Jim Stevens.

• Author: Stevens, Jim
• Position: PERSONNELFILE

When Jim Stevens was searching for a place to start a security business in 1998, he chose one where he felt secure. He had summered in Morehead City as a child, and his parents recently had retired there. He even stayed there for his next venture after selling that company, Security Services of America, in 2004 for $45 million. Stevens remained at Security Services for two years as president before buying and merging two other companies into Allegiance Security Group. Today, Stevens, 62, is part owner of Allegiance, which employs about 2,500 and provides security guards for businesses in 12 states and Washington, D.C. A 30-year industry veteran, he expects revenue to increase this year by 17% to about $70 million.

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Those are heady numbers for a former high-school teacher. He left the classroom when a friend at the U.S. Department of the Treasury persuaded him to apply there. A special agent who investigated gambling, tax fraud and other crimes, he took a medical retirement in 1980 after sustaining a head injury on the job--he won't talk about the circumstances.

He went to work for an Atlanta company that trains police officers, then in Los Angeles for CPP Security, which later bought Pinkerton Security and took its name. Stevens wound up as senior vice president in charge of its...