Rapid Response hires Hertel, plans new central in West

SYRACUSE, N.Y.—Morgan Hertel, who recently stepped down as vice president and general manager of Mace CS, has joined Rapid Response Monitoring as VP of operations and is heading the company's effort to build a new central station in the West.

Hertel, a 30-year industry veteran, had been with Mace CS since 2009, when he was named director of operations of the company's newly acquired wholesale central station in Anaheim, Calif. He said he left Mace in late January after having “hard conversations” about his role there.

“I took a month off and took care of some personal issues, then talked to some software developers and made the decision to move to Rapid,” Hertel told Security Systems News. Mace Security International announced his departure in a March 12 news release.

Hertel said the original concept for Mace's central station was for it to serve as an “incubator” to develop software services. But the business plan changed over time, he said, and the company began focusing on the facility as a profit center.

“That wasn't what I signed on for,” Hertel said. “It's not the fault of Mace; it's just the direction that they wanted to take. I made the decision to bow out gracefully.”

In his updated LinkedIn profile, Hertel cites the resources available to him at Rapid, including “a huge IT and technical staff and one of the most educated and talented operations and finance groups consisting of almost 400 staff members.”

“Rapid has a very large software development department,” he said. “If we want to develop a product or service, we just do it. That was really the decision for me. How can I do what I want and have an impact?”

Among the projects Hertel is working on for Rapid, based here, is construction of a new central station in the western United States. He said the company is looking at sites in California and Arizona, with work to begin sometime in the next year.

“The one thing Rapid doesn't do is cut corners,” he said. “It will be a full-fledged central, not just a redundant backup, about 20,000 to 30,000 square feet.”

John McCann, CEO and president of Mace CS, said Neil Budhdev is serving as interim general manager of the Anaheim central station. Other personnel also have assumed new responsibilities in the wake of Hertel's departure, McCann said.

“It's an opportunity for other people to step up and they have, which has been great,” he told SSN.