Security Sales & Integration March 2022 - 36

SPECIAL REPORT
SSI Hall of Fame Class
of 2022
HALL FAME
INDUSTRY
OF
Why He's on the List
▶ Since the late 1980s, established as one of
industry's top financial and business figures,
first through multiple installation and monitoring
company executive roles and then in
leading security investing organizations
John Mack
Executive V.P., Co-Head
of Investment Banking
Group and Head of M&A
and Security Practice,
Imperial Capital
THE MACK FILE
▶ Born in Guatemala City,
Guatemala
▶ One of four siblings,
father was an exploration
geologist and mother a
homemaker
▶ Married with five children,
with oldest son working in
the security industry
▶ Earned undergraduate
degree from Stanford and
an MBA from UCLA
▶ Other honors include SIA
Sandy Jones Volunteer of
the Year Award (2016) and
recognized in the 2021
IFSEC Global Influencers
in Security and Fire
▶ In Guatemala, lived on a
coffee farm until age four,
then moved to Australia
until age nine where he
attended the Church of
England Boys School
▶ Says if career had taken a
different path would have
toiled in solar energy, which
he pursued at Stanford
▶ Other interests include
surfing, golfing, skiing,
fly fishing and adventure
travel
▶ Served as CEO and on Board of Protection
One, then the nation's second-largest security
systems and monitoring provider; also
held positions of CFO, chief strategy officer
and executive V.P. of business development
▶ At Protection One, during 10-year span
involved in 200+ acquisitions and oversaw
growth from approximately 30,000
subscribers and $17M in revenue to more
than 1.6M, $600M and enterprise value
over $2B
▶ Before Protection One, was a senior
executive officer with Westec Security
▶ Developed Security Investor Conference
(SIC), now in 19th year as premier event
gathering select firms to present positioning
and growth plans to investors and leaders
▶ Serves as SIA treasurer and on its Executive
Committee; also a TMA Board member
▶ Frequently speaks at industry events to
share data and perspective on trends, valuations
and opportunities
Keys to Success
" My background as a business entrepreneur
and security company operator I believe makes
me a more successful investment banker
because I have better appreciation for what
my clients need, as I have been in their role
before. In general, I attribute my success to
entrepreneurialism and hard work. Some of
the challenges during my years at Protection
One were finding adequate financing to grow
our business and working hard to finding new
sources of debt and equity capital to support
the business.
" Les Gold [also an SSI Industry Hall of Famer]
was one of my mentors in the industry and
he taught me to greatly appreciate and abide
by different regulators who we were involved
in the industry. Any time there might be a
problem in this regard at Protection One or
later with my clients at USBX or Imperial, Les'
sage advice was always to reach out to the
right individuals and 'work it out.' This turns
out to be a great approach to problems in the
security business and life. "
36
Security Sales & Integration MARCH 2022
In his leisure time, John Mack, shown with wife
Nicole, enjoys adventure travel, likely inspired by
his father who was an exploration geologist.
Conference Builds Investor Confidence
" Many companies in the industry have used our
Security Investor Conference as a platform to
facilitate introductions and discussions to new
financing and investments, M&A opportunities
and develop strategic alliance and business
elopements. Over the years I have promoted the
security industry to the investment community
to increase the profile of the industry and, I
believe, ultimately increasing the success of the
industry by attracting investment capital. "
Industry Improvement Insights
" Security dealers and integrators have been
slow to adapt and grow their businesses and
to anticipate the 'as-a-service' model. There's
a lot of room for improvement in understanding,
anticipating and adopting those models.
I also think there's been a bigger reticence to
adopt cutting-edge technology in our industry
as fast as other industries. The same would
apply to suppliers of security technology
solutions. Manufacturers have been slow to
develop, adopt and promulgate state-of-theart
technology to security solutions. "
securitysales.com
Pitfalls Taking Protection One Public
" The roadshow to take Protection One public
in 1994 lasted more than three weeks and was
very challenging to complete. We finally got
our keystone large equity commitment from
the investor Scottish Widows, a U.K.-based
pension and life insurance fund, after a long
night of drinking with the investor representative
at an investment banking conference. He
remained one of our most stalwart investors
following the IPO. "
2022
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Security Sales & Integration March 2022

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