If you don’t happen to know H&S Protection’s Mike Solomon, you’ll quickly be introduced to one of the sharpest wits in North America. Known for keeping his fellow employees laughing during early Monday morning operations meetings, Mike makes sure everyone gets a chuckle to start their week as he creates an environment that’s looser and more productive.

On his door is the following statement: “Thought of the day – A person who feels appreciated will always do more than expected.” That encapsulates Mike.

He may not want to let on about his softer side, but it lurks behind the biting humor, waiting to surface when helping others. His position at H&S as Operations Manager in Pewaukee means he’s the cog who ensures technicians are effectively assigned to projects; that the right equipment is available and on-site for installations and service calls; that troubleshooting a project goes seamlessly. He makes it happen. There’s no BS when it comes to getting the job done.

He described his job as creating tailor-made solutions for customers. “It’s not about what we ‘want’ to sell. It’s about what the customer wants to build. We build outside the box,” Mike explained.

Mike joined H&S 5 years ago after spending 14 years at Environmental Innovation, Inc., in a number of positions. He is married, with 2 kids, “one who is wonderful and one who is not,” he joked.

He stumbled onto H&S when, “I was out of work at the time and hadn’t thought about the security industry, but it turned out to be a good fit. The security industry is a good place to be regardless of which way the economy is headed.”

In his spare time, Mike joked that he likes to “rake a lot of leaves and lay on the couch and watch TV, particularly reruns of the Golden Girls.” He’s known for heavily supporting his kids’ sports teams and he “likes to play chess by myself.” He usually wins. But that’s Mike.

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.

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.

Life in the security industry for H&S Protection’s Lonnie Miescke can be described as “never a dull moment.” For 36 years she’s been focused on customer issues, and it keeps her on her toes — for 19 years at Central Control and the past 17 years at H&S Protection (previously known as Sentra Protective Systems).

The customers keep her hopping. When she started as a night shift central station operator at Central Control, she followed in the footsteps of a good friend who recruited her to the position. One night she found herself in a scary position.

“We used to stay in touch on 2-way radios. A guy I worked with – Harold – walked in on a break-in. He was hollering over the radio for us to call the cops as he tried to keep the bad guys in by pushing on the door, while they tried to push out. It was scary.”

“There were some spooky times back then, but we were also buddy buddy with the cops. That was always fun,” Lonnie laughed.

At Central Control, Lonnie answered phones when a customer’s alarm went off. She eventually moved up to a supervisory position.

“I still have nightmares about all the buzzing and humming that went on at the central station,” she chuckled. “But we had so much fun. Everything was manual. When a customer would close at night, a light would come on and we’d have to twist a button three times to close the alarm when they left the premises.”

Much has changed since then in the electronic security industry. Lonnie preceded H&S co-owner Steve Garritson at Central Control, but followed him to Sentra Protective when Steve left to start his own business, after he reached out to her.

At H&S, Lonnie continues to work closely with customers on many fronts. She inputs customer data, serves as the point person for customer inquiries to the Pewaukee office, helps people over the phone to work through issues and avoid a service call, and troubleshoots customer problems.

“The job is never boring. It’s never just one thing. There are a lot of moving parts. There’s always some excitement. I like the customers we have here. I can be buddy buddy with them over the phone,” she observed.

Lonnie enjoys heading up north in Wisconsin for relaxation to a cabin to “chill out, lay on the beach and float in the water.”

“The industry is a lot more complicated now. But there’s never a dull moment – then or now,” she said.

When you look at Jim Kurtz’s career at H&S Protection, you might call him a puppy with only 16 years on board. But, when you look at what he brings in terms of experience in the security industry, it’s way, way more. He’s been selling different types of security products and services for over 50 years in Wisconsin. He owned a company for 11 years, and worked for a large national company as well. “I’ve been one of those commissioned sales guys my entire career,” he laughed.

Jim enjoys meeting people on the job and designing residential and commercial systems for customers. “We give them peace of mind,” he said.

