WAD honors Nigerian – American, Sylvester Okere, for excellence in security services

 

The World Association of Detectives(WAD) have honored a Nigerian, Dr. Sylvester Okere, with the prestigious ‘Vinson Holmes Security Professional of the Year Award. For decades now, WAD has used ‘Vinson Holmes Security Professional of the Year Award’ as a medium to honor members in the security field who have demonstrated excellence, leadership, and business acumen in an entrepreneurial endeavor. 

Sylvester Okere is a member of the World Association of Detectives (WAD), Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE), National Council of Investigators & Security Services(NCISS), Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), American Security Foundation, American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), Public Record Retriever Network (PRRN), Maryland Investigators and Security Association (MISA), and other esteemed global associations in the Security and allied profession. World  Association of Detectives (WAD) is gearing to celebrate its 100 years of existence by 2025 in Chicago, USA, where it first celebrated the first annual conference in 1925.

Okere is the founder & President of United People for African Congress (UPAC), the non-profit umbrella organization that advocates for the rights of African nationals, empowers and uplifts them, and increases public acknowledgment and respect. He was the first chairman of Maryland Nigeria Sister State, and also served as a  Board of Director for the Maryland Sister State Program, Inc. In 2004 Okere founded Watchman Protective Services, Inc., a multi-faceted private security, private investigation, and private detective agency he proudly owned and operated from 2004 to 2013 in the Washington DC/Maryland region.

Okere is the owner of StrategicGroups USA LLC and Strategic Overseas Limited, an international consulting firm he created to advise and facilitate trade & Investment between the United States and African nations. He was a visiting scholar with George Mason University, the largest public research institution in the Commonwealth of Virginia, interested in researching the African Diaspora’s involvement in the American political system and the interface between African immigrant entrepreneurs and American politics – to highlight their ever-increasing contributions across the nation.

Sylvester Okere, CIPM ll, FIIM.

Okere championed a USAID’s Global Innovation Exchange program for Africa. The Global Innovation Exchange is a global online marketplace for innovations, funding, insights, resources, and conversations, allowing the world to better work together to address humanity’s greatest challenges; and a unique resource by Center for Development Innovation | U.S. Global Development Lab at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Okere held/championed several prominent roles towards the elevating African causes within the United States, Africa, and the United Nations.

Okere is an approved vendor with the United Nations (in business, politics and humanitarian roles) 

Sylvester Okere hails from Obibi Ezena, in Owerri-North Local Government Area of Imo state. He is a former Nigeria Immigration officer with 18 years of federal service (Kano and Imo state combined)