Five Questions: Rich Cowan

Rich Cowan is Dynamark's new director of sales for the western U.S., “basically, everything west of Texas,” as he described it. “My job is to introduce Dynamark to the western United States,” he said, a territory where the company is less prevalent. Prior to this role, he worked for COPS Monitoring for 12 years. Security Systems News caught up with Cowan, based out of Gilbert, Ariz., and asked him five questions.

Have you always lived in Arizona?

No. I was born and raised on Long Island, spent about 20 years in southern New Jersey, and I've been out here now for six years.

What do you like about where you live?

I always liked Arizona. My family used to vacation out here when I was a little kid. I like the heat, and I like dry heat. I like to golf. I like the sunshine, and Florida was a little too humid, so Arizona seemed to be the place to come.

What's something your coworkers might not know about you?

My new coworkers at Dynamark really don't know a lot about me, because I've only been here a month, and only spent half a day in the home office. They may not know I'm married and have an 8-year-old, as well as five older kids from a previous marriage.

What are your hobbies or interests?

I'm a sports fan, coached high-school basketball back on Long Island. I love football. � Unfortunately, in football, I follow the Cleveland Browns. And now, since I've been out here I've been I've become more of a Cardinals fan.

What was the best book you read recently?

I read a lot—a lot of fiction. I try to sprinkle in business books every third or fourth one. Picked up a book a long time ago, that I've now stayed with for the whole series, by John Sanford. It's called the Prey series; the first one was Rules of Prey. It's basically a detective in Minnesota who solves murder mysteries. He puts out a new book every year, so every year I get a new one of those to read.