Shake-up at Devcon: Hafen replaces Ginsburg as CEO

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—Devcon Security has a new CEO—its second one in about three weeks.

Golden Gate Capital, which owns Devcon Security, announced this week that Steve Hafen, formerly COO at Pinnacle Security, is now CEO of Devcon, a super-regional based here.

The announcement is a dramatic reversal of one Golden Gate made on Feb. 29, in which it announced that former Protection 1 CEO Richard Ginsburg had been chosen as Devcon's new CEO.

The news release Devcon issued announcing Hafen's appointment makes no mention of Ginsburg, who helped turn Protection 1 into one of the nation's largest security companies before leaving in 2010.

But Ginsburg on Wednesday  issued the following statement:

“A lot of people have reached out to me in the past few days regarding what I am doing. I was recently working under a consulting agreement as the CEO of Devcon Security. Last Tuesday, the 13th, I resigned from that engagement. As you would expect, I cannot elaborate on the reasons. I, as well as my executive team, continue to look at a number of opportunities in the security industry. I will also be active with my speaking engagements and consulting as I have been.”

Neither Devcon nor Golden Gate provided any information regarding Ginsburg's departure.

Devcon's news release emphasizes Hafen's abilities to lead Devcon, a residential and commercial security provider that has rapidly expanded into a national player in the past 18 months. It has created brick-and-mortar offices in several markets and has about 300,000 customers.

The release said Hafen will “optimize the company.”

It described him as “a longtime operations expert, working within the security industry for the last several years driving growth and profitability for his associated companies. Most recently, Mr. Hafen has served as chief operating officer for Devcon Holdings Inc., with prior industry experience including serving as chief operating officer of a major security company where he is credited with building a strong, stable operations foundation, as well as creating an industry-leading compliance platform following a period of extreme growth.”

According to Devcon's website, Hafen joined that company as COO in January.

Prior to that, Hafen was COO of Pinnacle Security, an Orem, Utah-based summer-sales-model security provider, also owned by Golden Gate Capital. Last fall, Devcon, a traditional security company, announced a shared services agreement with Pinnacle starting in 2012.

Christopher B. Munday, operating partner for Golden Gate Capital, which acquired Devcon in 2009, said in a prepared statement regarding Hafen: “Steve has been a great asset to [Devcon] already and we have every confidence that he will lead Devcon with the acuity and expertise we have come to expect from him. Finding the right leader is essential to our success and with Steve's proven track record we are confident in Devcon's bright future."

Hafen also issued a statement: “Devcon is a great company that expanded very quickly and will benefit from an increased focus on operations. This company has taken a much larger position in the market over the last year and is poised to move forward. Operational excellence will play a critical role in the next phase of the business. I'm pleased for the opportunity to lead this company.”

Hafen was traveling and not available for further comment to Security Systems News on his goals for Devcon and the plan for shared services between Devcon and his former company.

Prior to Golden Gate's announcement that Ginsburg would become CEO, Devcon's most recent president and CEO was Robert Farenhem. No information has been provided on why Farenhem is no longer with Devcon.

San Francisco-based Golden Gate is a private equity firm with about $9 billion of capital under management.