Ascent Capital Group names new CFO

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Ascent Capital Group, MONI's parent company based here, announced yesterday that Fred Graffam will succeed Michael Meyers as Ascent's CFO as well as MONI's CFO.

Graffam told Security Systems News that he will be overseeing regulatory filings from a finance perspective and “Making sure that the accounting systems and control environment at the company remain strong, as it is now. And then, from that perspective, it's really a focus on making sure that the initiatives of the company are being properly funded, that resources are being allocated in a way that makes sense.”

Ascent announced Meyers retirement in early January. In that announcement, Ascent said that Meyers would remain in his role until a replacement was found. The transition of responsibilities to Graffam will be official around Sept. 1, 2017.

Graffam has more than 25 years of financial management and accounting experience; he currently serves as senior vice president of finance for DigitalGlobe Inc. During his tenure with DigitalGlobe, Graffam has led financial planning and analysis, investor relations and M&A functions.

Prior to DigitalGlobe, Graffam served as SVP of finance, North America and Asia Pacific, for Level 3 Communications from 2012 to 2013. He also spent 17 years with Comcast Corporation, serving as SVP of Comcast's DC and Baltimore Region and as SVP-finance, West Division during his tenure. He began his career in public accounting with Deloitte Touche.

“I'm very used to subscription businesses, recurring revenue businesses,” Graffam said. “Think about where MONI is going with more of the direct-to-home and the self-installed—that's what Comcast has been doing for years. So, I'm very used to truck rolls, and serving customers and … everything that goes with that, [like] high levels of transaction volumes.”

Graffam continued, “I'm not an expert in home security, but I have enough similarities between the cable business and … even the B2B business, such as [with] Level Three, that the learning curve will at least be mitigated as I move into home security monitoring.”

“We are excited to welcome Fred to the Ascent executive team,” Bill Fitzgerald, chairman and CEO of Ascent, said in a prepared statement. “Fred's skillset fits well within the existing finance organization and his broad range of experiences with recurring revenue businesses will serve our leadership team and business very well,” Fitzgerald said.

“Fred is an excellent addition to the MONI senior leadership team, bringing strong financial and public company experience and a background in the technology and telecom industries,” Jeff Gardner, president and CEO of MONI Smart Security, said the announcement.