Real World, Academics Prepares Sacramento Security Firm

Hector Alvarez is the founder and president of the Alvarez Associates Violence Prevention Academy. He describes the business as a full service security and risk management firm with a very specific focus on violence prevention. This includes workplace violence, threat assessments and training. His program involving surviving an active shooter were recently featured on CBS Local Sacramento.

Alvarez earned his B.S. in criminal justice from the University of Phoenix while working full-time as a security manager for a national critical infrastructure. He is also a reserve police officer and attended the academy while working full-time in addition to attending numerous training courses and programs.

How has your education been of benefit to you in your career or current office? 

"To be successful as a security consultant and business owner I have had to rely on the education and training I received throughout my career. Experience is important, but having a formal education allowed me to avoid mistakes and build on the knowledge of others."

Alvarez owes his current success to his formal training. "I was very careful in selecting my degree program. The unique thing about the University of Phoenix is that my classes were taught by professionals currently working in the field and this brought an impressive balance of academia and 'real world' influences."

What are your thoughts on what it takes to be successful in this field? 

"At the higher levels of security operations it is critical to be able to take complicated, multi-faceted problems and provide simple and straight-forward solutions. We are often called into highly volatile, extremely risky, time sensitive situations…and each and every one is different. To be successful, a person has to be able thrive under this level of pressure."

What advice can you offer others about to manage a business?

"Do your homework. It is extremely important to understand what your clients want before deciding what you are going to offer. It sounds simple; however, by learning to investigate the market, listen to our clients and apply what we know, we have found our niche."

Karen Hansen M.S. Earth Sciences, has been an educator and consultant who is currently an analyst regarding land and other public information records. She lives and works in Sacramento, CA. She has been writing about earth and the environmental sciences for Examiner.com since May of 2010. Find her work in several sections of the publication. You can find her work at SF Solar Energy Examiner, SF Environmental News Examiner and Environmental News Examiner