New Senior-Level Key Hires

Force 5 Expands Expertise in Power Utility Physical-Entry Enforcement with Five New Senior-Level Hires

Miami, FL—September 29, 2022 — Force 5, an industry leader in physical-entry enforcement for safety, security, and compliance in a power utility enterprise, today announced the addition of five new senior-level employees—Joel De Granda, Gilbert Perez, Hector Gongora, Chuck Cavaness, and Jim Rowan—to its roster of utility industry security and NERC/CIP compliance experts, four of which are joining at director- or VP-level positions.

“We’re leaders in a niche of power utility visitor and contractor management called visitor enforcement. Our core product, the Gatekeeper Platform, drastically reduces all physical-entry risk in a power utility because it automatically enforces every entry policy in every location across all departments. That’s not something standard visitor management does,” stated James Evelyn, Force 5 Vice President. “These strategic hires are proven, innovative leaders who are deep in technical expertise and are veterans in the power utility industry, especially in NERC/CIP. They will accelerate development of new features aimed at eliminating all physical-entry risks for our customers across security, safety, and CIP compliance.”

Chuck Cavaness, Vice President of Engineering at Force 5, ensures compliance with NERC-CIP standards and a best-in-class technology stack to enforce power utility physical-entry enforcement.

Chuck Cavaness

Chuck Cavaness, Vice President of Engineering, will lead technology strategy and product roadmaps to ensure compliance with NERC/CIP standards, consistency in user experience, and a best-in-class technology stack that leads the industry in physical-entry enforcement. Chuck has a 25-year demonstrated history of success in designing, developing, and leading enterprise-scale solutions.

Senior Director of Compliance Tools and Services and power utility industry veteran Joel De Granda leads feature innovation of our Gatekeeper Platform.

JOEL DE GRANDA

Joel De Granda joins Force 5 as Senior Director of Compliance Tools & Services and will lead feature innovation on the Gatekeeper Platform. A power utility veteran, Joel brings over 38 years of industry experience, notably in NERC/CIP, and will lead the continuous rollouts of agile innovations that solve the ever-changing needs of the industry’s safety, security, and NERC/CIP compliance physical-entry requirements.
Gilbert Perez, Force 5 Director of Customer Success & Service, is a NERC/CIP SME in the power utility industry.

Gilbert Perez

Gilbert Perez, Director of Customer Success & Services, has previously served as an auditor and compliance enforcement engineer at SERC Reliability Corp and as a compliance manager within Reliability Standards and Compliance at Florida Power & Light. Having held the same positions as many customers, Perez is a driven customer advocate. In his position, he will bridge customers with Force 5 managed services and development teams, ensuring utilities get the most out of their investment.

Hector Gongora, Force 5 Director of IT & Managed Services, ensures the Gatekeeper Platform is always on and enforcing a power utility’s safety, security, and compliance physical-entry requirements.

Hector Gongora

Hector Gongora, Director of IT & Managed Services, will oversee hardware and software operational availability and lead Force 5’s installation, managed services, and support group. Hector spent 10 years as a network services manager ensuring compliance with NERC, FERC, and SERC SCC standards and is highly skilled in automating and optimizing processes through technology.

Power utility physical security SME, Jim Rowan helps utilities drastically reduce their safety, security, and compliance physical-entry risk across their enterprise.

Jim Rowan

Jim Rowan, Inside Sales Representative, is a subject matter expert in power utility physical security and has over 35 years of practical experience in security, regulatory, information technology, crisis management, and business continuity.

These new hires and Force 5 expansion come on the heels of new product launches: the Advanced Watchlist Enforcer and Facial Recognition Technology for the Gatekeeper Platform. The updates to the turnkey Gatekeeper Platform provide more accurate and reliable methods of identification and validation for processing physical entry.

About Force 5, Inc.

Force 5, Inc. is the industry leader in automated enforcement for safety, security, and compliance in a power utility enterprise. Force 5’s flagship product, the Gatekeeper Platform, is a turnkey hardware-software solution that automatically enforces any physical-entry policy or requirement and drastically reduces physical security risk. The only solution explicitly engineered for CIP visitor-control requirements, Gatekeeper is built for power utilities with 100+ locations, and it drives real-time enforcement at every door and gate of a power utility. Gatekeeper’s robust architecture, industrial-grade hardware, and always-on support model aggressively pivot a power utility’s policy enforcement from passive to active, leading to a significant reduction in risk across the entire company.