New Safety & Security Director Embarks on Marist Journey

After working at a wide range of schools, Daniel Gough finally finds a home at Marist College.

Marist Safety & Security welcomes its new director: Daniel Gough. Photo provided by Daniel Gough

As students roamed the halls of Donnelly, the new Marist College Director of Safety & Security — Daniel Gough — sat tucked away in the back of the Marist security office. 

The office seems ordinary to the naked eye; it consists of a desk, a computer, a printer and a map of the Marist campus. Stickers at each parking lot signify who can park there — a small but essential part of Gough's broader initiative to enhance campus safety, security and accessibility.

Gough may seem like an ordinary family man who enjoys spending time with his wife and watching the New England Patriots. However, he also possesses a wealth of experience that gives him a strong and innovative vision for the future of Marist security.

Before arriving at Marist, Gough worked in safety and security at St. George's University, which sits about 90 miles off the coast of Venezuela in Grenada. St. George’s has been the world's largest medical school for ten years, in terms of the number of students put in residence each year. Before his tenure at St. George’s, he spent five years working at the University of California San Diego, a school with 45,000 students.

In between these tenures, Gough had a different but eye-opening experience working at Colgate University, where he dealt with international security and risk management consulting. Colgate is a much different school from the previous two, most notably in size. It is located in Hamilton, New York and has a student population of roughly only 3,200. It was during this time that Gough learned something about himself that was previously unknown to him.

“From a professional standpoint, I thrive at a small to medium-sized liberal arts school,” said Gough. “At a smaller or medium-sized school, you can have a greater impact at the individual level.”

Gough believes that working at smaller universities has pros and cons, but one major benefit is the ability to quickly become familiar with people and build relationships, which facilitates making an impact on the community. 

Fast forward to 2024 and after nearly 20 years of working in higher education, Gough views his Marist job as the perfect fit. Not only does Gough have family in the area, but he and his wife also own a house in Saratoga Springs. 

While the job already embodies many of the qualities Gough was looking for, both the tenets of the Marist brothers, along with the Marist 100 pillars, made it a no-brainer choice for Gough.

“What is advertised in them is what you get when you arrive here,” said Gough. “That was clear to me during the search process and is even clearer having worked here for 10 weeks now.”