Washington, DC— June 17, 2013 — TorchStone Page Inc. today announced that internationally-renowned security expert Chuck Vance has joined the company’s board of directors. Vance, who has been called the “father of modern executive protection,” founded and ran Vance Executive Protection, later Vance International, from the 1970s until selling the company in 2003.
“Chuck is deservedly celebrated throughout our industry for the simple reason that he essentially helped to establish our industry,” said Eljay Bowron, chairman of TorchStone Page and 18th director of the U.S. Secret Service. “He led the private security community in its evolution from obvious and reactive bodyguards to the professional and discreet protection teams that are now the standard of best practices. I’ve always considered Chuck a mentor and a friend, and I’m honored to have him as a colleague again.”
Also looking forward to working with Vance again is Stuart Page, founder and chairman of Page Group and a veteran of Scotland Yard, the Special Branch of London’s Metropolitan Police and the British Army’s Royal Military Police.
“Chuck, Eljay and I recognized each other as like-minded professionals long ago when I ran Page Protective Services and they were at Vance International,” Page said. “Chuck was one of the key architects of our industry in the 1980s and 1990s and I look forward to the insight and wisdom he will bring to the challenges of today’s complex world.”
Vance, who had semi-retired from the security business in 2003, said that the opportunity to work with the TorchStone Page team was too intriguing to pass up.
“I believe that in many ways, TorchStone Page is doing for today’s security environment what my team did with Vance Executive Protection in the 1980s, providing an effective alternative to the over-the-top and in-your-face security that’s once again become so prevalent in the past few years,” Vance said. “Eljay and Stuart have brought together a tremendous team and I’m honored to be a part of it now.”