Jim Hull, the Founder, CEO, and President of Monitronics, recently announced that he will retire at the end of March of this year. Upon retirement, Hull will serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the company. His retirement ends a long and memorable career that includes more than 20 years in the security industry.
As a young man, Hull began making his mark in business after graduating from Michigan Technological University. In May 2002, as recognition of his professional success, Hull was selected into the university's prestigious Electrical and Computer Engineering Academy. Upon graduation, he joined Control Data as a Computer Development Engineer and subsequently held positions of General Manager of the European Systems Division and General Manager of the Corporate Planning and Analysis Group. Hull then went on to hold executive positions in other companies, including Vice President of Operations for Litton Medical Systems and Vice President of Operations in North America for Parker Pen.
In 1984, Hull entered the security industry at Network Multi-Family Security. As President, he built the company from concept to the industry's dominant provider of multi-family security, with more than 150,000 monitored security systems installed in multi-family projects in 35 states. Hull also served as Chairman of Financial Security Services, Inc. (FSS), where he assisted in the establishment of a successful company that provides collateralized financing to the security industry.
In 1988, from an original idea he jotted as notes on the back of an envelope as he traveled on an airplane, Hull developed a business plan and formed Monitronics International, Inc. The innovative concept behind this soon-to-be high-volume alarm monitoring company would focus on three objectives: find high quality dealers, purchase high quality customer contracts from those dealers, and provide high quality service to the customers.
The formula for Monitronics worked and worked well as the company began to grow rapidly. Monitronics was named to the Inc. 500 list of Fastest Growing Private U.S. Companies for a record-breaking seven consecutive years. At the end of 2005, the company served approximately 485,000 subscribers nationwide. In terms of residential accounts, Monitronics has become the fourth largest residential security company in the industry.
In November 2005, Hull was a speaker at the Securing New Ground Conference in New York. In a session called "Meet the Trailblazers," he was introduced as a pioneer in the security industry before providing a speech on his visions of the future for the alarm business.
"I have been blessed with a very successful career and have a lot to be thankful for," said Hull. "I have had the good fortune to be supported by a great number of very special people and to all of them I want to convey my sincere thanks."
Beginning the first of April, the current Vice President and COO, Mike Haislip, will assume the role of President and CEO of Monitronics.
For more information on Monitronics International, Inc., visit www.monitronics.com.
