Fort Smith Native Provides Security for Corporate Leaders

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Baldor Electric Co., Tyson Foods Inc. and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. are among the global companies headquartered in Northwest Arkansas.

And, in an increasing global business environment in which international travel by company leaders is undertaken on a near daily basis, the inherent risks can easily be overlooked.

“It’s things we take for granted that don’t necessarily exist overseas,” said Kris Coleman, a former FBI agent and CIA officer who now owns his own security firm in Alexandria, Va. “It could be a fire, a medical emergency or a car accident. It may take longer to recover in a foreign country.”

Coleman says the recent attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that left ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead is tragic. It also should serve as a reminder of the unpredictable nature of international business travel.

“The news focuses very heavily on the embassies, where the diplomats are,” said Coleman. “What they don’t focus on as frequently are the American business entities that are operating on the very same streets in these cities.

“I think there are a number of companies that operate in a manner that they need to provide a duty of care for their employees.”

A Fort Smith native and a 1991 graduate from the University of Arkansas, Coleman is the owner of Red Five Security, a company he founded in 2004 following a 15-year career supporting a number of security and intelligence matters for the government, both in the U.S. and overseas.

Coleman’s career actually began while he was still a student at the UA.

“The university had a career fair and the FBI and CIA both had recruiters come on campus,” he said. “I was looking for a summer job and ended up joining [the CIA’s] co-op program.”

Coleman said he wasn’t fully aware of the career opportunities available as a government operative until beginning his summer work with the CIA.

“Once I got plugged in I was off and running,” he said.

 In what began as a boutique shop, with just Coleman and his government experience applied to high-net-worth clients, the company presently has 15 full-time employees and provides a variety of security services.

“We’re basically a concierge security company,” Coleman said. “We have U.S. government clients in the [intelligence] community and who are involved in homeland security projects. We also service a lot of high-net-worth clients and diplomatic clients.”

Red Five primarily focuses on U.S.-based clients who travel abroad. The company’s roster also includes a current foreign ambassador living in Washington D.C., and some of the wealthiest people and “Fortune 50” families in the United States.

A representative of the Wexner family — head of the publicly traded retailing conglomerate Limited Brands — selected Coleman in 2004 to coordinate its protective operation. That’s when Red Five Security began.

The net worth of founder, chairman and CEO Leslie Wexner was estimated at $4.4 billion earlier this year by Forbes magazine.

“Once I finished that job, I thought that I could probably turn this into a business,” Coleman said.

Today, the company can surge into very specific areas of concern, whether it is executive protection, technical security or physical security.

It also offers security design work. Jim Webster, a security consultant with Red Five, is the lead designer for the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington D.C.

The project is the largest General Services Administration project ever undertaken — even bigger than the Pentagon — with the headquarters comprising 4.5 million SF of workspace and 1.5 million SF of structured parking.

“We are very fortunate to be involved,” Holmes said. “We bring that kind of pedigree.”

Coleman said his company has supported Wal-Mart in various capacities, and the two companies are in contact on a continual basis.

“We do consult with them as needed and we’re very close to the security team there,” he said.

Coleman, whose brother and parents still live in Northwest Arkansas, indicated his interest in working with additional companies in the area as an outsource resource, to ensure personal security and preparedness while traveling abroad.

He said he has also held initial discussions with officials from other companies in Northwest Arkansas, including Tyson.

“They have some internal folks that they leverage, but it’s under general counsel or safety,” Coleman said. “And that’s where we could come in. We don’t have to be involved in overhead or become an additional cost to them. It can be very project specific to address a specific issue.”

When asked how essential it is for companies to consider security issues, Coleman said it takes just one unfortunate event to answer that question.

“There was one week recently that, I think, there were 20 different countries that were addressed with some kind of unrest,” he said. “When your hotel becomes the focus of a mob, or you just find yourself at the wrong place at the wrong time walking down the street.

“The thing to think about is 99 percent of travelers are not targeted by terrorist groups or state actors. But some will come under some sort of concern or hazard.” 

In an article published by MSNBC.com in May 2011 after the killing of Osama Bin Laden, Coleman recommended checking a sampling of sites before embarking on a foreign trip.

Those include, he said, the U.S. State Department and British Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

“State Department alerts and advisories are helpful to some,” he added.