John Murphy
SSI Hall Of Fame: 2010
Current Status
President/CEO, Vector Security
Why He’s on the List
- One of most successful and highly respected business leaders in the security industry, equally committed to industry associations and best interests
- Influential and inspiring leader who brought foundation in finance and investment to the security industry and instilled professionalism
- Management experience includes structuring and integrating more than 200 acquisitions, involving more than $1 billion
- As president of Vector Security since 1991, has guided and grown business into one of industry’s elite security systems and monitoring providers
- As president of CSAA was instrumental in joining with NBFAA to launch ESX show
- Member of Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC) addressing matters like central station reciprocity and radio communications in alarm signal transmission
Keys to Success
“Ironically, both my success and my early challenges were related to getting the right people in place. Early on, I hired the smartest, most experienced people believing that I could instill our culture within them. Later on, I learned to hire those with the highest probability of similar culture and commit to train them to be the best and the brightest leaders for Vector.”
Most Memorable Moments
“No one is successful in isolation or alone. Success is always derived from teamwork and success, so my most memorable events should be interpreted as ‘we’ and not me. But they include Vector winning the first Police Dispatch Quality Award given by the police department, and we also won the False Alarm Reduction Award presented by FARA [False Alarm Reduction Association]. We then also won the first Central Station of the Year Award given by CSAA. That’s a triple crown that I don’t think will be easily duplicated.”
Building a Leading Business
“The key thing I realized about this industry is that attrition and the cost to replace those accounts is a key driver of profitability, so we focused on long-term quality service to help reduce attrition. The other unfortunate realization is there are still too many investors/owners who virtually ignore the cost to create or replace RMR because they believe there is a greater fool who will bail them out.”
How Things Have Changed
“I believe the increased level of management sophistication and collaboration, and especially trust among the industry associations, as well as interdependent partnership with public safety organizations, has changed the industry in very positive directions. This has resulted in a stronger, more credible industry that has investor appeal to banks and other financial institutions to provide growth capital; a remarkable level of cooperation among most, not all, the industry’s leading companies to control false dispatches; and the realization that competing solely on price makes the service a commodity rather than a differentiated quality service.”
What People Might Not Know
He wrote and got ANSI approval for NBFAA’s Remote Station Monitoring Standard. Says if his career had taken a different path he would have continued as an investment banker. “If I had it to do over, I would have started to play golf 50 years earlier. The first time I ever played was an AIREF golf tournament.”
Reaction to Being Inducted
“I am flattered and humbled to join a group that includes my friends Ralph Sevinor, Mel Mahler and Lou Fiore.”
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About the Author
Scott Goldfine
Scott Goldfine is the marketing director for Elite Interactive Solutions. He is the former editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He can be reached at [email protected].
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