IASG restructures, CEO and president step down

ALBANY, N.Y.--Two top brass from Integrated Alarm Services Group, instrumental in forming the company three years ago, are stepping down from their roles at the holding company. On April 24, IASG announced Timothy McGinn, chairman and chief executive officer will resign June 1 and Tom Few, Sr., president and vice chairman of the board of directors, will step down from his role May 1. Replacing them at the holding company for Criticom International will be John Mabry and Charles May. Mabry has been elected as non-executive chairman and will take on chairmanship of the board of directors for the company June 1. May will act as a special adviser to the board May 1 and will move into the role of president and chief executive officer June 1. The announcement comes at a time when IASG is in the midst of a strategic review by Allen & Company, a New York City investment bank, to carve out options to increase shareholder value. "The change of management had nothing to do with the Allen report at all," said John Mabry at an April 25conference call to discuss the management restructuring. "This process was talked about several months ago, before the Allen report was brought to our attention." The independent board of directors decided at that time to make a change in the leadership of the company. Mabry said both contracts for Tim McGinn and Tom Few, Sr. were up at the end of April, The new leadership along with McGinn, who will remain chief executive officer through the end of May, will assist with the restructuring and transition. During the next three months, May hopes "to get to know all the management that is here, assess the management personnel, the current business plan and forecast for 2006," he said at the conference call. "I hope to complete a visit of all offices in the next 30 days and meet with all key personnel to make sure that we have all sufficient things in place to ensure that we are going to make the 2006 plan to the extent that we believe we can," Adding, if goals are not met, he would start to look at alternative ways to achieve them. We will "work to make sure that we meet the goals that have been set by Tim and the management team and that we have sufficient systems and people in places to make sure we meet our numbers," May added. Both Mabry and May have had diverse roles and experience in the security alarm industry. Mabry, founder of American Alarm Company, has had active roles at the Security Network of America and the Central Station Alarm Association. Since March 2003, he has served on IASG's board of directors. May began his industry career at Federal Alarm Systems and was one of the founders of National Guardian. May has worked on the acquisitions of more than 45 companies. In the mid 1990's May purchased Smith Alarm Systems, as president he helped to grow the business to more than 75,000 customers. For an analyst's perspective on the IASG management restructuring see Security Systems News June issue