Before joining H&S, which was Sentra Protective at the time, Jim worked with current owner Steve Garritson. “Steve and the other owner at the time asked me to come work for them. And I said, ‘Once you get established.’ That was in 1997, and I joined them in 2001. Working for a large company was not my cup of tea, so I was glad to get back to a locally owned company.”

He likes the smaller business environment at H&S and the culture Garritson and co-owner Mike Horgan have created. “Decisions get made here quickly, not like the corporate world where they can bog down,” Jim said.

His favorite thing about his job is the “freedom available in what H&S allows me to do, and the freedom you get as a commissioned sales person. I’ve been in that type of position my entire business life.”

Kurtz is married to his wife Barbara, and they lost a daughter to cancer. They have a son Jeff, and 4 grandchildren. In his spare time, he likes to play cards, and sample restaurants in the Milwaukee area, as well as spend time with friends. After recent surgery to replace a knee, Jim is back up and active. “We also like to spend time in Florida during some of the colder months in Wisconsin. It’s good that our house is well protected by H&S when we are gone. You need to be careful today and you can’t tell everyone about your travel plans,” he observed.

Given his long-term industry experience, Jim said, “It’s nice to have people call you who remember you from years back. It’s gratifying that they remember and call you. I must be doing something right.”

Jim Kurtz has been doing a lot right for H&S, and we’re glad he continues to bring his smiling self to the office and our customers. He enriches our team, and is able to share his experiences inside and outside our walls to help others.

You don’t meet many people these days who’ve been with one company for 42 years. H&S Protection’s Harvey Churkey is one of them. As he laughingly put it, “I got to H&S by car,” but it could have been by air or sea. In his spare time away from the job, Harvey enjoys flying model aircraft and sailing. Harvey and his wife Caren keep their sailboat “Healing Time” 0n Lake Petenwell.  They have also sailed Lake Winnebago, and Lake Superior in Wisconsin. Harvey and a couple friends took on an adventure by chartering a boat and sailed form Sarasota to Sanibel Island (off the coast of Sarasota, FL). “It was a weeklong cruse, but didn’t get quite as far as we expected,” he chuckled.

Harvey came to H&S from Eau Claire where he served as a technician for Guardian. At the time, alarm panels were more basic, with just one zone. He came up with an idea for a 2-zone panel, rechargeable battery, an enter/exit function and delay, and met a guy who designed and assembled panels in Minneapolis. Guardian became an alarm equipment provider and Harvey was the service technician. He also helped in marketing and was involved in trade shows to help supply the new panels to other alarm companies.
Around that time, former H&S owner Ed Horgan was taking his first steps into the alarm industry. Harvey was troubleshooting some issues for Ed in the Stevens Point area, and asked his brother (who lived in the area), what he thought of living there. “He liked it,” Harvey said of his brother. When Harvey mentioned the possibility of moving to Stevens Point to Ed, “It was history after that,” Harvey said.

He came to H&S as a “jack of all trades. I was a security manager of one person,” he laughed. “We had a strong blend of security and fire services. We progressed from there and slowly hired people to install the systems.”

Harvey’s job now is primarily sales and the steps it takes to get the signature from a customer on the bottom line. “I also design the systems we install,” he added.

His favorite part of his position is seeing teamwork, the job well done from start to finish. “I like to see the customer smiling,” he said. “When you sell security systems, there can be a fear factor to be addressed with customers. I like that we give them peace of mind.”

Harvey enjoys the H&S environment: “You have the freedom to pursue your business and to the job without micromanagement.”

Along with his wife Caren, the couple have three children – Tony, Todd and Tina – and six grandchildren.

What’s the biggest change in the industry Harvey’s seen over the years? “It’s the network connection on systems – everything from cameras to alarms and fire. Everything is IP-based,” he said.

“We always try to look out for the customers’ best interests. H&S Protection is a great place to work. We have a good group of quality people,” Harvey observed.