Reliable Fire & Security’s Leadership Team

Reliable Fire has been a family-owned business for sixty five years.  The leadership team consists of Debra Horvath, Owner and President, a Senior Executive Vice-President, Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Sales and Marketing along with department managers. Together, they ensure the fulfillment of Reliable Fire’s mission, uphold its core values and manage its operations.

Debra A. Horvath
President and CEO

Debbie Horvath has been a noteworthy leader in the life safety and security industries for 35 years.

Debbie is a past President of NAFED (National Association of Fire Equipment Distributors), she is active with Notifier, and is a current member of FSSA, NIFAD, and PSA. Debbie can also be credited with many contributions to our industry, following in the footsteps of her father Ernie Horvath.

Debbie is always on a mission, willing to learn more about new products, services and the IOT focusing on improving life safety and protecting lives. She has been featured in Security Sales & Integration magazine and has spoken at many industry events. You can often find her collaborating with peers in the fire and security industry; she has an innate commitment to help others reach their goals and finds it rewarding to give back to others. Debbie’s strengths are closing deals on mergers and acquisitions, and she is always looking for ways to use technology in the workplace to find unique ways to work smarter.

Most notably, through her never ending and decade long efforts, Reliable Fire & Security was recently certified as a WBE – Women’s Business Enterprise for the City of Chicago, Local Counties and Government entities…of which she is extremely honored and proud to have accomplished.

Barbara Horvath
Senior Vice President

Barbara Horvath served as Executive Vice President of Reliable Fire Equipment and joined the organization in 1955. She has performed nearly all of Reliable’s office and bookkeeping functions at one time or another during her career including payroll, invoicing, and providing oversight for other accounting functions.

Tina Studzinski
Vice President of Operations

Tina Studzinski began her career with Reliable Fire & Security more than 25 years ago. She began her career as the Assistant Controller. She learned many of the internal operations allowing her to assume new roles and responsibilities. Tina was promoted to Vice President of Operations in 2008. Tina has enjoyed her various roles throughout the years and appreciates the close atmosphere that is often found in a family-owned business. In her new role, she values the diversity of the operations position. Being involved in every facet of the business provides her with a unique perspective and the ability to have a significant impact on the growth and success of the business.

Wayne Benson
Vice President of Sales & Marketing

Wayne Benson is an accomplished Entrepreneur, Senior Executive, and Business Development Consultant with more than 40 years of success within the industries of fire and life safety, insurance, financial services, and technology, B2B and B2C. With the ability to quickly assess a situation, determine a common purpose, build empathy and trust, he has worked with companies across the range from startup, small, midsize and Fortune 300 build high performing teams. Wayne is a people person with a communicative and transparent leadership style with expertise in people management, leadership development, business strategy, change management, sales and marketing distribution and product development.

 

Mick Van Kampen
Director of Information Technology

Mick Van Kampen began his career in the technology industry over 30 years ago. With an Applied Computer Science degree, a track record with IBM Global Services and the Chicago Financial Industry, he serves the needs of Reliable Fire. Together we strive to make Information Technology work for the business which includes a number of areas. The first is the infrastructure of cabling, switching, routing and power. Another area is the individual workstations, printers, and file storage. Also included are the desk phones, groups, voicemail and cell phones. Lastly, is the application software, security and integration which ultimately allows business operation to happen. Beyond IT, Reliable relies on Mick to drive improvements related to all facets of business, such as the building facilities, vehicle fleet and employee culture.