MIAMI – There was a dismal feeling last Friday when Michael Evans gathered his belongings and headed to the parking lot for the last time. Evans described the feeling as being similar to graduating a police academy as an adult. “There was nobody waiting with champagne and no balloons.” Evans was forced to retire early for medical reasons. His retirement ends 27 years in the security industry, more than 16 as Chief Executive Officer.
Michael Evans began his career in 1994 as a movie theater security guard on Long Island. He was hired by his late friend, Phil Taldone, who mentored Evans. Taldone was killed on duty while directing traffic as a constable in Patchogue, NY several years later. Over the course of his career, particularly when he was young, Evans had many mentors that he plans to thank. Among them, retired Southampton Police Chief, William Wilson, who Michael looked up to when he worked for his local security firm. Also, Ralph Zanchelli, who Evans says mentored him on the law enforcement side. Zanchelli is a retired Suffolk County Police Detective who taught Michael, not only about law enforcement tactics, but laid a foundation of interpersonal skills Evans employed in his private business. Evans describes Zanchelli as a natural teacher who told him, “If you need to tell someone you’re in charge, you’re not in charge.” That line stuck with Evans who never felt the need to demand respect, rather command it with his actions and demeanor.
Michael started USPA with his brother, Jamie and friend, Greg Mazza in 2005. His father got involved in the business for a very short amount of time, before being expelled by Evans when he caught his own father stealing the very first profit the company ever earned. For 16 years, Evans grew the company from his Baiting Hollow apartment bedroom to one of the largest security firms in the world today. The company is broken into several sub-companies, all under the umbrella of USPA International. Along the way, Kingsman Philanthropic Corp. was born to service a much-needed demographic, trafficked and abused women and children. Prior to filing a non-profit, Evans gave more than 5000% of his current net worth over 16 years to Kingsman and performed many kidnap rescues with his security contractors on 6 continents. As recently as last week, Evans was still performing rescues.
His untimely departure from the company actually came at a good time as his current Vice President, Daniel Manning, seamlessly assumed the CEO position at USPA Nationwide Security, the domestic branch operating in the continental USA. Sondae Esposito, USPA International’s President, assumed the position of CEO of the international branch.
When asked what is on the horizon, Evans said, “I need to get a handle on my health first. Then, I’d like to stop and smell the roses before I take on any more projects.” He quoted Alan Watts, “The color of the sky no longer presents magic and wonder when profit and survivability frame our lives.”
To learn about USPA Nationwide Security, go to uspasecurity.com.
