BUSINESS
Lauren Fair, Mike Keena and David Fair work at American Defense Structures in the Airpark. (Dennis Murphy/Contributor)
DEFENSE IN DEPTH American Defense Structures covers all bases when it comes to safety
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By Connor Dziawura merican Defense Structures CEO David Fair isn’t trying to scare potential customers. But under the premise that anything could happen at any time, he and his business partners aim to ensure they are safe both in terms of their surroundings and their knowledge. A disabled veteran-owned and -operated ballistic, blast and attack protective systems company founded in 2018 and based out of the Scottsdale Airpark, American Defense Structures specializes in safe rooms, security doors and security film, as well as an array of expert-taught safety classes. “We do threat assessments with our clients and find out what their fears are, their needs are. We don’t try to oversell them or anything
like that. We don’t sell fear, but we sell safety,” Fair explains. The company started with an encounter between Fair and Kris “Tanto” Paronto, who was part of the response to the 2012 attack on the CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya. The two got to talking, and on the basis that a safe room could have saved lives during the incident, Fair suggested the two work together, combining Fair’s financial means and Paronto’s CIA and Army Ranger experience. “And so we flew down to Florida,” Fair recalls of partnering with a company called NSI Precision on development, design, manufacturing and installation. “A dear friend of mine has a 100,000-square-foot state-of-the-art fabrication facility, and we started making some mock safe rooms using their engineers, naval architects and a linking
system that … there’s no way to penetrate it. So once you’re behind it, you’re behind it and nobody’s going to get to you.” Fair quickly realized he didn’t have the manpower, so he brought in several partners, all of whom come from military backgrounds. They include Grant “Doctor” Bucks, chief operating officer; Jimmy “Skin” Forbes, chief security officer; Mike “Magic” Keena, chief information officer; and John “Yano” Damyanovich, security specialist and installation manager. Paronto was at one point their brand ambassador but has moved on to other endeavors. American Defense Structures branched out from safe rooms and into security doors and then security films, the latter of which Fair now calls the company’s flagship product.
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