Listening to Paul Swan talk about his 40-plus years in the security industry, he’ll remember a name from the past, then make a mental note to give them a call and say hi.
This happens on several occasions during the interview with Swan, who values business relationships as the bedrock of his successful career. When a name pops into his head, Swan smiles, digresses from his train of thought and shares an anecdote.
“To me, business is all about relationships,” says Swan, speaking from his home in B.C. “The people that you meet along the way and the friendships that you gain.”
Swan is a familiar face in the Canadian security industry, having worked in leadership roles at some of the biggest distributors in the business.
Swan, a Canadian, first discovered the industry in the U.K. after a post-college backpacking tour around Europe in the early 80s. With British grandparents, he was able to work there and joined Clifford & Snell as a sales engineer, selling sirens and signaling products, until an opportunity with Toronto-based Pace Safety Systems brought him back home to Canada a few years later.
Swan established himself in the Toronto area, taking roles with locksmith Scanex International, then Royal Monitor Systems, working with industry stalwarts (and previous Hall of Famers) Peter Garnham and Patrick Straw. Swan would go on to co-own a security integration company with Straw (who is currently the executive director of the Canadian Security Association) for several years before moving over to the distribution side of the business — a decision that would shape the balance of his career.
Swan joined ADI Canada in 1997 first as director of marketing, then vice-president of sales.
After a stint with ADI, Swan moved to Tri-Ed Distribution, which separated from its parent company Tyco and was owned by two different private equity firms before becoming part of the Anixter organization in 2014. In the Tri-Ed days, Swan reported to Pat Comunale, another legendary figure in the distribution landscape (“We keep in touch,” notes Swan).
Anixter was eventually acquired by distribution giant Wesco in 2020. Swan would stay on for a few more years, helping to manage aspects of the US$4.5 billion merger from the Canadian end.
Over the decades of his career, Swan says he’s seen some significant change in security, the technology being the most obvious indicator. “The product continues to do what it did, but the technology has advanced in huge leaps and bounds,” he notes. More than that, the industry has drawn larger and larger companies into its orbit through investments and acquisition. As a result, new ideas and new talent have followed, and the industry has adopted an increasingly corporate mentality. End users and consumers have also become much more informed, he says, and experts on security equipment in their own right.
While some of the “mom and pop” personal touch has been replaced by big enterprise, security remains a people-first business, says Swan. “At the end of the day, it’s all based on relationships,” he says, noting there have always been friends and allies he can reach out to for advice, regardless of their company or job title.
Swan is now more than six months into retirement and enjoying every minute of it. He says his garden and golf game have both benefited from the extra attention. He also spent a month in Europe this summer, with more travel plans on the horizon.
It’s too soon for him to start missing his work routine, but he will admit to missing the more social aspects of business life. Old friends and acquaintances are only a phone call away and Swan plans to keep in touch.
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