BusinessTN

When Michael Walden offered to work as an off-duty police officer at an automobile dealership about 20 years ago, he couldn't have known where it would lead. Shortly after the dealership took him up on it, the chicken plant behind the dealership and a hotel adjacent to the chicken plant also inquired about his services, so he started watching their parking lots, too.

Six months later, after the chicken plant owners announced plans to hire a security company that they wanted Walden to supervise, Walden saw the opportunity to start a company of his own. He submitted a proposal and won the job.

"I continued to work as a police officer for two years; I bootstrapped, sold everything I had, mortgaged my house, whatever it took to establish my business," says Walden, president of what is now Chattanooga-based Walden Security. "Soon, the demand for security services was so great that I decided to leave the police department and dedicate 100% of my time to building Walden Security." (His wife, Amy Walden, a one-time dispatcher with the Chattanooga police department, co-founded the company and now serves as Walden Security's CEO.)

The rest, he says, is history. History that includes increasing revenue by an average of 35% each year for the past 18 years, building a clientele that spans 18 states and requires 3,000 employees, and solidifying Walden Security's position as the 15th largest security company in the nation (The company is the 10th largest privately-held, American-owned security services provider in the nation.)

Walden Security provides security services to commercial properties, government facilities and exclusive residential communities. Big-name clients include Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the largest federal agency outside the Washington, D.C., area), the U.S. Army and Tennessee's own Jack Daniel Distillery. And in March, the company landed a $1.9 million contract with Volkswagen to provide access control and physical security for the Chattanooga construction site over the next two years.

"Being awarded the Volkswagen contract was another great opportunity for us to show that a Tennessee-based company can provide the quality of service that they expect," Walden says. "As we fulfill our commitment to always exceed their expectations, we look forward to growing with them in Chattanooga and across the nation."

Beginning in January, Walden says the company will embark on a five-year plan to take Walden Security from the $100 million annual revenue mark to the $250 million annual revenue mark (without acquisition and long-term debt). History is on their side. The last time Walden and company set a similar plan into action, they reached their revenue goal in three years, rather than five.