Jeff Burgess, Founder and CEO of BCD, has announced his retirement from the company, putting to a close a career in IT and security spanning over four decades.
Jeff Burgess, Founder and CEO of BCD, has announced his retirement from the company, putting to a close a career in IT and security spanning over four decades.
“I leave having tremendous respect for all those team members committed to our purpose, and knowing we all mutually made a positive difference in people’s lives, both inside and outside the organization,” Burgess said in the announcement, which was sent from his own e-mail at BCD as it’s “a bit more personal that way.” The mail was sent July 21 when Burgess turned 66.
In the announcement, Burgess said he began his computer career back in 1979 after landing a warehouse job at Tek-Aids Industries where within months, he was moved to the sales desk, and within six years was named VP of Sales. He then went on to Chicago mega-retailer Elek-Tek helping to kick-start their corporate sales division. After Elek-Tek, Burgess moved to Hartford Computer Group where he led the team to land a US$200 million State Farm account, along with multi-million-dollar accounts with General Electric and many of the GE Capital companies.
After 20 years of working for others, Burgess opened Burgess Computer Decisions, Inc. (BCD) in 1999 as an IT value added distributor. In 2008, he recognized the opportunity for a customized IT server builder in the still-new video surveillance market and took the company along that path. Today, BCD is a leading manufacturer of purpose-built video surveillance storage systems with over 175,000 recorders of all shapes and sizes, capturing video in 91 countries and various vertical markets.
“It’s been a great run, especially considering where I was in my life before getting that warehouse job forty-three years ago,” Burgess said.
Contributing to asmag.com
Burgess and BCD have been frequent contributors to asmag.com and its predecessor, the paper magazine a&s International. In a 2022 Security 50 special feature, Burgess
recalled how staying nimble and responsive had helped the company stave off the negative impact of COVID.
“All told, it’s been a very interesting past couple of years, first dealing through Phase 1 of the pandemic in 2020, and then phase 2 in 2021. It was our supply chain that got us through these years. We were able to get ahead of the shutdown and pre-order 4x our general monthly orders for our main suppliers once we heard the World Health Organization was in Wuhan, China, knowing how quickly China closes when needed. Two days after our orders were placed, the shutdown happened. So having inventory was certainly a major factor, as much as having production teams willing to be in our headquarters building products for customer orders,” he said.
Burgess also shared his views and insights in the
2021 and
2020 Security 50 features.
Awards and work in philanthropy
BCD captured many industry awards and recognition during Burgess’ tenure, being named among Inc. Magazine’s Top 5000 companies five times, Computer Reseller News’ Solution Provider 500 six times, and what Burgess was most proud of, being named a combined ten times from Chicago’s Best & Brightest Companies, Best & Brightest Companies in the Nation, and Best Places to Work in Illinois. Philanthropy was also an important part of Burgess’ tenure, offering employment to interns who became future employees from College Bound Opportunities (CBO), and supporting such causes as Folds of Honor, Wings (domestic violence), Orphans of the Storm (pet shelter), Girl Scouts, and college scholarships for local community high school seniors.
“What I find most rewarding is that we were able to give so many people an opportunity, as was given to me all those decades ago. And especially considering my two sons not only work here but have earned key positions here. Plus, my daughter worked here in past summers as well,” Burgess said.
In addition to traveling and playing golf with his wife Joanne, Burgess said he plans to spend his time with their family, their dogs, and their grand dogs.