MEET THE TEAM

Fortis Leadership

Rich Ennis Headhshot — Chief Executive Officer & Founder
Rich Ennis

J Courtney — Chief Human Resources Officer
Jennifer Courtney-Trice

J Buvel — Chief Financial Officer
Joe Buvel

VP of Business Development & Marketing

Stan Klakulak

Chief Executive Officer & Founder

Rich Ennis

Rich founded Fortis to build something truly world-class. A fire & Life Safety company that puts people first and inspires everyone to be their very best every second of every day. Rich grew up in Kitchener, Ontario Canada. He is a mechanical engineer by education only and has spent most of his career building and running businesses. The people who have inspired and impacted him the most are those who are truly elite and world class. For instance, Google Terry Fox who ran a marathon a day for 143 consecutive days… on one leg!

Your top 3 favorite Podcasts/Books?
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action, Good to Great, Gold: How Gretzky’s Men Ended Canada’s 50-Year Olympic Hockey Drought

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Doing anything with my wife and a glass of wine, golfing, and biking.

Chief Human Resources Officer

Jennifer Courtney-Trice

Jennifer is a results-driven and accomplished human resources executive and business leader with extensive experience in talent acquisition, performance management, succession planning, HR development compensation, employee relations, employment law, rewards and recognition, organizational design, benefits, payroll, employee wellness and safety, and immigration. She possess a track record of identifying and hiring exceptional talent, and she excels as a confidential advisor and sounding board to senior leadership team members by analyzing alternatives and developing recommendations and plans that best meets the criteria for success.

Chief Financial Officer

Joe Buvel

Joe grew up in Philadelphia, and is an avid Philly sports fan. He attended college at Fairfield University, where he also played football. He spent the first 20+ years of his career in the fragrance and cosmetics industry holding a variety of financial and operational roles, but has spent the last fifteen years involved in a number of private equity portfolio companies. Joe is passionate about building teams, systems, processes, and procedures to enable companies to efficiently and economically scale.

VP of Business Development & Marketing

Stan Klakulak

Stan has been in the Fire & Life Safety Industry for the past 28+ years. Stan has led Fire Commercial, Operational & Integration M&A Teams across the US & Canada. Stan’s Servant Leader style in working with any team he is associated, builds trust & integrity for doing the right thing for our customer’s and teammates.

Your top favorite Podcasts/Books?
“Good to Great” by Jim Collins, “The Energy Bus” & “Training Camp” by Jon Gordon. Really any book that inspires positive energy & aspiration to focus on the things we can control in challenging situations knowing we can create positive outcomes.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
My passion is spending time with my family (married for 28 yrs. to wife Kristen & daughters Sami (24), Sydney (21) & dog Geno). I love to travel & experience different cultures. A big time foodie & I enjoy cooking. I love all outdoor activities – golf, fishing, scuba diving, hiking & a big sports fan.

Owners’ Advisory Council

Co-Founder and President of VFS Fire & Security Services

Randy Nelson

Chris-Johnson — Co-Founder and President Piper Fire Protection
Chris Johnson

Co-Founder and President of VFS Fire & Security Services

Randy Nelson

Randy is a Co-Founder of Fortis and the President of VFS Fire & Security Services. He grew up on a small farm in Southern Minnesota. He was one of six kids and had a great childhood, and he put himself through Engineering School at Iowa State University. He started VFS Fire & Security in 1993, and built it up from 1 to 185 employees. He built VFS Fire & Security Services on the foundational values of honesty and integrity. Company culture is at the forefront of everything he does, and it is palpable. He has built an environment that encourages high-quality balanced lives for all employees. Most people define success by what has been created, and it’s safe to say Randy has done just that. He has created jobs, opportunities, and a culture that is remarkable.

Your top 3 favorite Podcasts/Books?
How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Hard Thing About Hard Thinks, The Art of Happiness

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Football, learning about and drinking wine, and playing the ukulele.

President CJ Suppression

James Moyer

Originally from Philadelphia, James moved to California in 1972. In his late teen years, he was interested in being a firefighter. He was exposed to the next best thing: the fire protection industry, which gave him the ability to prevent fires before people’s lives and property are in jeopardy. In 1987, James started his fire protection career with an entry level pipe fabricating position, and he has now been in the fire protection industry for over thirty-six years. He worked his way up the ranks, thus exposing himself to every level of the fire protection industry possible until founding CJ Suppression in 1996.

Your top 3 favorite Podcasts/Books?
Extreme Ownership, Turn The Ship Around, and Fierce Conversations

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
J enjoys backyard cooking, which further his smoking skills to provide the best BBQ for family and friend’s, camping/off-roading, and custom cars/drag racing.

Co-Founder and President Piper Fire Protection

Chris Johnson

Chris a follows two previous generations of fire sprinkler industry leaders. He was born in Michigan but has lived in Florida for since High School. As the President of Piper Fire Protection and a Co-Founder of Fortis Fire and Safety, Chris Johnson is responsible for managing multiple facets of the Piper Branches including Business Development, Marketing, Design, Construction Departments, HR, and Sales. Chris holds multiple Florida Contractor Licenses and various National Certifications.

Recently Chris has focused much time and attention to serving on the National Board of the American Fire Sprinkler Association where he serves as Chairman of the Legislative and Convention Committees. Chris also serves on the AFSA National Board’s Bylaws and Apprenticeship and Education Committees. He was also Chair of the Florida Chapter of AFSA from 2017-2019 and has Chaired the Legislative Committee from 2019-2022. Chris has served on the executive board of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors Association since 2015 and currently the Chapter Chair and a member of the National Board of that organization.

