Five Questions with VIVOTEK’s Alan Green

SAN JOSE, Calif.—VIVOTEK’s Director of Sales, North America, Alan Green, shares about life, best advice ever received, how he got into the industry and more with SSN.

ARE YOU MARRIED? ANY KIDS? ANY PETS?
Married to a highly intelligent woman who works for one of our local Sheriff’s Departments as a 911 Communications Officer. We have a college-aged daughter majoring in math, minoring in education at the University of Florida…Go Gators! We also have two rescue dogs at home along with our daughter having one with her at school (apartment not dorms). [It’s okay, we wouldn’t tell anyway; we’re dog lovers too!]

WHAT’S SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOU THAT YOUR COWORKERS MAY NOT KNOW?
I once spent a summer playing tenor saxophone for the local touring company of the Broadway show, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVERY BEEN GIVEN?
Don’t exaggerate or fudge answers … if you don’t know the answer to something that someone asks, go find out so you both learn something. Too many people answer with something just for the sake of doing so, but customers know when someone’s full of it and lose faith in that person because of it.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO JOIN THE SECURITY INDUSTRY?
I came out of the personal computing segment when everything video- or imaging-related was referred to as “multimedia” tools. I had worked for a couple of the major Japanese manufacturers and been on the bleeding-edge of imaging technology at that time, mixing analog video, digital photography and early-stage compression technologies. I looked at adjacent markets and made the move into security just as it was getting ready to make its own transition from switches to multiplexors.

WHAT BOOK, PODCAST OR MOVIE WOULD YOUR RECOMMEND TO OTHERS AND WHY?
When I have time, I tend to lean toward sci-fi and something that focuses on the near future. I like to see how someone blends their vision with the rooted reality of today.