AvantGuard names new president

OGDEN, Utah—AvantGuard on June 29 announced changes in its executive team; Justin Bailey, the company's COO, will also be its president, and former president Josh Garner will retain his role and title as AvantGuard's CEO.

“This transition's been, in some ways, just a really quiet transition for us,” Bailey told Security Systems News. “For more than a year now, I've been responsible for the day-to-day activities at AvantGuard, just as the chief operations officer.”

The planning for the transition has been in works for more than a year, Bailey added. “Kudos to Josh for planning it, and I think it speaks just to what a great team we have at AvantGuard, that everybody's in their role and we've got a lot of stability with our senior leadership.”

Bailey said that the internal response at AvantGuard was that the transition made sense. “I've been wearing the hat, just without the title,” he said.

The new title will “communicate clearly [that] when people need to talk with the day-to-day leader at AvantGuard … that's me,” Bailey said.

Garner, in his role as CEO, will be transitioning to a more forward-looking role. “Having Justin take the reins as president allows me to focus on more strategic initiatives.”

Garner founded AvantGuard within his family's legacy business, Mountain Alarm, in 2002. He later purchased AvantGuard as an independent business in 2008. Garner is also the owner and CEO of PERS manufacturer Freeus.

Apart from the role changes, AvantGuard is currently remodeling its headquarters here; a tour of the newly remodeled facility is on the agenda for the upcoming PERS Summit to be held in Park City, Utah. “The paint will still almost be fresh. So, we're thrilled that the timing of the completion is going to [coincide with] the PERS Summit in late September,” Bailey said.