Camille Montoya’s Career Motto: Stay Out of Your Comfort Zone and Build Relationships

Camille Montoya, Director — Regional Training Director at Allied Universal®

If you were to ask a close associate of Camille Montoya to sum her up in a single word, they’d probably choose “Grit” — not in the rough and course meaning of the word, but as it relates to courageous perseverance. 

It’s something she learned early in life when, at age 11, she moved to the United States from the Philippines to live with her mother. In a new country, she had to adapt, make friends and learn the culture. That early lesson has served her well in her adult years and has informed her approach to everything she does. From training for marathons to career development to reaching goals, Camille is fearless, flexible and has a genuine thirst for knowledge.

“It’s about getting out of your comfort zone and building relationships with people so you can ask for help,” Camille said. “I like to surround myself with people smarter than me because the skillset I have now is not the skillset that will take me to the next level.”

Camille has used this approach effectively throughout her career to grow and evolve into her current role as Regional Training Director of the Northwest region. In this role, she leads training activities to ensure contract deliverables are met and drives a safety and compliance culture. This includes providing leadership, coaching, development and oversight for all regional trainers in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Northern California and Hawaii. 

Joining Allied Universal during the recent G4S acquisition, Camille got her start in the security industry when she accepted a role as an administrative assistant at the Wackenhut Corporation in 2003. From day one, Camille’s curiosity and people skills have propelled her forward — and upward. 

“When I started at the front desk, I remember asking the person who was supposed to train me on how I could be the best at my job and he pointed to a bookshelf with all of the company manuals. I read them all,” Camille said.  

From 2003 through 2007, she gained more responsibilities with promotions to front office supervisor and administrative manager. But she didn’t stop there to settle into a comfort zone in administration. Camille set out to learn about the key to any business — operations. Staying true to her grit and initiative, she scheduled ride-alongs with field supervisors — in her free time — to learn everything she could about the day-to-day activities of front-line security personnel.

In 2007, Camille became Director of Administration & Operations Support for California and Hawaii where she led all major transitions and orchestrated transition teams to ensure a seamless process for both internal and external customers. During that time, she implemented all regional projects to include a company-wide contract compliance initiative to train all personnel, including shared services and operational teams in addition to streamlining back office functional support and improving operational excellence. 

“That was one of my proudest moments,” Camille said. “It was nationwide initiative where we performed extensive contract audits and analysis and effectively minimized gaps and risks and enhanced revenue opportunities.”

In 2016, Camille continued to perform all of her regional operations and administration support duties while taking on the additional role of General Manager. Then in 2018, Camille was promoted to Regional Director of Operational Excellence for the Western Region. In this role, she implemented and trained more than 100 team members across 28 branch locations in operating tools that enabled customer-facing teams to provide a higher level of engagement. 

In her newest role as Regional Trainer for the Northwest Region, Camille is back in learning mode, combing through Allied Universal’s systems, processes and procedures. 

“It’s like I’m back to day one. There’s so much information. I’m learning who’s who and learning about the culture and how the business works,” Camille said. “It can be intense at times, but also very rewarding because I’m surrounded by passionate leaders who want to be better every day. That says a lot about the organization and their culture.”