Security executive named Southeastern Alumnus of the Year

Monday, October 21, 2013
by: Rene Abadie

Hamilton MixonHAMMOND – International security consultant Hamilton Mixon will be honored as the 2013 Alumnus of the Year by the Southeastern Louisiana University Alumni Association.

Mixon, who most recently directed global security for the popular social media web site Facebook in Menlo Park, Calif., will be formally recognized on Friday (Oct. 26) at the association's Alumni Awards Evening held on campus at Twelve Oaks. Tickets for the 7 p.m. event are available from the association at 985-549-2150 or 1-800-SLU-ALUM.

Alumni Association Director Kathy Pittman said the award recognizes graduates with unique accomplishments on a national or international level who continue to utilize their degree from Southeastern to the fullest.

Also to be recognized at the event is Samantha Perez, a 2010 graduate who is currently completing doctoral studies in history at Tulane University and serves as an instructor at Southeastern.

A 1979 graduate of Southeastern with degrees in criminal justice, psychology and sociology, Mixon most recently was responsible for global security and executive services for Facebook, a position he assumed in 2012 after serving as global director of security for the multi-national computer technology company Oracle Corp.

Mixon is a native of Kentwood. He joined the Louisiana State Police following graduation from Southeastern and served in a variety of capacities, including the Criminal Intelligence Unit, commander of the Governor's Mansion and State Police Executive Protection Detail and the state police Public Safety Public Information Unit.

After 17 years of service, he retired from the Louisiana State Police in 1993 and entered the private sector as director of corporate security for Jazz Enterprises, a gaming and hospitality company headquartered in Baton Rouge and Reno, Nev. He later directed operations for Healthcare Security Services in San Jose, Calif., a security management and consulting firm specializing in security services for healthcare facilities in the United States and Canada.

For eight years, Hamilton served as director of corporate security for Genetech, Inc., the world's largest biopharmaceutical company. Later he served as global director of security and risk management for Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston for four years.

Perez distinguished herself as an undergraduate at Southeastern, where she earned bachelor of Samantha Perezarts degrees in history and English with minors in creative writing and gender studies and an honors diploma in the liberal arts. As a junior, she and communications major Joshua Robin – now her husband and both natives of Violet – created an extensively researched video documentary entitled "Louisiana's Lost Treasure: The Isleños," which was presented as part of Southeastern's Fanfare fall festival of the arts. She has since written a book version, "The Isleños of Louisiana: On the Water's Edge."

Upon graduation from Southeastern, Perez received a fellowship to pursue doctoral work at Tulane University, where she completed her master's degree in late medieval-early Renaissance Europe. She currently teaches history at Southeastern and is completing her dissertation at Tulane.


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