Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/34202
28 SSN 20 UNDER 40 www.securitysystemsnews.com JULY 2011 SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS 20 UNDER 40 Mikey Heinz, 32 Senior VP of technicians, Pinnacle Security Orem, Utah A chance to work in a Spanish-speaking territory and use his Spanish language skills led Mikey Heinz to work in the security industry. “It was the combination of the job and the chance to travel to Puerto Rico to work,” Heinz says. He began working as a service technician for Pinnacle Security in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 2002. Heinz, who grew up in Orem and learned Spanish through an elementary school immersion program, oversaw more than 5,000 installations while in Puerto Rico and did 750 installs himself—a company record. In 2003 he became a regional tech and shortly afterward was promoted to his current job. His other accomplishments include starting a volunteer philanthropic effort in his department that led to Pinnacle’s companywide Securing Hope charitable initiative. Heinz, who also created Pinnacle’s tech support department, says his future goals include increasing the level of customer service and helping grow the company. The rapid technological developments underway in the industry will draw youth, Heinz predicts. “I think that will just naturally attract the younger generation that likes that cutting edge technology and continued innovation.” —Tess Nacelewicz Allyson McLear, 33 Central station manager, Monitor Controls, Inc. Wallingford, Conn. A serendipitous babysitting gig opened the door to a passion for and fascination with the security industry for Allyson McLear. “I was in college and I babysat for the woman who was the service administrator at Monitor Controls, and she told me they’re always looking for central station dispatchers,” McLear says. “There was a weekend position … and I worked my way up doing whatever my college schedule would allow.” Twelve years later McLear says above all she hopes to be known as a firm and fair manager. She also wants to be remembered for advancing biometrics technology. “When we go to [conventions] I’m always looking for biometrics stuff. It’s fascinating technology,” McLear says. McLear feels the key to maintaining a healthy industry is education. “Advertising, education. I don’t think enough young people know enough about this industry in general,” McLear says. “Take that show on the Discovery Channel, ‘It Takes a Thief.’ They break into your house and show you your weaknesses. That’s scary … That’s how my interest in biometrics came about. I don’t think enough people know about the industry and what we do. The wrong people know.” —Daniel Gelinas Beth Tarnoff, 28 Marketing director for North America and United Kingdom Direct, Stanley Convergent Security Solutions Naperville, Ill. Beth Tarnoff put her marketing degree to work immediately after graduation when she was hired as marketing coordinator for HSM Honeywell Security Monitoring. “In the security industry, there seems to be more opportunity to fast start your career and quickly begin to have an impact on the business and market,” she says. When HSM was acquired by Stanley in 2007, she joined Stanley and was promoted to marketing manager. Her role has expanded since that time to include responsibilities for all of North America and the U.K. Tarnoff says she’d like to be known as someone who helped “move the branding and communications in the industry to truly customer-focused marketing—focusing on the benefits and desired outcome for the customer, instead of solely focusing on products and technology.” She also would like to have “a legacy of helping to drive a diverse set of high-talent individuals to start successful careers in the industry.” And she has many ideas of how to do that including education, internships, showcasing security success stories at public speaking events, involvement in non-industry associations and social marketing. —Martha Entwistle Daniel Forrest, 29 VP & part owner, EyeForce Houston, Texas Daniel Forrest almost never made it to the security industry, something he’d grown up with, “pulling wire” for his father’s security installing outfit since he was 13 years old. His first career direction after college was football. Forrest tried out for the Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers and played arena pro football for a while before starting EyeForce, a monitoring station. “I grew up in the security industry doing a lot of the installation side,” Forrest says. “In college I studied entrepreneurship and I saw the opportunities in the industry’s RMR model.” Forrest’s passion is for the video monitoring industry. “There’s a lot of folks out there doing video and it’s a big buzz word, but it hasn’t gone where it could,” Forrest says. “It can be done a lot better than how it’s being done now.” Forrest says the future of the industry lies in awareness. “It all comes down to education. People don’t really understand how the security industry works, the recurring revenue model,” Forrest says. “I tell my friends about it and they don’t get the money there is to be made, the opportunity to be successful.” —Daniel Gelinas Brian Ruth, 34 National accounts manager, The Protection Bureau Exton, Pa. Ruth started with The Protection Bureau as an installation helper in 1997. He advanced to crew leader, then project manager, before becoming national accounts manager. He currently oversees two large clients with hundreds of locations across 16 states. Asked about his legacy, Ruth talks about company founder Keith Ladd, who died in 2009. Ruth says he learned a lot from Ladd, although he joked that Ladd didn’t necessarily give him easy answers. “I’d go to ask him a question about [installing something on drywall]. The conversation would go way off track and he’d end up telling me how to analyze profit margins,” Ruth says, laughing. Ruth says it wasn’t until later that he realized how Ladd’s “informal training sessions” helped him “see the big picture. I learned how to expand our business management systems, increase our efficiencies, and hit the bottom line of increased overall profits.” Ruth says Ladd was “a great, business-minded man, and he was also caring and generous. He was my mentor. I want to be as successful as he was.” In terms of attracting talented young people to the industry, he says his company is successful using job fairs. —Martha Entwistle Greg Ohanessian, 28 President, I-Tech Security Mineola, N.Y. Greg Ohanessian built his first computer at age 12. He spent a few semesters studying computer information systems at the college level, but felt under- challenged (his professors agreed, he says) and he was eager to get started on a career. He began doing network security work, and fell into also doing physical security gradually, because his partner’s father worked in the industry. Today, Ohanessian is the president of I-Tech Security, a five-person IT and physical security integration company that just moved to new headquarters here, and serves a variety of small- to medium-sized commercial and government entities. Ohanessian says he’d like to help “pioneer the path into the digital world.” He envisions his company expanding to the point where it provides custom integrated physical security systems to clients and serves all of their networking needs as well. “Our goal is to be that one provider,” he says. How to attract more talented young people to security? Ohanessian said the industry does a poor job letting college and university students know about the opportunities in the industry. He believes the industry should work with manufacturers and distributors to raise the industry’s profile on college campuses.—Martha Entwistle