Connolly, originally from the United Kingdom, has recently relocated his family to Quesnel, where he has settled with his wife and son after working everywhere from the United Kingdom to Qatar.
He started his career in security with the British Merchant Navy.
“I was instructing Special Forces going to Northern Ireland,” Connolly said.
“I worked on the Princess Cruises and that’s where I met my wife.”
From there, they decided to move to Vancouver, to settle down somewhat.
“I had enough of going to sea because you work six months at a time offshore,” Connolly explained.
Once in Vancouver, Connolly joined a security company and quickly worked his way up.
“I started as a guard but worked my way up to being an instructor,” he said.
“I did some private investigating, body guarding, then worked as an operations branch manager.”
After some time in Vancouver, Connolly relocated to Calgary.
“I transferred with the same company to Calgary as their operations manager, managing large accounts,” he explained.
In 2006, Connolly moved once again.
But this time, he was headed to the Middle East.
“The country is very oil and gas rich,” Connolly said.
“While I was there, my duties were operational.
“I provided security for visiting heads of state, such as the Prince of Wales, the Prime Minister of Iceland, the President of South Africa, the Emir of Qatar and
the Emir of the United Arab Emirates.”
It was in Qatar that Connolly had his favourite, albeit most challenging, experience.
“During a visit from the South Korean president, everything they wanted to do security-wise was down to the second,” Connolly said with a chuckle.
“It was a logistical nightmare trying to do access control for 176,000 people plus dealing with traffic issues as well, I think that was a highlight.”
Although this was a great opportunity for Connolly career-wise, he decided with his wife to move back to Canada.
“In 2010, my wife and I decided to move back to Canada,” Connolly explained.
“My wife was born and raised here.”
Now that he’s established himself in Quesnel, Connolly has started doing security for local businesses.
“I was a bit over qualified for basic security work and not qualified at all for forestry driven employment,” he said.
“Last year, I started to create my own job and as of January, I’ve picked up the contracts for the hospital, West Park Mall and Extra Foods.
“Things are going great.”
For more information, call Connolly, 250-414-9100 or e-mail, mark@comarksecurity.com.
