Integrators '20 under 40' 2015—Jake Mrkvicka

Jake Mrkvicka, 37

Operations manager, Affiliated Monitoring

Milburn, N.J.

Fourteen years ago, Jake Mrkvicka moved East from Ohio to make movies. “It was an unlikely route into the security industry,” he said. A high school friend who'd gone to film school in New York convinced Mrkvicka (pronounced Merkvicka), who'd studied communications in college, to move to Brooklyn.

“It was a fun idea: Move to New York and make it big,” Mrkvicka said. However, he quickly discovered that “they weren't giving away movie jobs.” To pay the bills, “I took a job at Affiliated Monitoring as a customer services representative and lo and behold, 14 years later, I'm still here.”

Today Mrkvicka is operations manager for Affiliated. “Initially, I did not think I'd be interested in alarm signaling and the intricacies of a central station, but I am. [The security industry] got me,” he said. His work varies day-to-day as he helps “the alarm installing companies get their signals set up so we can see the signals clearly.”

Mrkvicka likes that his work is “constantly evolving, that new products are always coming out. We've got to be prepared for the new products that our customers are going to want. We have to be one step ahead. So, when someone calls and says, 'Can you monitor the 'New 2000?' [for example]' we can say, 'Absolutely.'”

The most exciting new technology in Mrkvicka's opinion is remote access to security systems via smartphone or other device. To attract young, talented people into the security industry he advises outreach to vocational and high school student to let them know about the industry.

“Let them know there are secure positions for you and your future.”