Tag: 20 Under 40 2012

Donny Counts, 35Director, installations, national accountsInterface Security SystemsEarth City, Mo.How did you get into the security industry?By chance and from the outside. I grew up with a fascination of electronics and security. I was building door alarms on my room around age 10 and an access control system on my clubhouse at age 12. While attending the University of Central Arkansas (for electrical engineering), some family financial issues arose that required my exit from college. I immediately...

Chris Vanderbles, 33Manager of technical servicesSecurity Control SystemsHouston, TexasHow did you get into the security industry?I got into the industry through lateral movement. I was hired as a network administrator for one of our sister companies, an access-control system integration company in Colorado, back in 1997, and they determined that I had a penchant for more than just network administration. I joined Security Control Systems in 1999. There's lots of variety. I'm not necessarily chained...

Bijal Thakkar, 38Director, global product managementJohnson ControlsMilwaukee, Wis.How did you get into the security industry?I had come to the United States (from India) to do my MBA and after I finished, Ademco Pittway was looking for some talent that did not necessarily come from the industry but had the right analytical and thinking skills. They were really trying to infuse their marketing department with some graduates who had a new sense of energy and really none of the preconceived notions...

Patrick Schalkofski, 32President of outside salesAbsolute SecurityFredericksburg, Va.How did you get into the security industry?I met Curtiss (Weinstein, president of Absolute Security) when I worked for him for a few years in the Kirby vacuum cleaner business in Florida. Then he moved away and so did I, and then a few years later I ran into one of his brothers (who was talking to Curtiss on the phone), so I talked to him. At that point, I had gotten a few curveballs thrown my way and I had absolutely...

Jesse Foglio, 31Systems managerFirst Response SystemsBeaverton, Ore.How did you get into the security industry?First Response is a family-owned business started by my father, Dave, as a traditional guard company. So, when I was about 16, I started working as a security guard. And about two years later, I started working on the electronics side of First Response, working out in the field as an apprentice, installing alarm systems and fire systems and cameras and access control. I joined the state...

Dan Barbera, 39Executive VP of financeCOPS MonitoringWilliamstown, N.J.How did you get into the security industry?I worked for a nonprofit corporation for the first 12 years of my career. I became a CPA in the late '90s and I went back for my MBA when I turned 30. Around 2005, when I earned my MBA in management from Rutgers, it was just time to move on because I had been with that company for so long. Believe it or not, I just responded to an (online) ad not even knowing that I was applying for a...

Jayson Waller, 32President and CEOISI AlarmsMooresville, N.C.How did you get into the security industry?Well, a buddy of mine, Kevin Klink, was selling alarm systems. I was working for Verizon, managing a sales team, and I asked him if he ever wanted to partner up. So we did and then I ended up buying him out back in 2005 and then he came back to work for me in 2009. We started out as a door-knocking company out of a bedroom of a house with two employees and now we're (primarily a telemarketing company)...

Patrick Ritter, 33VP and controllerADS SecurityNashville, Tenn.How did you get into the security industry?I (previously) worked with our CFO, Ernie McDaniel, at a manufacturing company that manufactured outdoor signage. It was very much a project-based cyclical business. (When) he was recruited by ADS Security, he told me all the great things about this recurring monthly revenue business. A couple of months later, he recruited me to come along with him as an accountant for ADS. That was in 2005....

Muawia “Maui” Bishr, 36Senior director of dealer development and national accountsMonitronics InternationalDallas, TexasHow did you get into the security industry?As a college student, I started as a central station operator in 1998 (at Monitronics) with no intentions of still being in the industry 14 years later. A friend of mine called me, and (the position worked well) with school schedules. At the time Monitronics was only 50 or so employees. � I worked in the central station, I worked...

Erica Wood, 33Co-owner, chief security officerAmerican Fire & SecurityDayton, OhioHow did you get into the security industry?When I met my husband back in the '90s, he was in the security guard business, and I got involved and got really excited about meeting business owners and helping them out with their security. And I began to expand the business out into electronic security, and eventually the electronic security division of our business just spun off into American Fire & Security. A good portion...