Guidepost Solutions announces leadership changes

NEW YORK—Guidepost Solutions, a global leader in investigations, compliance and security, named John P. Torres COO of its Security and Technology Consulting group, a newly created position in response to the company's continued growth of its security services. The company also hired security consultant veteran Ed Batchelor to lead its Chicago office.

“We wanted to create this new COO position because we had continued confidence in the growth of the market, and John Torres is someone who is an exceptional leader, and he and I have worked together for a number of years and I know he can bring continued synergies to the organization and help drive enhanced efficiencies,” Guidepost's CEO Julie Myers Wood told Security Systems News. “We are also very excited about Ed Batchelor coming into the Chicago market, and Ed's experience and profile will really help our company significantly expand our operations in the Midwest.”

In terms of growth, Wood said the company has seen tremendous growth in its security business over the last couple of years, and she sees that continuing going forward.

“There is just a huge demand for quality systems integration and design in the security space, as well as for the development of global security operations centers,” she explained. “The many potential terrorist and other events around the world have caused security to be a matter of heightened awareness, either when planning public events or when designing a building.”

While Guidepost is primarily focused on commercial business, Wood said the company is getting an increasing number of Police departments, city, state and government offices that are interested in what Guidepost can do in terms of security services or designing security. “That is a growth area for us,” Wood said.

Guidepost is also seeing tremendous growth in its monitoring, compliance and investigative work, “so across the company we have been bringing in senior leaders and industry experts to try and meet the demand,” said Wood. “I think you will see in the coming weeks that we have a series of press releases for several key senior hires that we are bringing in at various places across the company, and that is just to meet the demand of our clients so we can service them better.”

With headquarters here, Guidepost Solutions maintains offices in key markets including Chicago; Dallas; Honolulu; London; Los Angeles; Oakland, Calif.; Palm Beach, Calif.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Francisco; Seattle; Singapore; and Washington, D.C.