HID CONNECTS

What does it mean to govern identity when AI agents, IoT machines, and self-sovereign credentials are rewriting the rules? In the Season 4 Finale of HID Connects, HID Global's EVP Björn Lidefelt fields questions from industry professionals worldwide — covering the forces accelerating physical-logical convergence, the biometric arms race against deepfakes, and a bold prediction: the identity of things will eventually eclipse the identity of people.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00:00 — Welcome to the Season Finale 00:00:53 — Physical-Logical Access Convergence: The Tipping Point 00:04:43 — What Convergence Means for Enterprise Identity 00:07:56 — Zero Trust & Risk-Based Authentication 00:09:14 — Biometrics vs. Deepfakes: The PAD Arms Race 00:11:28 — 2026 Strategic Priorities & Southeast Asia 00:15:11 — Balancing Short-Term Pressure with Long-Term Vision 00:17:31 — Mobile Credentials & the Rise of Wearables 00:19:15 — HID's Ecosystem & NFC Wallet Explained 00:21:50 — Sustainability in Access Solutions 00:24:33 — Career Advice: Is Björn's Corner Office in Reach? 00:26:41 — Closing Thoughts: 2026 and Beyond 00:27:57 — Season 5 Confirmed + Farewell to Chloe MacGregor   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ GUEST ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Björn Lidefelt | EVP & Head of HID Global | HID Global Björn Lidefelt serves as Executive Vice President and Head of HID Global, Assa Abloy's trusted identity solutions business. With over seven years leading HID, Björn drives global strategy across physical access control, mobile credentials, biometrics, and identity and access management — helping organizations worldwide protect people, places, and things.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CONNECT WITH HID ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Website: hidglobal.com Send us your questions & topic ideas: [email protected] Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.   Host: Matt Winn | HID Connects is produced by HID Global     #HIDConnects #HIDGlobal #TrustedIdentity #AccessControl #BiometricSecurity #MobileCredentials #ZeroTrust #PhysicalSecurity #IdentityManagement #Convergence #FutureOfSecurity #CybersecurityPodcast #SecurityIndustry #Podcast #SeasonFinale

What does a CEO actually do all day — and what does the future of your access card look like? In this special Ask Me Anything episode of HID Connects, host Matt Winn puts HID's Executive Vice President and Head of HID, Björn Lidefelt, in the hot seat. With questions crowdsourced from social media and leading industry publications, Björn covers leadership philosophy, the future of physical credentials, AI in security, mobile adoption, biometrics, and a lot more. This is Part 1 of 2 — the AMA continues in the Season 4 finale.   ► CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction 00:28 AMA Format & Introducing Björn Lidefelt 01:27 7 Years at HID: Reflections on the Journey 02:32 Lightning Round: Personal Questions 03:45 Lightning Round: Work Style & Superpowers 05:04 AMA Begins — Leadership Questions 07:20 Critical Leadership Skills in Access Control 09:28 Security as a Sport: The Biathlon Analogy 11:18 Future of Physical Access Control Cards 14:05 The Tipping Point: Mobile vs. Cards 15:04 Access Control in 5–10 Years 17:23 Key Trends in Secure Identity 19:07 What Excites Björn Most About the Industry 20:31 AI in Security: Benefits & Risks 23:05 How HID Uses AI in Its Products 25:41 AI for Back-Office Automation at HID 27:37 Björn's Personal AI Workflow 31:23 Hardware-First to SaaS-First Identity Management 34:11 Ecosystems, Open Standards & Partnerships 36:11 See You in Part 2   ► GUESTS Björn Lidefelt — Executive Vice President and Head of HID, HID Global   ► HOST Matt Winn — Host, HID Connects | HID Global   ► SUBSCRIBE & CONNECT Subscribe to HID Connects wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube: @HIDGlobal | Website: hidglobal.com Questions & topic ideas: [email protected]

