Operations Vice President Kevin Schlag announced the appointment of Paul Otte as director of Campus Security at Brigham Young University–Hawaii. He replaces Anthony Pickard, who is retiring. The appointment is effective January 12.
“We are grateful for Anthony Pickard’s good work the past five years as director, and we wish him well in his retirement,” Schlag said. “We are excited for Paul to join our wonderful team. He brings a broad range of experiences in security—law enforcement, corporate, church, and public venue—that will help us as we continue to build upon the trajectory of campus services.”
Otte brings extensive global security and risk management experience to his new role. He has worked in security and law enforcement for more than 20 years and has held senior security leadership positions with Thanksgiving Point Institute, NRG, a national power and energy company, and Vivint. In these roles, he oversaw enterprise-wide security operations across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Throughout his career, Otte has directed compliance, crisis response, travel security, and executive protection initiatives while working closely with C-level executives to develop comprehensive, risk-based security programs supporting thousands of employees and large-scale operations.
“I am so excited to become a part of this exceptional university and the professional security team on campus,” said Otte. “I love the mission and focus of BYU–Hawaii and look forward to becoming part of the BYUH family.”
Otte grew up in Texas and Idaho and served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in southern Germany. After his mission, he returned to college at Brigham Young University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in international politics. He later obtained a Master of Arts in national security, with a concentration in terrorism and counterterrorism, from American Military University.
Otte has served in a number of callings in the Church, including Primary teacher, Sunday School teacher for youth, ward executive secretary, stake high councilor, and bishop. He and his family are always willing to serve wherever the Lord asks.
Otte and his wife, Rebecca, have been married for 25 years. The Ottes are parents of five children—the eldest is a full-time missionary serving in Chile, the second is a high school senior, and the youngest three will attend Kahuku High and Intermediate School and Laie Elementary. As a family, they enjoy football and other sports, watching movies together, and spending time relaxing at home.