Ted comes to the College with 17 years of experience in municipal and higher education public safety experience.
“A safe campus doesn’t start and end with (the public safety department). It’s a combined effort with the entire community getting involved learning and sharing together.”
Ted Johnson, a campus safety and law enforcement leader with 17 years of experience in municipal and higher education settings, has been named Guilford College’s Director of Public Safety. He begins work Feb. 1.
Ted has served in campus safety leadership roles as a school resource officer for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, a police officer and detective for Wake Forest University and, most recently, as a detective the past five years for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) in Winston-Salem.
Steve Mencarini, Dean of Students, says Ted will bring to Guilford a community-focused approach to public safety, a commitment to transparency and accountability, and a track record of building strong relationships with campus community members.
“He has a long history of building those relationships with students and with the community wherever he’s worked that make that community approach to safety and enforcement a success,” says Steve. “We’re fortunate to have him coming on board.”
Ted succeeds Vanessa White, who resigned as director in October to take a leadership role in Public Safety at UNCSA. In fact, he learned about Guilford and the opening when he performed Vanessa’s background check as part of the position search.
“The more I talked to Steve about Guilford, the more I saw how much my core values intersected with those of the College,” Ted says. “I really think (Guilford) is a good fit for me.”
Ted graduated from N.C. State University with a degree in Business, and he specialized in threat assessment while working at Wake Forest. He wants to share that training with Guilford’s 11 security officers and students, faculty and staff as well.
“A safe campus doesn’t start and end with (the public safety department),” he says. “It’s a combined effort with the entire community getting involved learning and sharing together.”
The search for the new director was led by a committee that included Shmeika King ’08, Administrative Assistant for the Public Safety Department, Brad Stewart ’19, Visiting Assistant Professor for Justice and Policy Studies, Deedee Pearman ’03, Administrative Assistant and Licensure Officer for Education Studies, John Wilkinson, CFO and Vice President for Administration and Finance, and Lataylin Maxwell ’23, a Criminal Justice major.