President and CEO
Joe is widely recognized throughout the secure transportation and executive protection professions as the protégé of Tony Scotti, a pioneer in the development of innovative, highly effective training relating to security driving and various other aspects of secure transportation operations. In 2003, he founded Vehicle Dynamics Institute, more commonly known as VDI, and along with a team of dedicated, passionate security and training professionals has established VDI as the premiere security driving and secure transportation training organization in the world. Prior to founding VDI, he served as an NCO in the U.S. Army and held positions as the Director of Security with a multi-national technology concern as well as Vice President of Global Security Services for one of the world’s leading providers of crisis management and risk mitigation services to multi-national corporations and non-governmental organizations.
Over the course of his career in the private sector, which spans more than thirty years, in addition to designing, developing, and delivering world-class training courses, Mr. Autera has successfully planned, managed and participated in security operations focusing on detecting and interdicting a broad range of threats in moderate and high-risk locales to include South and Central America, Europe, and both the Middle and the Far East. His work has taken him to 55 countries on 6 continents, and he has been directly involved in training thousands of security professionals representing multi-national corporations, highly specialized military and law enforcement units, and a wide range of government agencies around the world.
Mr. Autera is also the author of the highly acclaimed bestselling book The Professional’s Guide to Planning, Managing, and Providing Secure Transportation and is proud to serve on the Board of Executive Protection Professionals, an organization formed to develop the executive protection profession’s first ANSI-sanctioned Professional Standards for Executive Protection.
In addition, he has authored articles pertaining to secure transportation operations, security driver training, and related topics which have been featured in some of the security industry’s most highly regarded publications including Security Management Magazine, the FBI National Academy Associate, Intersec, the Journal of Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, and Security Driver Magazine.
He has enjoyed opportunities to speak on these topics at many of the security profession’s most respected events, including the Protective Security Council’s Protective Security Conferences, the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) 50th Annual Seminar and Exhibition, and the International Association of Counterterrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP) Terrorism Trends and Forecasts Symposium, the Executive Protection International Conference, the Gavin De Becker, and Associates Executive Protection Symposium, and the CTG Intelligence Executive Security and Close Protection Technology Forum.