Key Management & Leadership
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Mark Porterfield brings almost twenty-four (24) years of leadership experience in contract security services and law enforcement to Whelan. In his role, Porterfield oversees all contract security operations and service delivery programs. Porterfield leads, manages, and supports all existing regions within the organization and ensures that Whelan maintains consistent, high-quality service delivery to its customers while the company continues its aggressive geographical and vertical market expansion.
Most recently, Porterfield spent the last four (4) years in key roles with AlliedBarton Security Services. From 2006 to 2008, he served in a dual role as Vice President and General Manager of Government Services, a division he started for AlliedBarton, and Vice President and General Manager of the Mid-Atlantic Region. In these roles, he steered the company through the Safety Act Certification and GSA Service Schedule processes, while simultaneously adding significant volume to both divisions. Porterfield also served as South Atlantic Region Vice President - Operations & Training and Vice President of Operations. In these roles, he managed all aspects of the daily operations of a $400 million division spread across a seven (7) state region.
Before joining the contract security industry, Porterfield spent almost nine (9) years as a police officer and was appointed as the youngest Police Chief in Florida in 1992, a post he held through 1998.
Porterfield is actively involved in numerous organizations, including the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), the International Foundation of Protection Officers (IFPO), the American College of Forensic Examiners, the Coalition of Government Procurement, and the National Association of Security Companies (NASCO). He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Columbus University and an Associates of Science degree in Management with Applied Principles in Marketing and Technology from Kaplan School of Business.
Michael Basler serves as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President - Finance & Business Administration for Whelan Security. In this role, he is responsible for managing all accounting, finance, treasury services, risk management, business administration, management information systems, benefit administration, and corporate support activities of the company including all subsidiaries.
Basler has more than twenty-one (21) years of finance and management consulting experience. Prior to joining Whelan Security, Basler spent more than sixteen (16) years at Anheuser-Busch Companies, one of the world's largest brewers, working in Treasury and directly for the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He most recently served as Director, International Treasury and Risk Management where he was responsible for international credit facilities, currency hedging, banking systems and services, and cash controls. Before this position, he directed the company's U.S. based banking systems and services. He also has extensive capital markets and capital investment analysis experience. Before joining Anheuser-Busch, Basler was a management consultant with Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen & Co.
Basler has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Missouri - Columbia and a Master of Business Administration from Washington University. He is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP).
Catherine "Cathy" Ross brings more than twenty-six (26) years of management experience in the commercial and government sectors of public and privately held security organizations to Whelan Security. In her role, Ross's primary responsibility is the company's expansion effort in California. However, as a result of her experience, she will also be actively involved in strategic account services, national account development, quality assurance programs, corporate strategic planning initiatives, and the company's intended expansion efforts into federal government services.
Prior to joining Whelan, Ross held several key leadership positions with national and international security organizations. Most recently, Ross was Vice President - Global Business Development for Inter-Con Security Systems where she was responsible for all aspects of sales, marketing, and proposal development for commercial and government contracting opportunities. Ross also contributed to operations and human resource initiatives including operational support and oversight of national accounts and government contracts.
Prior to joining Inter-Con, Ross was President of the Security Services Division of Day & Zimmermann (2002 - 2006), one of the top ten (10) contract security companies in the United States. At Day & Zimmermann, Ross was responsible for all aspects of the security division including financial performance, operations, strategic planning, and business development.
Prior to joining Day & Zimmermann, Ross was Vice President - U.S. Operations at the Wackenhut Corporation (1988 - 2002), an international company with approximately $2.5 billion in revenues (in the U.S.) and more than 50,000 employees. At Wackenhut, Ross established the National Accounts Program to support Fortune 500 customers that represented 30% of the annual revenues of the security services division. Under her leadership, national account revenue increased 20% annually. In addition to the national accounts program, Ross managed the corporate staff that was responsible for supporting field operations throughout the United States.
Ross earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the University of South Florida. She is actively involved in the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) and was a former Director of the National Association of Security Companies (NASCO), and a former member of the International Security Management Association (ISMA). In addition, she holds a clearance from the Department of Defense and previously held a clearance from the Department of Energy.
Lori Perry brings nineteen (19) years of management experience in contract security services to Whelan Security. In her role, she is responsible for developing new and existing strategic partnerships for the company with a primary focus on the high-tech/bio-tech and corporate campus markets. Based on her wealth of experience in these areas, Perry is also actively involved in major account transitions and strategic account management.
