20 Under 40

Kevin Sopha, 36Director of security and video operations, University of Wisconsin-Madison Police DepartmentMadison, Wis.Kevin Sopha has worked on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus for 16 years and says that a desire to help people is what brought him into the physical security space.Sopha, now the director of security and video operations for the school, working under the campus police department, is responsible for upgrading and maintaining the campus' camera system. “We had roughly...

Brandon T. Niles, 34 Director of operations, Acadian Monitoring Services Lafayette, La. Brandon Niles, now the director of operations for Acadian Monitoring Services, started at the company as legal counsel, joining the business directly out of law school. “I was so intrigued by what we were doing on the monitoring side that I spent a lot of time in the central station, and I kept asking a lot of questions. So, over the first one to two years, I got promoted to where I was a manager...

Michael Petrone, 36Director of project operations, Briscoe ProtectiveCentereach, N.Y.Michael Petrone is director of project operations at Briscoe Protective, a security company that specializes in designing custom fire alarm and security systems for commercial, industrial and institutional clients. In his current role he oversees and ensures that Briscoe's $3.5-million-worth of on-going projects are running efficiently and under budget, a task that he says “is multi-faceted and complex, and...

Ashley Raisanen, 31Business manager, WH International Response CenterRockford, Minn.Ashley Raisanen, now the business manager at WH International Response Center, started with the company as an overnight dispatcher in 2009, and has “pretty much ... worked every position on the way up,” she said.In 2013, she was promoted to a data entry specialist. She was promoted again in 2014 to be the day shift supervisor. In December of 2015, she assumed her role as the business manager.WH International...

Markus Scott, 35Chief guard dog, NVMC SolutionsAtlantaAs chief guard dog, Markus Scott's day-to-day role is guiding strategy and team development. “I spend most of my time focused on the technology future of our business, and finding talented people that can help us lead that future,” he said.“We describe ourselves as remote video surveillance and business intelligence company, because we are focused on more than just security,” Scott said. NVMC, which stands for National...

Steve Sinclair, 38Managing director, G4SJupiter, Fla.Steve Sinclair, who has been with G4S for 12 years, oversees the strategy, sales and operations for the critical infrastructure group for G4S Secure Integration, which is the technology integration division of G4S North America.“In my role, we have a center of excellence located in Willowbrook, Ill., where we develop policies, procedures, standardized documents, risks consulting, tactical consulting, system implementation, system engineering...

Jennifer Theobald, 34VP of operations, Rapid Security SolutionsSarasota, Fla.Jennifer Theobald, the VP of operations for Rapid Security Solutions, came to the security industry in an unexpected way.Theobald was a server in the city she still lives in, Colorado Springs, Colo.—the city where security software company Bold Technologies is based. “When I was in school, I was serving at a local bar and restaurant, and the leadership team from Bold would come in relatively regularly, and they...

YARMOUTH, Maine—Security Systems News is proud to recognize another class of promising young professionals with its “20 under 40” awards. Among this year's honorees are professionals from large security companies—including ADT, Securitas Electronic Security and G4S—as well as stand-out end users such as KeyBank, Harley Davidson and the Cleveland Indians. “We were really impressed by this year's 20 under 40 award winners,” Paul Ragusa, editor of...

Brandi Wilson, 39 Security manager, Wells Fargo Port Richey, Fla. Brandi Wilson didn't think her career would be in security when she began working as a bank teller 20 years ago, but an opportunity in 2001 to work in corporate security changed all of that. “Once I got into corporate security I had a great manager and leader at the time—I call her my mentor—who really just showed me the interesting things about security and gave me the reigns to learn and develop...

John Bekisz Jr., 31 Systems integration manager, Securitas Electronic Security Inc. Elmsford, N.Y. John Bekisz Jr. is a systems integration manager at Securitas Electronic Security Inc. (SES), where he manages the engineering and integration of technology systems for one of the company's infrastructure transportation projects. The project encompasses a variety of security technology systems including video surveillance, access control, intrusion detection, security systems management,...