PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Alan Gillmore pictured himself as a financial analyst, even though (or maybe because) he got some experience during high school doing low-level work for Cleveland-based Gillmore Security Services, a third-generation family-run business that dates back 55 years. Now he’s the new president of The Monitoring Association (TMA) as the organization celebrates its 75th anniversary during its annual meeting.
Gillmore, who succeeds Steve Butkovich, joined TMA’s board almost 10 years ago, serving as co-chairman of the membership committee. He’s learned more about the association’s overall operations by going to board meetings, where he got a better understanding about “how the organization operates,” he says.
“I became very interested and wanted to continue to learn more, advance my skillset on the board and just help the industry in any way that I could,” says Gillmore in an exclusive interview with SSI ahead of his official coronation as president during the annual member meeting.
Gillmore Takes the TMA Reins
Gillmore, president and owner for the family business, moved up the ranks of the TMA board, joining the executive committee as treasurer before being elevated to vice president four years ago. He is excited to take the helm as president and lead the association into the future.
“TMA has a rich tradition of advancing the professional monitoring space through advocacy, our public safety relationships and education,” says Gillmore. “Obviously, there’s a lot that goes into each one of those to make sure that we’re continuing to bring the best content and running the best programs and really being a best-in-class industry association, to make sure to add values value to our members as well as to the industry as a whole.
“We’re working on so many great initiatives that I want to continue too, including the ASAP-to-PSAP initiative, so I want to continue to invest and support and nurture that growth as that continues to thrive,” he says.
That includes “continuing to promote and evangelize AVS-01 and some of our new standards that are coming out,” says Gillmore.
“I want to make sure to continue to spread the good word on that and continue to make sure that that builds critical mass because I think that can have a huge impact on the industry as a whole,” he says. “Verified alarms is another very important topic for everybody in and around the alarm center space as well as the industry as a whole.”
Gillmore plans to continue working with TMA’s Alarm Industry Communications Committee and the advocacy arm of the association.
“There are some great initiatives going on with trying to build knowledge around right to repair and what we as an industry need to be doing, trying to focus on, continuing to build that out,” he says. “I also am really focused from a leadership standpoint on how we can better engage our membership.
“How can we bring more resources to bear to tackle a lot of these larger initiatives as well as how can we collaborate with our other industry association partners, ESA and SIA, as well as all of our public safety partnerships?”
Balancing His Responsibilities
Gillmore knows it will take some balancing to continue his leadership with his company business as well as his new role with The Monitoring Association.
“There are so many past presidents and so many people who are so active and do so much every day, that are always very happy to take a phone call and explain a concept,” he says. “Having such a deep bench of people to draw from has been extraordinarily helpful in getting up to speed and getting ready to take on this responsibility.”
“It’s a good amount of work. I’ve got a high respect for Steve as well as for the presidents that have come before me,” he says. “From an onboarding perspective, there’s a great training and onboarding structural process in place to make sure that I’m not just thrown in the deep end,” says Gillmore.
“I feel like I have exceptional support and it’s very well-organized and I have a very good understanding of what’s gonna be expected of me on the on the Gillmore Security side,” he says.
Gillmore Security has “been going through a very high growth phase so I’ve been spending a lot of my time just making sure that we’re building the appropriate infrastructure from a management team standpoint, trying to delegate nonessential responsibilities so I can focus a good amount of my time and efforts on TMA,” says Gillmore.
“But obviously, there’s definitely a little bit of balancing that goes into that stuff,” he says. “I obviously can’t just step entirely back, but I’ve tried to do the things that I could do to give myself the Gillmore support to be able to focus my time and effort with TMA to make sure we’re moving in the right direction.”
Gillmore Celebrates His Security Roots
Gillmore got his start in the security industry working for the family business as an installation helper when he was 15 or 16 years old.
“They put me up into the attics and do all the gritty stuff, just to torture the owner’s son a little bit, just to give them a realistic expectation of what we do and why we do it,” he says with a laugh. In college, he majored in business and started working as an investment banker after graduation.
“I thought that’s where my passion was going to take me,” says Gillmore. “After doing that for two to three years, it was becoming clear to me that was not really what I was supposed to be doing, even though I learned an incredible amount in a very short period of time.
“My dad was always very passionate about me trying to explore the opportunity (with Gillmore Security), so it seemed like a logical time and I went into it, saying, ‘I’ll try it. I don’t think it’s gonna work but I think this will make my dad really happy and I owe it to myself to at least explore the opportunity,’” he says.
“As many people in the industry have found, once you do this long enough, it kind of gets in your blood. At this phase of my career, I really couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” says Gillmore. “I love the altruistic mission and purpose to what we do. We help people. We help them feel secure. We save lives. We save property and really give our customers a lot of peace of mind. So I love that.”
Changes in the Security Industry
The security industry, like any others that are in the technology realm, are in the midst of an “exponential curve where things are changing,” says Gillmore. That’s a far cry from the first decade of his career in the industry, when things felt stagnant for most of that stretch.
“There are so many factors that could not have even really been contemplated back then: the impact that AI is having on our industry, the impact of cybersecurity issues and trying to make sure that people’s data and privacy is protected. It’s definitely a very rapidly changing environment,” he says.
“It’s an interesting landscape to try and navigate on a day-to-day basis and we’re on the smaller side of companies,” says Gillmore. “As a smaller company, it’s definitely something that kind of makes your head spin sometimes, just trying to make sure you’re doing all the right things and keeping track of where the trends are going and making sure you stay ahead of the curve.”
Gillmore Security does regular benchmarking to ensure it’s staying on track and staffers regularly attend industry conferences to stay on top of the latest trends. Being a longtime member of TMA has also helped the company streamline its operations and focus on what’s important.
“It’s a place for companies to come together and to navigate these changing environments together,” says Gillmore. “That’s been one of the most powerful growth engines for us, that accessibility and communication and great relations with other really smart companies in the industry.”
Gillmore and his wife Liz have twin 13-year-olds, Caitlin and Connor, and he enjoys spending as much time with them as possible, including playing pickleball, going to movies and traveling.
“If I didn’t do this job, I would try to figure out a way to be a very poorly skilled assistant professional in the racket sports realm,” he says, noting they serve not only as a way to stay in shape but also to escape from the hectic business world.
Gillmore Embraces TMA’s 75th Anniversary
Gillmore couldn’t be prouder to be taking over as TMA president as the association celebrates 75 years.
“It’s an institution with such an amazing legacy,” he says. “All the things that TMA has done early on defining the industry, what it’s done for central stations as it’s changed over the years to develop best practices and the government advocacy programs.
“I’ve derived so much great knowledge and built so many great friendships within the organization that really helped us to to get to to where we are today. I am exceptionally proud to be able to serve in this capacity during this sort of momentous occasion,” says Gillmore. “For an institution to not only survive, but thrive and be willing to change and adapt and grow and invest 75 years later, I think, is a truly special thing.”
