Today’s inductee into the SSI Industry Hall of Fame Class of 2026 is Ira D. Riklis, chairman and chief executive officer at COPS Monitoring. He joins Darryl Keeler, John Nemerofsky, Tricia Parks and one more security industry legend as the newest members of the ultimate Who’s Who in the sector.
The Ira D. Riklis Hall of Fame File
- Born 1954 in Minnesota, youngest of three children
- Both parents were raised in Tel Aviv and emigrated in 1947
- Father worked at Piper Jaffray; both parents taught Hebrew School
- Father generally credited with being the first to sell a bond below investment grade (e.g., a “junk bond”); he used this new form of currency to build a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, rising very high before crashing very hard
- Met the love of his life when they were 13 and 14; married at 17 and 18
- Told the marriage could never survive because they were too young; yet now married for over 52 years
- Blessed with two magnificent daughters, each of whom has an equally special husband
- Grandfather to seven wonderful grandchildren
- Earned a BS and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
- Initially went to work for his father but at 25 decided to go out on his own; this has proven to be a wise and prescient career choice
Why He’s on the List
- Struggling to get his business footing, experiencing failures and successes, came across COPS Monitoring
- Saw three highly attractive elements: 20,000 accounts, a home-brewed software program that was so powerful it’s still the kernel of our proprietary system and Jim McMullen, a remarkable unpolished gem
- When McMullen expressed desire to leave the alarm industry and move in new directions, structured an earnout that would force him to stay seven years; some 37 years later, he is still the president (We converted his earnout into common stock so that, each year, he gets an after-tax distribution equal to the total of that taxable earnout)
- During his tenure, company has grown by a factor of 125x to approximately 2.5 million subscribers
- Along the way, built a retail alarm company that grew to be the 25th-largest (measured by recurring monthly revenue of more than $1.1 million) in the U.S.; this was sold to ASG, now part of ADT
- COPS Monitoring was the “little engine that could,” becoming the centerpiece of business efforts; the alarm industry has been very good to his family and him
Keys to Success
“I was attracted to the alarm industry by the RMR initially.”
“It was early in the product lifecycle. Both the installed product and the monitoring product were very expensive. I felt certain the products would follow the normal product lifecycle, and the cost of both would drop, thereby massively expanding the potential size of the market.”
“The future would belong to those companies that could deliver a quality product efficiently. I was struck by the alarm business’ fragmentation and felt this meant I could bring sophisticated managerial methods to the industry.”
“Although we are essentially a call center, our employees feel a strong desire to make a career at our company. About 22% of our employees have been at the company for more than 10 years, with 3% over 25 years.”
“To sum all this up, one needs to identify their competitive edge. If you can’t clearly and crisply define your competitive edge, you don’t have one — and you won’t be able to compete successfully for long.”
Enduring Memories
“Attending the New York ISC in 1988, I think I saw two or three others wearing business suits. I suspected that there weren’t many MBAs in attendance. This confirmed my belief in the extreme fragmentation and dearth of managerial talent. Thus, I saw opportunity.”
“I decided that, while our product was dependent on technology, ours was not a technology company; rather, it was to be a human lifeline at the subscriber’s moment of great fear and anxiety. Every year at the holiday party, I swell with pride as we read out the citations for the Chairman’s Award for Excellence, recognizing the best of our employees’ actions to protect subscribers’ homes and well-being.”
Words of Wisdom
“Don’t look for wisdom from others. Be open to the opinions of others but, first and foremost, trust your own judgment. No one ever became a star by singing someone else’s song.”
Making Our Industry Better
“Our industry must strive to make our product easier, more intuitive, less likely to break down, with ‘five nines’ uptime and, most of all, unlikely to create false alarms. We must be good corporate citizens.”
Ira D. Riklis’ Hall of Fame Legacy
“I was once asked this question before a company retreat. I referenced the song ‘A Good Man’ by Emerson Drive. My hopes, dreams and goals are very well encapsulated by the lyrics of the song. As it relates to the alarm industry, consider these lyrics: ‘and always helped someone in trouble.’”