That small plastic card in your wallet? It might be easier to fake than you think. In this episode of HID Connects, host Matt Winn sits down with three credentialing industry veterans to explore the visible and invisible features that make ID cards secure — and what happens when organizations cut corners. From holograms and UV inks to nano text and badge orientation, this is your complete guide to the science, strategy, and real-world reality of ID card security.   GUESTS Tim Ortscheid — VP, Sales | ColorID Mark Degan — VP, Marketing | ColorID Tiffany Renz — Director of Sales, FARGO NAM | HID   ABOUT HID CONNECTS HID Connects is the official podcast of HID, the global leader in trusted identity solutions. Each episode brings together industry experts to explore the technologies, trends, and ideas shaping the future of access control, identity, and security. New episodes weekly. Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Send questions and topic ideas: [email protected] Learn more: hidglobal.com  

The roundtable continues — and the answers to our burning question are finally here. In Part 2 of our Editors' Panel, host Matt Winn dives deeper with four of the security industry's most respected journalists. They tackle the biggest trend shaping the future (spoiler: it's AI, but with a twist), the evolution of the security channel, why convergence is still a work in progress, and how each journalist truly sees the industry they've spent years covering. In this episode: • The unanimous AI verdict — and why one panelist says the real answer is "the human in the loop" • The Doritos moment: when AI gun detection meets reality • How the security channel shifted from selling products to selling outcomes • Why convergence works at the device level but struggles at the org chart • Steve Lasky's challenge to manufacturers: embrace open architecture or get left behind • The burning question answered: How do security journalists really see this industry? Missed Part 1? Go back and catch the full story — including the industry's biggest game changers, what hasn't changed in 37 years, and why the talent pipeline is still a challenge. ——— Subscribe to HID Connects wherever you get your podcasts. Follow HID on social media for the latest in trusted identity solutions. Questions or topic ideas? Email [email protected]

We're flipping the script on this one. Instead of talking to security professionals, host Matt Winn sits down with four of the industry's most respected journalists — the editors and content leaders who cover the security beat every single day. Together, they bring 75+ years of experience watching this industry evolve, and they're sharing what they've seen, what surprised them, and what hasn't changed. In Part 1, we cover: • How security evolved from locks and alarms to an AI-driven intelligence ecosystem • The game-changing moments: IP cameras, smartphones, the Target breach, and COVID • Why convergence is finally more than a buzzword • The shift from "cost center" to "business enablement" • Why the human element remains the one true constant • The persistent challenge of attracting talent to an "invisible" industry Stay tuned for Part 2, where we ask the burning question: how do those who cover security really see the security industry? ——— Subscribe to HID Connects wherever you get your podcasts. Follow HID on social media for the latest in trusted identity solutions. Questions or topic ideas? Email [email protected]

The same system that keeps employees safe can also reveal where they are, when they were there, and who they were with. So where does efficiency end and tracking begin? In this episode of HID Connects, host Matt Winn sits down with three experts to explore Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) — the technology powering the invisible web of sensors, tags, and credentials that track movement across hospitals, factories, and offices in real time. The panel tackles the biggest misconceptions head-on, reframing RTLS from "tracking" to "visibility," and dives deep into the privacy questions organizations need to answer before deploying these systems. From GDPR vs. CCPA to consent, data retention, and the critical difference between operational intelligence and surveillance — this conversation will change how you think about location data. Our Guests: • Ondrej Langr — Chief Product Officer, Sharry • Brady Hall — Segment Sales Manager, RTLS, HID • Jennie Hargrove — Senior Director of Global Privacy, HID In This Episode: 00:00 — Introduction: What is RTLS? 05:08 — Defining real-time location data and how it's collected 07:15 — Why organizations are investing in RTLS 08:45 — Tracking vs. visibility: overcoming the surveillance misconception 13:45 — Common privacy concerns and how to address them 16:05 — Global regulations: GDPR, CCPA, and regional differences 19:29 — Credential-based data vs. continuous monitoring 23:07 — Landlords vs. tenants: different approaches to location data 25:22 — A privacy framework for responsible RTLS deployment 27:28 — The future of privacy and data-driven insights 30:16 — Final thoughts: How is RTLS changing the way we think about tracking? Learn more about HID's location and sensing technologies: hidglobal.com #RTLS #Privacy #LocationData #AccessControl #WorkplaceSafety #PhysicalSecurity #HIDGlobal #HIDConnects #TrustedIdentities #DataPrivacy #GDPR Have a question or topic idea? Email us: [email protected] Subscribe for more episodes and hit the bell so you never miss a conversation.        