Prior to joining Whelan, Perry held several key leadership positions with regional, national, and international security firms. She worked for The Wackenhut Corporation where she gained experience in Global Business Development and National Account Management in all market sectors, both domestic and international. During her long tenure with Barton Protective Services, she worked in business development and branch operations in Florida where the focus was serving premier residential and Class "A" high-rise customers until she was transferred to run the start-up branch in Silicon Valley. Throughout her tenure as Vice President and General Manager and ultimately her promotion to Senior Vice President - Northern California Operations, Perry earned the "Chairman's Club" distinction four (4) times and the most coveted "Entrepreneurial Team of the Year" award in her final year. During this same period, the Silicon Valley branch was awarded the "Meritorious and Outstanding Supplier of the Year" award by their largest flagship customer for exceeding scorecard performance and providing to them the "lowest cost of ownership."
Perry is actively involved in several civic and business organizations. Her civic involvement includes Red Cross Disaster Recovery Volunteer and fund raising for the Hibiscus Children's Center in her local community. She is currently an active member of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) as well as the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS). She is a Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and has held that distinction since 1997.
David Justice brings over ten (10) years of management experience in the private sector to Whelan and has nearly ten (10) years of professional law enforcement experience as well. After graduating as salutatorian and class president of his Police Academy class, he worked a variety of uniformed assignments. He was promoted to detective with the Austin Police Department in 1997, where he worked stalking/domestic violence cases and officer involved criminal cases. He also had training responsibilities and conducted training classes at both the Austin and Texas Department of Public Safety’s law enforcement training academies. Justice left the public sector in late 1999 to pursue his security consulting business full-time. Before joining Whelan in 2002, he focused his efforts on the third party recruitment of data and network security professionals.
Justice is a Board Certified Protection Professional (CPP). In addition, he has training and/or certifications including the following: Advanced Peace Officer, Private Investigator, Personal Protection Officer; and he has law enforcement training in hostage negotiation, interview and interrogation, collision reconstruction, narcotics investigation, and workplace/domestic violence. Professionally, he is active in several industry organizations including the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) where he serves on the Private Security Services Council, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), and the International Facility Managers Association (IFMA). Justice is a licensed Private Security Contractor in Texas and New Mexico; and he was named the recipient of the 2004 ASIS Foundation’s Allan J. Cross award.
In his role as Vice President, Justice is responsible for sales, marketing, and customer service programs in our south-central region which currently includes branch offices located throughout Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. In addition, Justice also assists with major account transitions and flagship account management.
Dan Twardowski is a graduate of Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, where he earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Finance and Economics.
In his role as Vice President, Twardowski is responsible for management of our St. Louis and Kansas City regions including senior management of our flagship office in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition, he has an active and influential role in any and all strategic, financial, and corporate governance issues and/or decisions within the company.
Working in the contract security industry for more than fifteen (15) years, Twardowski brings a wealth of experience to the organization. Under his leadership and guidance, the flagship office in St. Louis has grown by more than 200% and operates as the largest contract security office in the St. Louis Metropolitan area and one of the largest in the Midwestern United States.
Twardowski is an active member of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and the International Facility Managers Association (IFMA); and he represents Whelan Security within the National Association of Security Companies (NASCO). In addition, Twardowski is an active and current member of the Board of Trustees of Fontbonne University where he serves on multiple committees.
James Schwartz joined Whelan Security in 2001 as a Business Development Manager in St. Louis, Missouri. In that role, he was responsible for sales and marketing as well as management of a portfolio of key accounts located throughout the Midwest. Today, working from our Kansas City regional office, he serves as a Vice President. Prior to joining Whelan, Schwartz was a Client Services Manager and Assistant General Manager of an international contract security company. He has more than fourteen (14) years of experience in private security in the areas of operations management, customer service, financial accountability, training and development, and quality assurance.
Schwartz earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Southeast Missouri State University. In addition, he holds state licenses as a Private Security Contractor in Iowa and Arkansas; and he is an active member of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), the International Facility Managers Association (IFMA), and the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS).
In his role as Vice President, Schwartz is responsible for management of our Kansas City region which includes Western Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas.
