H&S Protection Helping with Financial Literacy

For many years, H&S Protection’s Stevens Point, WI office has participated in the United Way. Since our merger in 2007, our Pewaukee, WI joined the annual giving program. The three pillars of United Way – education, health and financial stability for those in need – resonate with H&S owners Steve Garritson and Mike Horgan.

This coming year, financial stability is a key focus for the United Way chapters served by H&S. Steve and Mike are pleased to see that focus. “We’ve come full circle. In the past, the programs addressed health and educational issues. Now it’s financial stability for the community. We believe this has a great, necessary and positive impact on the communities we serve,” Steve said.

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A motivating factor for H&S to participate in United Way has been their good results. “I’m impressed with United Way in terms of the programs for local communities. There’s no better example of your dollars going to a successful local program. That’s why we initially reached out to participate,” Steve explained.

“Their programs are well-rounded, especially given the high percentage of dollars that work their way back into the community. We’re also impressed with United Way volunteers. The people who come in to talk with us are knowledgeable and passionate,” Steve added.

Last year, H&S’s Pewaukee office was recognized as a “Partner” by the Milwaukee/Waukesha United Way chapter. That designation was given to businesses contributing $2,500-$4,999 for the year. H&S gives a 100 percent match for every employee contribution.

Steve and Mike actively encourage employee participation. “We have close to 100 percent full participation in the program from our people,” Steve said. The Stevens Point office has had 100 percent participation for three years running.

H&S contributions go to the Portage County, WI and Milwaukee/Waukesha United Way chapters.

“Find a Problem and Solve it” — that’s H&S’s Jeff Lukasavige

Jeff Lukasavige likes finding problems. Then he enjoys solving them.  That puts him in a great situation with H&S Protection as Operations Manager out of our Stevens Point, WI office.  “I keep the trains running on time, hopefully,” he chuckled.

Though Jeff has only been with H&S two years, he has a strong work background from previous positions dealing with field and support services, particularly with Sentry Insurance, where he was employed for 28 years and served as Director of Corporate & Field Services.  When the downturn hit the U.S. economy in 2009, his position was eliminated, and he took a position in the assisted living industry for five years.

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But H&S was lurking in the background.  Jeff had worked closely with H&S employees Harvey Churkey and Dennis McNamara while at Sentry, and was instrumental in the design and deployment of access control and identity badging  at all Sentry offices across the country.  Jeff presented the conceptual design and its benefits to senior executives in Stevens Point, and the system was approved and deployed nationwide.

While in his position in the assisted living field, Jeff saw an ad placed by H&S for a customer relations/service position. He was intrigued and called Harvey, who then set Jeff up to meet with H&S Co-Owner Mike Horgan.  “Based on my experience, skills and potential, Mike hired me for the position.  Since then, I’ve been promoted to the Operations Manager position.”

In his current role, Jeff keeps field operations humming smoothly.  That entails juggling multiple priorities – project management, scheduling system installations and technicians, ensuring the proper amount of labor is allocated to each project, and ensuring the right parts are at the right place at the right time.

“I like the people and the leadership at H&S.  You’re not just a number, and the leaders are respectful of everyone’s talents and what they bring to the table,” Jeff said.

“My job is a daily challenge, and I enjoy technology.  It’s like a puzzle, and I like putting the pieces together.  I thrive in that environment and am accustomed to applying a logical deductive reasoning process to see if I do something, what will be the result of that,” he added.

Jeff is married to his wife Monica, a licensed daycare provider for 35 years.  They have four children and 7 grandchildren.

In his spare time (“There hasn’t been a lot of spare time the past year,” he laughed), Jeff enjoys reading, music and playing the piano.  “Actually, I enjoy developing technology skills in my spare time, looking at software and finding viable solutions for problems.  That’s what it’s all about – finding the problem and solving it,” Jeff observed.

In the years ahead, Jeff sees video surveillance replacing older, more traditional alarm systems.  “There’s a huge future for video surveillance because of all the smart features evolving in cameras.”

Jeff also harks to the assisted living industry to project that baby boomers retiring in the U.S. will increasingly look for ways to continue living independently longer, and the security industry will play a role in that.  “People want to stay in their homes and age in place, and with the technology evolving, seniors will be able to stay at home and their kids can be confident their parents will be safe.  It’s a huge industry change,” Lukasavige predicted.

Saved by an H&S System

We keep a bulletin board posted with notes when one of our customers deters a crime with their H&S system, or our system helps alert law enforcement to illegal activity. Over the past year or so, a lot of post-it notes have gone up on that bulletin board.

The board is there to remind us of what we do: Protect the lives and property of others. That’s important to us. It’s why we do what we do. Our owners, Steve Garritson and Mike Horgan, got into the security industry because this mission to help others drives them.

When you seek the services of a security company, you must trust them. We come into your business or home to do an analysis, provide a quote and hopefully secure your support. If you can’t believe and trust a representative of that company, then there is no hope for a successful transaction. That’s another major reason we pride ourselves on the people we hire – we look closely at resumes, the background of the individual and their character. To be part of our team, you must be rock solid.

Read some of our past blogs on our employees. If you look at a common thread in what they have to say about H&S, it’s that they enjoy working here because they get to do important things by helping to protect others. That’s a driving force for our business, and we hope that you see that when we install one of our systems for you.

Our “Saved by their H&S System” bulletin board reflects who we are. It’s there to remind us in a positive way that what we do is important to the lives of others. We won’t ever lose that.