Chris is very involved with local organizations and causes. He is former Chair of the Central Pinellas Chamber of Commerce, and he has also served as Chair of the Board of Trustees for HCA Hospital of Largo, as well as serving on many other youth sports and non-profit boards. Chris has a passion for Legislative Affairs and he was elected as Commissioner of the City of Largo in November of 2022. Chris has served the previous 8 years as a member of the City of Largo’s Finance Advisory Board. He has also been appointed to sit on the Florida League of Cities Committee on Legislative Policy on Finance, Taxation, and Personnel.

Chris is a dedicated husband and father of six and grandfather to three amazing granddaughters.

Your top 3 favorite Podcasts/Books?
Good to Great, His Excellency (George Washington Bio), and Death by Monsters Podcast (guilty pleasure)

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Chris is an avid Board Gamer and WWII Historical War Gamer. You can always find Chris surrounded by friends and family (usually playing a card, board, or party game).

Operations Team

Director of Supply Chain

Laz Koszeghy

Corporate Controller

Neal Charleston

Portrait of Peter Shull — Director of Operations at Life Safety Management
Peter Shull

VP of Texas Operations at Fortis Fire & Safety

Miroslav Berjan

jennifer — Director of Marketing
Jennifer Divelbiss

Branch Manager at VFS Fire & Security

Michael Wick

Director of Supply Chain

Laz Koszeghy

Laz is Fortis Fire & Safety’s Director of Supply Chain. He grew up in Chicagoland and until recently, he lived overseas for sixteen years in Hungary, Norway, Scotland and England working mostly for energy companies such as General Electric. He has an American, British and Hungarian citizenship. His teenage daughter and one-year-old goldendoodle keep him pretty active! The best part of his job is seeing his team grow and take on new challenges they once thought impossible.

Your top 3 favorite Podcasts/Books?
The Storm Before the Calm by George Friedman, Robert Caro’s 4 volume biography of Lyndon B. Johnson (yes, I’m a nerd), and 1984 by George Orwell.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Laz likes hiking, reading and traveling when he is not working.

Corporate Controller

Neal Charleston

Neal is Fortis Fire & Safety’s Corporate Controller. He grew up in suburban Chicago and couldn’t wait to see the rest of the world. He made it out of Illinois for college and grad school, and he was able to work in Ukraine for about five years. He also managed to see much of Eastern and Central Europe during those years – only to end up back in suburban Chicago.

Prior to Fortis, Neal worked at a project/construction management firm as Controller. His work in Ukraine was focused on helping newly-privatized companies develop their reporting and analysis capabilities – always a challenge since the new owners were generally accustomed to having both official and “unofficial” sets of books depending on who needed to see them.

Your top favorite Podcasts/Books?
Hardcore History podcast and A Soldier of the Great War (Mark Helprin).

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Neal enjoys running, duathlon, and waiting for any of the (non White Sox) Chicago sports teams to be even reasonably competitive. Him and his wife enjoy hiking, cycling, and kayaking in any river that they can find in Wisconsin or Michigan, and he likes taking any chance he gets to visit his family and see the country.

Director of Operations at Life Safety Management

Peter Shull

Current Director of Operations specializing in the Design, Installation, Fabrication, Inspection, and Repair of all types of Engineered & Pre-Engineered Fire Protection Systems and Portable Fire Equipment as well as forecasting, job management, and P&L. Passionate for operational excellence through teamwork, communication, accountability, and continuous improvement everyday.

VP of Texas Operations at Fortis Fire & Safety

Miroslav Berjan

Miroslav came to the United States in 2001. He graduated from George Washington University in 2005 and subsequently earned an MBA from Pepperdine University in 2013. He worked for SimplexGrinnell in Los Angeles (JCI today) for 10 years in a variety of positions (from Project Manager to Area Sales Manager). Most recently, he was employed by Siemens Industry as a General Manager for the Fire and Security business in Washington DC Metro area. His employment with VFS Fire and Security started on October 4th, 2021. He moved the family to Houston, Texas to assume the role of a VP Texas Operations.

Your top favorite Podcasts/Books?
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy, The Bridge on the Drina, Ivo Andric, The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Reading, exercising, and family time.

Director of Marketing

Jennifer Divelbiss

Branch Manager at VFS Fire & Security

Michael Wick

Michael, a UK transplant, joined VFS in 2019. With his leadership, professionalism, and customer-centric approach, he has expanded our national accounts division and strengthened our affiliate partner network.

Having earned an Economics and Accounting degree from Loughborough University, Michael began his career in financing and accounting at a family-owned fire protection company in England. There, he gained valuable experience in integrating a new CSM system and understanding industry-specific innovations. He also recognized the importance of qualified field technicians, strong back-office support, and attentive customer service.

After relocating to the US, Michael became a General Manager, further enhancing his skills and knowledge over 5 years before joining our team as National Accounts Director. With two decades of industry expertise, he upholds our company values, prioritizes exceptional customer service, and sets the industry standard.

Outside of work, Michael enjoys his whiskey collection, watching early morning rugby and football matches, and harboring interests in hunting, fishing, and golf. As a devoted Manchester United fan, he volunteers as a coach for his two sons in AYSO and finds fulfillment in fitness activities. With Michael as part of our Operations team, we’re fortunate to have him on our side.

General Counsel

Ellen Poole

Bio Coming Soon!

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Houston Office

3413 N. Sam Houston Pkwy W.
Suite 206
Houston, TX 77086

(713) 636-9232

SCR-G-3062166
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ACR-3062017

Headquarters

1515 Woodfield Road
Suite 630
Schaumburg, IL 60173

(833) 3-FORTIS
[email protected]

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