Petrow stands out

Pam Petrow stands out in the industry as one of just a handful of female CEO's of a leading security company.

Now, four years into her leadership as CEO and president of Vector Security, Petrow is being distinguished again, this time for winning the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for her region, the Pittsburgh-based company announced this week.

As the Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia award winner, Ms. Petrow will be automatically eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 national program, the winners of which will be announced in November, according to a Vector news release.

The EY award “honors distinguished entrepreneurs who demonstrate widespread success, a commitment to innovation and forward thinking and unwavering passion for business,” the release said. Former recipients have included CEOs, private capital investors and regional leaders of a wide range of businesses.

Petrow succeeded Vector's longtime president, John Murphy, after his death in October 2010. She formerly was Vector's EVP and COO.

In a prepared statement about her EY award, Petrow credited company employees and the community with the win. “Being recognized for this prestigious award is not only a testament to the dedication of our employees, many of whom have made serving our customers their careers, but also to the stability and pioneering spirit of the people and businesses in our communities,” she said.

Vector serves nearly 300,000 residential and business customers. The release said Petrow “challenges managers to learn what their direct reports do on a day-to-day basis and to adapt their management style to extract the best performance from their employees.”

It also noted that she “held leadership positions in a number of security industry associations and received a number of awards including the Public-Safety Communications Officials International President's Award and Central Station Alarm Association recognition for her outstanding contributions to the electronic transmission of signals between central stations and 911 dispatch centers. In 2012, Ms. Petrow was inducted into the Security Sales & Integration Hall of Fame.”

Pretty impressive!