Air travel in 2025 is hitting record-breaking numbers — 5.2 billion passengers worldwide. With airports straining under capacity, facial recognition is becoming the default technology reshaping how we fly. But is it convenient, controversial, or both? In this episode of HID Connects, host Matt Winn sits down with four industry experts to break down how facial recognition is transforming the airport experience — from curb to gate — what it means for your privacy, and where the technology is headed in the next 3–5 years. Learn more about HID's biometric identity solutions: hidglobal.com Email us: [email protected] Subscribe for more episodes and hit the bell so you never miss a conversation. ****************** Our Guests: • Doug Aley — CEO, ParaVision • Tom Volpe — Senior Business Development Manager, Airport Solutions, ASSA ABLOY • Lena Abdelahad — SVP & Head of Biometric Identity Technologies, HID • Rob Sutton — Director, Solution Enablement for Aviation, HID

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've noticed that mobile credentials are on the rise. But what does that actually mean for identity management? In this episode of HID Connects, host Matt Winn sits down with Matt Kopel and Chip Kruger, co-CEOs and co-founders of Swift Connect, and HID's own VP of Mobile, Sanjit Bardhan (a.k.a. "Doctor Mobile"), to explore the real story behind the mobile shift. Together, they'll answer the question: "What does mobile mean for identity management?" 🔗 Links Learn more about HID: https://www.hidglobal.com Learn more about Swift Connect: https://www.swiftconnect.io Contact: [email protected]   ************************ Guests Matt Kopel, co-CEO, President & co-Founder, Swift Connect Chip Kruger, co-CEO, Chairman & co-Founder, Swift Connect Sanjit Bardhan, VP of Mobile, HID Credits Host: Matt Winn Producer: Ben Weaver Audio Engineer: Marcus Reed

The security industry protects the places where we live, work, and gather—but who will do this work in ten years? In the Season 4 premiere of HID Connects, host Matt Winn sits down with three industry leaders to tackle a critical question: How do we attract and retain young talent in an industry most people don't even know exists? In this episode, we explore: → Why 95% of security professionals "fell into" the industry → What younger workers actually want (hint: it's not just compensation) → The difference between mentorship and sponsorship → How storytelling and community can reshape the industry's future Guests: Sarah Webel, Senior HR Generalist at Sage Integration & SIA Rise Steering Committee Kirsten Liss, Director of Global Talent Management at HID Stephenie Haldane, VP of End Users at HID & Board Member, Foundation for Advancing Security Talent (FAST) Whether you're a security veteran, an HR professional, or someone curious about a career in this field, this conversation will change how you think about the future of security. 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell to catch every episode of HID Connects. Connect with us: 📧 [email protected] 🌐 hidglobal.com

HID Connects is closing out Season 3 with an interview from the Head of HID, our Executive Vice President, Bjorn Lidefelt. Today, we're putting Bjorn in the hot seat in a true "Ask Me Anything" format. We've crowdsourced questions from social media and a variety of industry experts to answer the question, "What Do You Think, Bjorn Lidefelt?" Guest: Björn Lidefelt, Executive Vice President and Head of HID --------------------------------- Credits Host: Matt Winn Producers: Marcus Reed and Chloe MacGregor Audio Engineer: Todd Ford