Tag: 20 Under 40 2012

Nick Perry, 28Director of business developmentSecurity NetworksWest Palm Beach, Fla.How did you get into the security industry?When I was about 17 years old, my father (Rich Perry) was starting up Security Networks and I needed a summer job, so I was recruited to be an installer. We were a commercial fire alarm company and I was installing commercial fire and camera systems, and I've worked here ever since. I've been involved with a lot of the different sides of the business. I went to school in...

Vince Piau, 30General manager, Convergint Government SolutionsConvergint TechnologiesSchaumburg, Ill.How did you get into the security industry?I graduated college with an electrical engineering degree and I had the opportunity to come to Washington, D.C., to work as a security systems engineer (for Johnson Controls). I really enjoyed the opportunity to work on real problems and real solutions. I started at Convergint in 2005, also as an applications engineer and as kind of a founding member of our...

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)...

Laurie Jackson, 29VP gaming salesNorth American VideoBrick, N.J.How did you get into the security industry?This was originally a family business, where I started more than 10 years ago, so I learned from the ground up. I came in answering phones and I went to customer service and was eventually put into sales, and I found that is what I really enjoy. In 2008, the family business sold to The Halifax Group, which is a private equity firm out of Washington, D.C. They brought in a professional management...

Mike Monsive Jr., 33President and CEOASAP Security ServicesHouston, TexasHow did you get into the security industry?After college, I jumped into the IT industry. I was there kind of during the dot.com-bust era, so I began looking at other stable career paths and I became really interested in the security industry. IP (systems) had not hit yet, but it was clear to me that IP at some point would dominate the security industry and that someone with an IT background would have an advantage. Since then...

Brad Nye, 34General managerMountain AlarmOgden, UtahHow did you get into the security industry?In high school, I worked part time for a car audio place. I loved wiring car stereos, alarms, building speaker boxes, and putting car alarms in. Then two days out of high school, my dad said, “If you're not going to college, go get a job.” So I applied at a company called Peak Alarm in Salt Lake City, and I worked there about a year, and then moved to Mountain Alarm because I live in Ogden,...