Condo Media - December 2016 - 38

Volunteer Spotlight

Rest Assured

Security Expert Christopher R. Lanni Shares the Wisdom of His Career
The condominium industry in the U.S. dates to the
middle of the last century, but there's one industry
concern that people didn't worry about much until the
events of Sept. 11, 2001: security.
One person who has been focused on security
throughout his long career-especially for residential
properties-is Christopher R. Lanni, CPP, CMCA, AMS.
As an employee of Bostonbased Barkan Management
Company, Inc. AMO, he
has managed security and
resident services for Harbor
Towers Condominium
on the city's waterfront
since 2002. It is a large
urban complex of 624 units
distributed between two
towers and housing 1,100 to
1,200 residents.
He also serves as Barkan's
residential risk advisor, assisting the company's entire
portfolio of roughly 130
properties, as well as buildings under development,
with issues of security,
safety, risk, and loss control.
In addition, he owns an independent consulting firm,
Secure Residential Services, LLC, of Concord, Mass.,
which helps primarily residential properties with security consulting, risk assessments, investigations, staffing
assessments, and more.
To Lanni, condominium complexes are "very much
a town unto themselves-or in some cases, even a little
city," as he puts it. "These are people's homes. Think of
anything that might happen-illness, injury, domestic
issues, the whole gamut. These are very much everyday
occurrences in residential buildings. It's very different
from commercial or other kinds of settings."
Technology is a key piece of building security, and
Lanni was instrumental in helping to leverage existing
technology at Harbor Towers to create a commercialgrade wireless network. With this technology, residents
are now notified in real time at various locations around
the property about maintenance issues, events, even the
distribution of packages-the property receives upward

of 30,000 a year! The project earned Harbor Towers the
CAINE Excellence in Service Award for Communications in 2013. "We have a really good board, and this
is a good example of collaboration," says Lanni. "The
residents are very, very pleased."
Hugh Shaffer, CPM, PCAM, of Barkan, who serves
as general manager of Harbor Towers, also credits
Lanni with helping to, in his
words, "get the property to
a place where residents felt
more secure" after Sept. 11.
"He had a whole command
center installed and built as a
direct response to 2001," he
says. "Chris is truly a one-of-akind individual in terms of his
ability. I'm fortunate to have
him here."
Lanni also generously shares
his expertise with others in
his professional niche. The
Association of Residential
Security Directors (ARSD) is
a Boston-based group of about
30 security professionals,
including vendors who provide
security-related resources such
as staffing and technology, and
individuals who work directly
with property management firms to provide security
to residential facilities. The group gathers regularly
to talk about challenges, share ideas, and benefit from
guest speakers. As ARSD's current president, Lanni has
advocated opening the group to delegates from related
industries-the first being a delegate from CAI.
"Even without the title, Chris has always been a
leader," says John Fratolillo, New England regional
vice president of SecurAmerica of Boston and a past
president of ARSD. "His career has always been very
focused on the residential side, and I consider him
a subject-matter expert in the vertical of residential
security."
Lanni enjoys sharing that expertise with CAI and others. "[ARSD] is an exceptionally great avenue for idea
exchanging, problem solving, and sharing resources and
such," he says. "It's been a really enjoyable journey to
have it as part of my career."

CHRISTOPHER R. LANNI

CONDOMEDIA

Condo Media - December 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - December 2016