Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/34202
30 SSN 20 UNDER 40 www.securitysystemsnews.com JULY 2011 SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS 20 UNDER 40 Greg Domingue, 26 Security sales representative, Siemens Building Technologies New Orleans, La. It was the industry’s blend of technology, engineering challenges and opportunity that attracted and held Greg Domingue. “I graduated with an electrical engineering degree, but I wanted to get into sales. This was the first sales position I saw where they wanted a technical person,” Domingue says. “No dreams or aspirations or anything—what kept me was the advanced technical solutions I’ve been able to work with … It’s not just a DVR with cameras. I did a project that included thermal cameras with analytics and a command-and-control platform.” Domingue says he’s someone who has “always dealt with customers with honesty and integrity … I always keep my commitments. No matter how complicated the task, I’ll find a way to tackle it successfully.” It’s the same technology he loves that Domingue feels holds the key to the future. “The security industry has always been behind the times in terms of advancing technology. IP should have been around in the industry a long time ago, and it’s still just breaking in,” Domingue says. “The more our industry drives bleeding-edge tech, the more attractive to the young up-and-comers we’ll be.”—Daniel Gelinas Tua Chai, 39 Director of technical services, Tech Systems, Inc. Duluth, Ga. After Tua Chai graduated with a degree from an electrical engineering school in Thailand, he found a job working for a systems integrator. He worked for a couple of years and then came to the U.S. to work on an M.S. in industrial engineering at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. From there, he was recruited by Tech Systems, and he’s been with them for 11 years. Chai said he would like to improve the security industry, “by the utilization of technology, to create a new standard [where the value of security is better understood],” he says. “I want people to understand the value that this technology can bring to the business organization ... you can reduce staff by using analytics.” The technology also can be used for marketing and for other divisions within a company, he points out. “It’s not just security,” and once that’s understood, that will drive more talented young people to the industry, he says. “This is interesting work,” he says. More security companies “should go out to universities and colleges to recruit.” —Martha Entwistle Justin Bailey, 31 VP Strategic Development AvantGuard Monitoring Centers Ogden, Utah Justin Bailey entered the security industry through the increasingly wide IT side door, and frankly admits “security was never on my radar,” even though he worked briefly for Honeywell in its non-security related systems department. “I owned a technology consulting firm and that’s how I got my start with Mountain Alarm, one of AvantGuard’s sister companies,” Bailey says. “I worked for four years as a consultant for AvantGuard, taking care of their technology, database and development needs and it grew into full time.” Given his background, it’s not surprising Bailey wants to leverage new technology in order to tap new blood. “There’s a lot of older, legacy technologies in use and there just are better ways to do things,” Bailey says. “I’d like to be part of moving the industry into the 21st century—not worry so much about how things were done as how they should be done going forward.” “It all comes back to technology. So many young people today are very technologically savvy,” Bailey continues. “When we start using technologies that are exciting and cool and speak to the abilities and knowledge of this younger generation, they’ll show up.”—Daniel Gelinas Vanessa Dannenberg, 24 Monitoring center assistant manager, Wayne Alarm Lynn, Mass. The youngest member of the 2011 “20 under 40” class, Vanessa Dannenberg speculates that security is in her genes. “My father was an engineer and salesman for Wells Fargo Security, but I didn’t find out until after I’d already started with Wayne,” Dannenberg says. “I was simply looking for part-time work and I came in and met with [Wayne central station manager] Annie [Roderick], and she is just this great woman who sold me on the industry.” Dannenberg not only acknowledges the importance of attracting capable newcomers, but wants her peers to remember her for doing so. “A lot of my focus here has been bringing the next generation in, showing my workforce you can take the technology my generation is used to using—iPhones, tablets—and interface that with security,” she says. In order to ensure good stewardship of the industry, Dannenberg advocates blending awareness of the cool factor of security tech with the importance of the life safety industry. “We’re in a unique position to help people,” Dannenberg says. “We need to let people know the technology they use everyday can be used for function as well as fun.” —Daniel Gelinas Keith Kroeker, 38 Systems Engineer III, G4S Technology Omaha, Neb. Keith Kroeker took a job working for Adesta (now G4S) as a systems engineer right out of school in 1996, but he didn’t focus on the physical security aspect for a few years. “I started with fiber optic equipment and facilities-based communications,” he says. In 2001 he started working on proposals and gradually began doing more physical-security driven projects. “After several years, someone asked me if I wanted to implement a security project,” he says. “I said, ‘Do I have a choice?’” He’s glad he made that move into implementing projects, and says he loves the ever-changing technology and the satisfaction of seeing the successful evolution of a project. “One customer I’ve worked with a lot basically started their security operation in a hallway. Now security has its own room. It’s gone from a very low-tech application to a major operations center.” Getting the word out to colleges is key to drawing more young people—particularly those with engineering and IT backgrounds, he says. “There’s so many aspects to, not just security, but communications and applications,” Kroeker says. Once young people learn about the industry, they’ll be eager to “work with these new technologies and to travel [in a job like this].” —Martha Entwistle Zarir Marzban Merwanji, 37 Senior national trainer, ADT Residential Boca Raton, Fla. Zarir Merwan’s career in security began when he answered an advertisement for a part-time job at a small security company in Buffalo, N.Y. He was a pre- med student at the time, but found he was really good at door-to-door sales. He also found great satisfaction in the work. “My motto is to make sure that bad things don’t happen to good people,” Merwanji said. “There’s not enough education out there about [the dangers of residential] fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.” This line of work “is not just about security, it’s about life safety,” he added. Over the next decade, Merwanji worked his way up from that small company to his current training job at ADT corporate. Eventually, he’d like to train security salespeople internationally. The fact that he’s fluent in eight languages and interested in different cultures makes that a natural next step, he said. The industry needs to realize security systems sales are not for everyone. It’s very hard work and you “can’t do shady stuff, you can’t compromise your integrity,” he said. For those who are willing to live by the rules and work hard, however, this line of work “makes you feel good from the bottom of your soul, for example when you know you’ve helped [someone potentially] escape a fire or CO [poisoning].”—Martha Entwistle