'20 under 40' 2012 - Enrique Puig

Enrique Puig, 39
Senior director, field operations, Xfinity Home, Comcast
Philadelphia, Pa.

How did you get into the security industry?

I had a family member who worked at Brink's. I got out of the military in 1996 and she was the office coordinator for the market. She called me and said they're looking for someone for a new position, installation support/sales rep, someone who has some discipline … so I went in and interviewed and was given the opportunity, and haven't looked back since. After about 12 months being in that position … they gave me the option of becoming a security sales consultant, so you're doing full-blown sales. I got into that, got promoted to sales manager and then got promoted to general manager in Chicago, then was given the opportunity to run the largest market, which was Houston. Then Brink's became Broadview … and then came the ADT merger/acquisition and at that time Comcast had been courting me … and the product is great so I said, “Hey, I'm willing to forgo my opportunity with ADT and come over here.” That was May of 2010.

What can be done to attract more young people to the industry?

I think part of the problem is the lack of knowledge of what the industry has to offer people. We need to do a better job of having associations be more and more involved in things like social media and more involved in career-building opportunities on a national scale, like other industries have.

Who in the industry has helped you most in your security career?

My operations manager (when I was with Brink's), his name was Anthony Rena … he was my right-hand man … the way his technicians looked up to him was something I really admired and I wanted. From a peer perspective, he was definitely very influential.