Working in the contract security industry for more than ten (10) years before joining Whelan Security, Patrick Smith brings a wealth of experience to the organization. Prior to joining Whelan, Smith held several key management roles with local, national, and international contract security companies. Smith began his contract security career working for a locally owned firm in Minneapolis and then later moved to the Kansas City market with an international contract security agency. Smith’s most notable position was that of Regional Vice President for Barton Protective Services where he was responsible for the northern California region which included more than 2,500 security officers. While in that position, Smith developed expertise in downtown high-rise and corporate campus markets.
Prior to entering the security industry, Smith served six (6) years of honorable service in the United States Army Special Forces with multiple overseas deployments including a six (6) month combat tour of duty in Somalia.
In his role as Vice President, Smith is responsible for all contract security operations and service delivery programs in our north-central region which currently includes branch offices located throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, and Northern Illinois. He leads, manages, and supports all existing branch offices within the assigned region and ensures that Whelan maintains consistent, high-quality service delivery to our customers while the company continues its aggressive geographical and vertical market expansion. In addition, Smith also assists with major account transitions and flagship account management.
Steven Lisle started his career in the security industry as a Security Consultant working for Wells Fargo Guard Services in Des Moines, Iowa after earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Marketing from Iowa State University in 1995. In this role, Lisle was responsible for growth in Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska and Western Illinois. In 1998, Lisle relocated to Minneapolis where he represented Burns, Pinkerton, and ultimately Securitas servicing Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa. After ten (10) successful years, representing his company through mergers, acquisitions, structure changes, and re-branding, Lisle was recruited to Cincinnati, Ohio to become Director of Sales for CBS Personnel – Venturi Staffing Partners, a national human resource and professional placement service where he managed a team of sales professionals in multiple states throughout the Midwest.
During Lisle’s career, he has earned multiple "Winners Circle" and "Gold Club" awards and has been consistently ranked amongst the top producing Business Development Managers to include earning the #1 revenue producing spot at the world’s largest security corporation.
Lisle is a member of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), and the International Association for Healthcare Security Services (IAHSS). He is also trained in Professional Selling Skills and has been certified as a skilled negotiator by both The Bay Group and Achieve Global.
In his current role at Whelan, Lisle is responsible for leading the growth efforts of the north-central region, which currently includes branch offices located throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, and Northern Illinois, through personal strategic sales and development of branch leaders.
Carlos Villarreal serves as Senior Vice President – Commercial Real Estate Services for Whelan Security. In this role, he directly manages and oversees all high-rise security programs for Whelan’s commercial real estate customers throughout the country.
Prior to joining Whelan, Villarreal served as Vice President of National Security and Life Safety at Trizec, a real estate investment trust which owned and managed a portfolio of sixty-one (61) Class "A" office buildings totaling approximately forty (40) million square feet of space concentrated in seven (7) major markets in the United States. As Vice President of National Security and Life Safety, Villarreal was instrumental in developing proactive and comprehensive security programs, policies, and procedures designed to promote the safety and security of Trizec’s building tenants and properties. Villarreal also demonstrated his expertise, professionalism, and sensitivity as the Director of Security for Trizec Properties at the Sears Tower - before, during and after 9/11. At the Sears Tower, he was responsible for providing a comprehensive security and life safety program to more than 10,000 occupants of a mixed-use Class "A" super structure.
Prior to joining Trizec’s predecessor, TrizecHahn, in 1998, when the Company assumed effective control of management and leasing of the Sears Tower, Villarreal was the Director of Security for The John Buck Company. He had held that position since 1986.
A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Villarreal is a certified Health and Safety Instructor with the American Red Cross, a member of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), and a Certified Security Trainer (CST) with the Academy of Security Educators and Trainers. Villarreal served four (4) years as a Board member for the Illinois Security Chiefs Association and currently serves as the Vice Chair for the ASIS Commercial Real Estate Council.
Additionally, Villarreal developed "Corporate Security Officers’ Training," which received accreditation from the Illinois Community College Board in 1994 and "The Property Management Security Professional," which received state accreditation in 1998. Villarreal has an extensive background in emergency preparedness and response planning. Given his years of industry experience and his involvement in numerous real estate, security and related trade associations, Villarreal is a widely acclaimed and frequent speaker and media resource on matters related to national security and life safety, from terrorist attacks to natural disasters.
