Women in Security: Suzie Nye, AvantGuard

OGDEN, Utah—Suzie Nye, the vice president of operations for AvantGuard Monitoring Centers, has been with the company for 27 years.

Nye started as a part-time dispatcher in 1990. Following that role, she became the central station manager, managing the company's Ogden office as well as its Tacoma, Wash., office. She next rose into her role as VP of operations for the company's offices in Ogden, Tacoma, and Rexburg, Idaho. AvantGuard closed its Tacoma office in 2012, she said, and she remains focused on the Ogden and Rexburg locations.

“My main focus is on processes; making sure that we have the processes and procedures in place to run an efficient central station and an efficient dealer care team,” Nye said.

“We're really starting to dig into the KPIs with metrics and focusing more on the metrics side of things and making sure that we're efficient,” Nye said. She is also looking at ways to improve the dealer care team, she added, to ensure that dealers have the support and customer service they need.

Nye got her start in the industry through a friend, “I've been in love with it ever since. It's just a very � fun and exciting industry, and I love how it changes.”

There could be a stronger focus on women in the industry, Nye suggested, such as encouraging female support and participation at industry events. “A lot of the conferences we have here in Utah, you walk in there and most of [the attendees] are men,” Nye said. “Maybe it's time we have some women start coming to those associations and � just getting involved and being part of that.”