and CEO, with picture of
early officers. (Al Alexio)
Company: Rhode Island Bureau of Investigation and Security<>
Owner: Ben Lupovitz, vice president and chief executive officer
Type of company: Professional security company
Employees: 200
Year founded: 1946
Location: 95 Hathaway Center, Providence
Annual revenues: WND
When the life of a chief executive officer at one of Rhode Island’s top companies was threatened, the Rhode Island Bureau of Investigation and Security provided private protection.
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When a local business needs its property patrolled on off-business hours, the Rhode Island Bureau of Investigation and Security can provide a 24-hour guard.
And when yet another company is looking for some background information on a potential hire, the Rhode Island Bureau of Investigation can do that too.
In fact, despite the innovation of computerized alarm codes, research databases, and high-tech protective devices, there is still a need for “traditional” types of security – and the Rhode Island Bureau of Investigation provides it.
“A guard can observe, a security guard can assist with access to facilities and check identification,” said Ben Lupovitz, vice president and chief executive officer of the Providence-based company. “It provides a much higher level of service – one that goes above and beyond the computer.”
Started in 1946, the Rhode Island Bureau of Investigation was bought in 1980 by Lupovitz’s father, Sandy, who began running it out of his East Greenwich home, with one satellite office in Providence.
“My father was interested in buying a business and saw this company as having the greatest potential,” Lupovitz said. “At the time we had a handful of accounts and the majority of our work was security officers.”
By 1992, still working out of their basement, the father and son team decided that expansion was necessary, and moved the entire company to Pawtucket. Expanding again in 1998, the company was moved to its current location at 95 Hathaway Center in Providence.
“The business functioned well out of the basement of the home for a while,” Lupovitz said. “We found it was going to be hard for us to grow and that’s what we wanted to do.”
In fact, starting in 1997, the company began laying the groundwork for its expansion – both in its size and in services offered.
“At that time I really worked to become more knowledgeable in the business,” Lupovitz said. “We looked hard at ourselves, recognized our weaknesses and worked hard at assembling some key folks.”
According to Lupovitz, one of those “key hires” was former Providence police chief Anthony Mancuso, and former Providence police officer Michael Brugnoli.
“We wanted to expand outside of the guard services to include more background checks, and risk management,” he said. “Mancuso brings quite a bit of police expertise that was crucial in moving forward in these other areas.”
Still, one of the company’s biggest challenges, Lupovitz said, is finding and keeping qualified employees.
“We are very labor-intensive, and as a result finding and keeping good help is very important,” he said. “We rely on the local labor force, and make a continuous effort to find, and keep good help.”
Key to the company’s success, Lupovitz said, is doing a good job whatever the assignment.
“Rhode Island is a small state,” he said. “Because we have been doing business here for so long, our reputation proceeds us. People either recommend us or have heard of us – that’s how we get our business.”
Lupovitz said the company has also benefited from changes in the industry nationwide.
“People have two major choices when selecting a security firm, either chose a national company, or a small local one, like ours,” he said. “Nationally, there have been a lot of consolidations and mergers and that’s creating confusion. The shakeout of that has brought more people to us. People don’t want confusion with their security.”
While Lupovitz is reluctant to talk actual numbers, he said last year the company experienced double digit growth, and the guard service portion of the business is up 25 percent already this year.
The question is, what comes next?
“The next logical thing is to continue working hard here and at the same time expand north,” Lupovitz said. “The next five years will be spent deciding how we want to do that, and putting the necessary pieces into place. There are a lot of discussions and planning that need to happen.”
Deciding which way to go has never been easy, Lupovitz said. In fact, he is hoping to learn from the successes and failures of his last expansion, in planning his next.
“You are frequently making adjustments and changes,” he said. “Obviously it’s not easy to do, but I don’t believe in stagnation, staying or shrinking. Growth is good.”
