Dean Seavers' vision for GE Security

LAS VEGAS--In concise and reasoned fashion, new GE Security president and chief executive officer Dean Seavers outlined his vision for his new company in a one-on-one interview here in the GE meeting room at ASIS International. "Our goals and objectives line up with GE's nicely," he said. "We're going to talk about growth." Already an industry leader with a wide-ranging product platform generating roughly $1.2 billion in annual sales, GE Security will focus more on the end user under his leadership, Seavers said. "I start with the end user," he said, influenced strongly by his time at ADT and most recently as head of SimpexGrinnell, "and I quickly go to our channel partners, emphasizing installability and functionality in the design of products that are easy to service and easy on our partners. But I start at the end and then work my way back." He said this shouldn't cause any anxiety with channel partners, but should rather ease that anxiety as GE Security makes the end user smarter and more appreciative of the level of sophistication GE Security channel partners can offer. "As a customer of GE Security," he said, "when I was on the other side of the fence--and this is consistent with what I'm hearing from partners now--I thought of GE Security as having great brands; we have equity in the brands, and our customers are counting on us to develop solutions that make their lives easier ... As I looked at GE Security, I always thought of them as being best positioned to lead this industry." He emphasized GE's larger resources, such as its Global Research Center and 1,500 Ph.D.s, along with GE Security's wide range of products, from fire to residential intrusion to explosives detection. "The message to the dealer channel," he said, "from my perspective, is that I plan on doing a lot of listening, which I've been doing over the last three weeks. How can we be better? We're focused on actionable solutions. That's a huge focus for me and the rest of the leadership team."