Tire Corp., the COVID-19 pandemic created an opportunity for her to upskill right out of completing her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Waterloo in 2020.

With all sorts of uncertainty affecting the job market, Singh decided that she would continue her education with post-graduate studies and enrolled at the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University to obtain an MBA.

“I just wanted to upskill to better position myself for opportunities,” she says. “At that point in time, I didn’t really have a specific direction of where I wanted to go. The beauty of an MBA is that it will upskill you in pretty much any area. I had the opportunity of doing accounting or going into finance — there were so many different doors I had opened up with it.”

From 2020 to 2022, Singh completed her MBA while working a variety of co-op placements within the security industry. After graduating she took on the role of manager of cybersecurity awareness and training at Loblaw Companies Ltd., before moving to Canadian Tire in 2025 and transitioning into an IT audit role.

Singh says the knowledge she gained from her MBA has already paid off early into her career, especially enhancing her communication skills.

“Before my current role, I was in a cyber role, and a lot of that role required me to learn the technical information and then present it to a non-technical audience. The MBA helps with that because there’s a huge focus on your business skill set, but also how you communicate to different stakeholders,” she says. “A lot of the MBA is based on presentations, so you really have to know how to communicate well, both written and verbal.”

Another advantage the MBA has given Singh is gaining a stronger understanding of business processes. She says people in the industry sometimes are too focused on the technical aspects of their roles and may not understand the broader business goals. “But coming in with that perspective, you understand the organization’s goals — this is their strategy, this is the path that they want to go down, now where does cyber fit into that?” she says.

Networking

Another advantage of pursuing an MBA is interacting with professionals from a wide variety of industries.

“Your classmates are all industry professionals that are working in their respective spaces. Some of the classmates I had were from telecom and government, transportation and logistics, and every other possible industry you can think of,” Young says. “We were all learning the same concepts on a weekly basis and then applying it to our businesses. So, the networking piece was a big advantage.”

Brzozowski was the only security professional in his classes, and found the opportunity to work with people from a wide variety of sectors incredibly insightful.

“There were a lot of people from municipal government and health care, and it was really interesting to be able to tackle problems together,” he says. “I think the benefit of specifically an MBA for a security person is you are forced to understand how the whole machine works, not just your little sprocket.”

Credibility

There’s also an element of recognition that comes with the MBA designation in the corporate world.

“When you’re dealing with a counterpart, whether it’s a manufacturer, a supplier, a colleague, or a client, there’s a little bit of credibility that comes when you have that designation behind your name,” Young says. “So, your words carry a little bit more weight than they normally would.”

While building new relationships within the C-suite of potential clients, the MBA designation can be particularly helpful.

“The technology, nowadays, on the systems and integration side, is a lot more exotic when it comes to artificial intelligence and mobile credentials, cloud storage, all of these things the security professional and our customers and clients need,” Young says. “When you’re working with a customer, especially those that have an MBA, it’s a little bit of a mutual understanding. You’re looking at each other in the eye and knowing that you’ve both been through that process and learned those concepts, and you can have more evolved conversations.”

Young adds that the MBA can also end up being the decision maker when applying for promotion.

“If you’re competing for a promotion, the tie probably goes to the person that has the better resumé,” he says.