The Partnership for Priority Verified Alarm Response (PPVAR) is pleased to announce Tom Nakatani, IT VP of Customer Monitoring Technology for ADT, has been elected President. Nakatani officially began his two-year term at the June 10th PPVAR member’s meeting after serving as Vice President. He succeeds Joey Rao-Russell, President and CEO for Sonitrol-Kimberlite, who will now serve on the PPVAR Board as an immediate past President and Treasurer.
“I am honored to take on the role of PPVAR President and to work with the distinguished and influential group of industry thought leaders, public safety leaders, and key partners on our Board of Directors,” said Tom Nakatani.
Changing verification technology use
Tom adds, “The use of verification technology is fundamentally changing the relationship between the alarm industry and public safety for the better. We’re thrilled to be involved with the development of industry standards that will provide more actionable information for first responders. This information will improve officer safety while prioritising their impact.”
Tom Nakatani also sits on the Board of Directors for the Security Industry Association
Nakatani started his career at ADT in 1991 and has held a number of positions with the company including global monitoring technology, monitoring standards, program management, operational reporting, M&A, and product delivery. He also sits on the Board of Directors for the Security Industry Association and participates on a number of industry and regulatory committees.
Promoting the value of verification
As PPVAR continues to work toward its mission of promoting the value of verification during the dispatch process, it is expanding the composition of its Board of Directors to increase the number of public safety representatives.
This change will ensure that the PPVAR board will represent a balanced team of professionals with excellent relationships across both public and private sectors as they work together on the issues related to alarm response process.
Three of the public safety and partner members were introduced and spoke at the virtual meeting, including:
- David L. Holl is the Director of Public Safety for Lower Allen Township, PA. Director Holl oversees the police department, emergency medical services, is liaison to two Township volunteer fire companies, and serves as the municipal Emergency Management Coordinator. He sees his involvement in PPVAR as a way to directly impact false alarm issues and is looking forward to influencing the future of responding to emergencies.
- Frank G. Fernandez, is the retired Chief of Police from Miami and Hollywood Police. He is the former Director of Public Safety and Assistant City Manager for the City of Coral Gables, Florida. He is currently president of Blueprints 4 Safety (B4S) Strategies Group LLC, a security and risk assessment consulting group specialising in vulnerability assessments, strategic planning and best practice policing/public safety strategic development. He chose to become involved in PPVAR because he sees the opportunity to increase situational awareness for police when responding to emergencies and to bring awareness to his public safety colleagues about the alarm industry.
- John Chiaramonte is President of Mission Critical Partners’ Consulting Business where he leads more than 80 dedicated and specialised public safety professionals in improving his clients’ emergency response outcomes. He is a subject matter expert in emergency communications, 911 and next generation 911. One of his goals in participating with PPVAR is to improve emergency response outcomes as new technology brings changes to emergency dispatch centers.
Strengthening public safety partnership
With a bold vision for the future for PPVAR, new President Nakatani plans to continue to build on the work of the previous presidents by helping improve collaboration with public safety and other partners.
This vision for the future includes expansion of the PPVAR Board, educating public safety and industry members, creating a framework for alarm verification scoring, and collaborative work with PSAPs to incorporate the next generation of technologies.
