Defender's Boyce promoted to CEO

INDIANAPOLIS—Jim Boyce has been promoted from president to president and CEO of Defender, a provider of residential security and home automation services and the largest ADT dealer in the country.

Defender's founder and former CEO, David P. Lindsey, will now serve as chairman of the board.

Boyce told Security Systems News he will focus on the company's continued growth, working off the momentum from last year when it serviced 200,000 accounts. He also will work to keep up and expand the company's philanthropic efforts and its ambitious training program, he said.

“We work hard, we're competitive winners, but I get to do this,” he said with enthusiasm. “I now get to lead this fabulous, growing, God-centered company.”

Boyce has been associated with Defender, based here, for more than four years, first as a board member, then as COO, then as president. The company's success last year under his leadership led to his promotion, Lindsey said in a prepared statement.

"We have tremendous confidence in Jim to continue Defender's growth trajectory and live out our purpose of growing leaders. He has been instrumental in the growth of our company, and his efforts have been a true embodiment of our cultural ideals," Lindsey said.

“It's a calling,” Boyce said. “It's easy when you feel you are called to do something. We really believe we are called to grow and inspire people.

“In the last couple of years we have changed from a giving company to a company of givers,” Boyce said. He noted Defender's charitable work through its Defender Gives Back program, which provides security solutions to needy families, and through the Youth With a Mission organization, which, among other endeavors, builds homes for those in need. Defender and its employees are involved in a number of other charitable activities as well.

Defender also will continue to expand its employee training program and its thrust into the home automation market, he said. “The telephone is to the smartphone/iPhone as security is to the smart home or (ADT's) Pulse,” he said. “People use their smartphones for a lot more than just a telephone. That same thing will happen with the smart home. Security is the wave it will ride in on.”