Nemerofsky named CEO of Xentry Systems Integration

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Xentry Systems Integration, which was formed in January, today announced the appointment of John Nemerofsky as president and CEO.

Nemerofsky told Security Systems News that Xentry currently has a run rate of $27 million and he believes he can “grow the company in a short time organically and through acquisitions to an $80 [million], $90 [million], $100 million business.”

“Growth creates opportunity for employees and stability for the business and that's the opportunity I see here,” he said.

Most recently, Nemerofsky was SVP of sales and marketing for Stanley Security Solutions, a role he assumed when Stanley acquired Niscayah in 2011. Previously, Nemerofsky was founder and president of Security Services and Technology (SST), which was acquired by First Service in 2008. At SST, he led the company to $22 million in revenue in five years and expanded worldwide to reach $160 million in sales.

Since leaving Stanley several months ago, Nemerofsky consulted for integrators large and small and some of the largest manufacturing companies in the security industry. He was offered top leadership positions with some of those companies, but he said he was impressed by what he saw at Matrix and Xentry.

He liked the technology offerings (specifically Matrix' Frontier technology and work done by Jeremy Krinitt), Xentry's employees and getting to know a number of Xentry customers, which include U.S. Steel, the Cleveland Clinic and Texas A&M.

Earlier this month, Xentry acquired of Acree Daily Integrated Systems. Nemerofsky helped out with the due diligence in this acquisition. This deal brings additional customers and cross selling opportunities, he said. “We can go into our existing client base and sell CCTV, video, nurse call and fire alarm,” services and technologies that Xentry did not offer previously.

“It will help us be a better partner to clients, in some cases, we've had for 20 to 30 years,” Nemerofsky said. Xentry has embedded employees in many of those longtime customers.

What steps need to be taken to get a $27 million integrator ready to double or triple in size?

“You need to set up the right organizational structure inside,” he said. He noted that Xentry recently hired Mark Ring, “a terrific operations talent,” and will soon be announcing a new VP of sales. An infrastructure that is growth-ready is “critical” in all parts of the organization, he said, including engineering, project management, IT support, HR, finance.

Many integrators are “terrific at delivery and service but not sales, or they have acumen in all three but they're not really good at finance,” he observed. At Matrix, he said, he's fortunate to have a lot of talent and most of the correct organizational infrastructure in place. Now, it's a matter of filling in a couple holes.

Xentry has invested in a major ERP system and that alone is something Xentry can offer to entice an acquisition. “We can give them the infrastructure they need with the systems and HR department and financial reporting and IT support [for example…], all things that a smaller integrator can't [afford] to invest in.”

Holly Tsourides, CEO of Xentry parent company Matrix, has a couple of acquisitions in the pipeline, he said. Xentry expects to announce an acquisition in the near future.

Xentry is now a PSA Security member.  It serves customers in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, western Pennsylvania, Michigan and southern Florida. It is an authorized reseller of AMAG Technology, Ascom, Frontier Security and Edwards Fire & Security products.