About 18 months ago, Tom Patterson e-mailed the Palisadian-Post from Germany, looking for copies of the newspaper so he and his wife could begin their search for a home in the town they planned to adopt. A partner at Deloitte and Touche, where he led the company”’s Securities Services Practice across Europe, Patterson said he was moving to Los Angeles in order to write a book. Skip ahead to early January 2005, when Patterson sent another e-mail to announce that his book, ”’Mapping Security: The Corporate Security Sourcebook for Today”’s Global Economy,”’ was about to be published and that he was working on an author”’s appearance at Village Books on Swarthmore. ””’Mapping Security””’ is a business book, focused on helping companies around the world better understand their risks,”’ Patterson says, ”’so the hometown angle for your paper would be that it was written here in the Palisades, including from my home office at the top of Monument (great view), Mort”’s (great sandwiches), and the Starbucks on Swarthmore (great connectivity).”’ Patterson, a bright and amiable fellow, is finally coming to Village Books next Thursday, June 2, at 7:30 p.m., as part of his nationwide publicity tour for publishers Addison-Wesley and Symantec Press, the publishing arm of Symantec Corporation, a global leader in information security. ”’Mapping Security”’ (co-authored with Scott Gleeson Blue) examines how technology has allowed businesses to grow internationally almost overnight, and the information security risks and challenges that accompany such rapid, multinational growth. Drawing on interviews with more than 100 CEO”’s in over 30 countries, the book lays out an approach business executives can take to develop the necessary precautions to secure their cyber infrastructure on an international basis. ”’I wrote this book based on the actual business experience of companies struggling to manage the risks of supply chains in Asia, customers in Europe, outsourcing in India, and extended workforces around the globe,”’ Patterson says. ”’To succeed in business today, every part of the company must understand what rules, regulations, best practices and customs are in each country where the company operates. ””’Mapping Security”’ demystifies this global mosaic and presents the facts as clear and compelling business reading for people that need to understand the risks and rewards of working around the globe.”’ A native of Baltimore, Patterson entered the University of Maryland in 1978 and later lived in Europe for a few years before ”’moving back to the States to start a real career. I had my wanderlust under control and I”’ve been in the corporate security business ever since,”’ working as an executive at KPMG, IBM, MCC (America”’s leading R&D consortium) and Deloitte. Patterson met his wife, Deirdre Skolfield, in 1994, when she was managing a billion-dollar portfolio for Freddie Mac in Washington, D.C. ”’We knew that night,”’ he recalls. ”’It was a pretty intense relationship”’the best kind. We met around Christmas and got married in the fall.”’ They now have a 6-year-old son, Will, who attends first grade at Palisades Elementary and is already an all-around athlete in soccer, basketball and baseball. Patterson coaches all three sports at the Palisades YMCA and says, ”’It”’s pretty much all-year round, but I have a blast.”’ While living in Germany, Patterson attended meetings for a company in Marina del Rey. ”’One day I rented a car and somebody told me about Mort”’s. They don”’t have American-style delis in Europe, so I came over, had a meal and discovered the Palisades. When we decided to move here, we found realtor Laura Burkett [of DBL, now Sotheby”’s] on the Internet and told her we wanted to find a home in the Palisades, hopefully within walking distance of the village. She was great.”’ Patterson”’s eventual home at the top of Monument presented a daunting uphill hike at first, but now, he says, ”’we never miss walking down to the farmers”’ market every Sunday, and I carry all of the produce back up the hill.”’.
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