Five Questions: Mike Wells

Mike Wells, who has been with Midwest Alarm Services for 13 years, was recently promoted to business development manager. He is responsible for managing the direct sales staff in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Nebraska for life safety products and services. Wells holds a NICET level II in fire alarm. Security Systems News asked him five questions.

Are you married? Any kids? Pets?

I've been married for 13 years and we have one son. We have two dogs, a Rat Terrier and a Min Pin [Miniature Pinscher].

What are some of your hobbies?

I do a lot fishing and hunting, and like to go up to Canada for fishing.

How did you first get started in the industry?

I was working for an electrical contractor pulling cable and there was a guy from Simplex there doing the fire alarm who we were pulling cable for, and that perked my interest. Shortly thereafter I responded to an ad in the paper from SimplexGrinnell, told them about my electrical background and they said I would be best suited as a fire alarm inspector, which I started to do for them in 2002.

What do you like most about the industry today?

The people—by far. Our core customers are in education (k-12 and college) and healthcare, so in sales I deal a lot with facility, maintenance and business managers, who are all just great people. I started out as a guy carrying a voltmeter and working with the guys who carry tool bags and now those are the people who are making decisions—so it has been kind of fun to grow up with them through the years.

Read any good books lately?

I just read Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, which is a fantastic book about putting in your 10,000 hours to be successful.