Why Hillard Heintze

Throughout the United States and across the world today, major corporations, rapidly growing businesses, and all levels of government as well as high-net worth executives and individuals are confronting new levels of risk – from the continuity of their operations and the protection of their assets to the safety of their most valuable resource, their people.

To meet this rapid expansion in corporate demand for security services, two or three leading firms are seeking to differentiate their services in an increasingly crowded and competitive market.

Among these, more than a few companies are reasonably well qualified in one or two areas to offer security and investigative services – although the value of these services will not be possible to measure until after a crisis has occurred. Very few of these leading firms bring the qualifications outlined below to their commitments to quality, integrity and client service. We don't know of any other firm that brings them all.

Senior Security Leadership

Together and with others, Hillard and Heintze and other principal members of the Hillard Heintze team have led the planning for some of the most critical public safety security and investigative challenges confronting the United States over the last three decades.

Until 2003, as Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard led 13,500 officers in protecting one of the country's largest metropolitan centers. Hillard is nationally regarded for his results-driven leadership as well as his intensely personal commitment to individuals. At the helm of the Chicago Police Department, he created one of the most collaborative cultures in the history of law enforcement.

During his tenure as the head of the nation's second largest police department, he initiated innovative, community-sponsored crime-prevention programs to protect and serve the citizens of Chicago – programs that today still help define national standards in community-based policing.

As the U.S. Secret Service Special Agent-in-Charge in Chicago, Arnette Heintze planned, designed and implemented security strategies for U.S. presidents and world leaders as well as high-profile events of national significance and the integrity of America's financial infrastructure. As the U.S. Secret Service's chief spokesperson, he also led the crisis communication team during some of the nation's most trying times. After retiring from the U.S. Secret Service in 2003, Heintze led the development of a comprehensive security strategy for a $30 billion division of an international food and beverage company.

Aside from these credentials, however, both Hillard and Heintze believe,
first, that the single most important driver of excellence in security and investigations is people and, second – by extension – the most important determinant of leadership in these critical arenas is the ability to attract and inspire the extraordinary commitment to quality service that generates pride in performance and exceptional client-service results.

World-Class Skills and Experience in Security
and Investigations

We believe that no other security advisory and management firm in the United States can match our breadth and depth of skills and experience. Hillard Heintze brings to our clients the benefits of direct command experience in national security disciplines, strategic security planning,
crisis management, emergency preparedness, criminal and corporate investigations, protective services and executive protection developed at all levels of federal, state and local government, as well as within many companies and industries across the private sector.

Members of the Hillard Heintze team have:

• Led the corporate development of comprehensive security strategies for Fortune 100 companies and nationally recognized sports teams.
• Established state-of-the-art risk management programs for Fortune 100 companies.
• Enhanced and advanced the concepts of community policing and leading strategies for crime reduction.
• Directed the security planning and emergency preparedness for the protection of U.S. presidents and world leaders, as well as National Special Security Events and the integrity of America's financial infrastructure.
• Performed and led complex, comprehensive and highly sensitive criminal and corporate investigations, independent security assessments and corporate executive protection programs for Fortune 100 companies and other leading public and private organizations.
  

Integrity

Over and over throughout their careers, each member of the Hillard Heintze team has been selected for exceptionally strategic, confidential and highly sensitive assignments not just on the basis of superior skill, training and experience relative to their executive and technical peers – but also on the basis of a deep commitment to personal and professional integrity.

Integrity isn't acquired through education; it's innate to an individual and becomes apparent to others only by observing how a person makes very difficult choices under pressure. But integrity is also the single most important element – followed closely by an acute sense of professional accountability and a hands-on commitment to service excellence – behind the ability of Hillard Heintze team members to earn trust and confidence from those who have chosen to count on us over others.

To date, this list includes U.S. presidents and other political leaders as well as the directors of federal and state agencies charged with the duty to protect and preserve this nation's most sensitive assets. This list also includes high-profile CEOs, board members and other senior corporate leaders as well as globally-ranked, high net-worth individuals. And, just as importantly, it includes our team partners.

Best-Practice Methodologies

Many believe that the real value in effective leadership and experience emerges in moments of crisis, when events with the potential for high impact or risk unfold too quickly to be addressed through normal decision-making channels. While this makes for good headlines and great biographies, it's not entirely true. The overwhelming value in effective leadership and experience is captured in advance, through best-practice methodologies that leverage foresight, planning and collaboration.

We believe that a crucial, differentiating characteristic of the Hillard Heintze approach is our commitment to hard-wiring our insights and experience into comprehensive, end-to-end methodologies that can be engaged quickly, efficiently and affordably by complex organizations, large and small. These include:

• Risk Management Frameworks
  At the core of most of our engagements are three steps: 1) identifying all risks associated with protecting assets, information and individuals; 2) assessing the trade-offs in costs, benefits and efficiencies; and 3) executing strategies for risk transfer, avoidance, mitigation or acceptance.

• Prevention-Oriented Approaches
  Almost all of our work is grounded in a prevention-oriented approach informed over decades by national security disciplines and the insights that emerge from direct experience in crisis and emergency situations.

• Models of Collaboration and Partnership
  We know from experience that whether or not an organization achieves its security objectives often rises or falls on external collaboration, seamless coordination and partnership.

Strategic Relationships

While not always transparent to the beneficiaries of our clients' security and risk management strategies, Hillard Heintze's approach is unusually effective at creating a culture of high-quality teaming and performance. After thirty years of building relationships and experiences on the front lines of law enforcement and at the highest levels of public service, members of the Hillard Heintze team are widely recognized within the law enforcement, corporate security, emergency preparedness and national security communities as trusted and trustworthy partners.

In addition to the four differentiating factors outlined above – leadership, experience, integrity and best practices – these strategic relationships complete the platform of excellence that we believe quietly distinguishes Hillard Heintze from any other firm in the world.