Dan C Phillips: Building Reliable Mass Communication Solutions

Imagine a young graduate, freshly out of Johns Hopkins University, joining a start-up, which soon becomes a mid-size company with as many as 200 employees. This is the story of Dan C Phillips, who is now serving as the President of CareHawk USA. The organization works to provide facilities, especially schools, modern mass communication solutions including emergency messages, paging, intercom, visual displays, email alerts, district-wide capabilities, synchronized clocks, video surveillance, security integration, and more.

Now let’s get back to the story of Dan C Phillips. His first participation in a start-up, Sun Automation Inc. (SUN), designed and produced automated machinery for the corrugated packaging industry. SUN became a respected brand in over 25 countries. For Dan, it was a great experience, and enormously rewarding bringing to market several patented products that helped the company spread its wings into new global spaces. He opened a wholly own subsidiary in Guangzhou China, which was truly a business obstacle course and a test of his resolve. SUN became the trusted industry authority with a global reach.

Later, Dan joined Syntech Systems Inc. as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. During his tenure in Syntech, he worked closely with the Dunlap family and managed their sales team and distribution network. The family’s commitment to its employees, and the substantial investment poured into R&D, were inspirational.

Joining CareHawk USA

Previous career experiences positioned Dan well for his role in CareHawk USA. He joined the organization in 2019 as the Vice President of Sales and in 2021, he took the position of the President.

Dan shares that CareHawk USA’s former President, Mickey Rudd (current CareHawk Chairman), along with key equity partners; Bob Sick, Bob Begley, and John Floyd have the company healthy and ready for more growth. The ownership/leadership group is fully committed to current growth objectives and Dan’s strategic plan to make it reality

Dan C Phillips reports that CareHawk will bring the most practical technology and communication solutions to schools, skilled nursing campuses, and any facilities employing Life Safety Communication systems. He also believes, CareHawk USA’s sales engineering group are the best in the industry; Bill Kapp, Dale Ilko, David Verucchi, Doug Randle, Kevin Patrick, and Michael Hurtado. They work closely with the company’s distributors, with relevant A&E firms and General Contractors, to win projects and conquer new application challenges. The group is a key part of what makes CareHawk USA a company that you want as your partner.

Staying Ahead

Staying in front of competitors with innovation, serving its distributors needs quickly, integrating adjacent technology, and offering comprehensive end-user solutions that help during an emergency, are Dan’s biggest motivation. As a leader he wants employees to not just understand the company’s mission, vision and growth strategy but become a part of that journey, embrace it with passion, and celebrate the results together. Dan, along with his team, strive to keep a collaborative culture where ideas flow freely and become better in the hands of the group that can bring them to life. Dan shared that he has seen first-hand, many times, how one interesting idea in the minds of a talented staff can evolve into a new business festival.

Dan feels, the greatest leadership reward comes when members of his team develop and reach their full potential. CareHawk USA is proud to have rising stars all over the company, especially in the customer care group; Mike Teachnor, Pam Smith, Meredith Locke, and Tim Thompson are part of the magic at CareHawk USA who deliver daily results for customers. The team’s commitment to excellence gives the company a true competitive advantage.

Providing Performance Returns

Most clients that CareHawk USA serve, especially schools, are looking for modern communication technology but they don’t want to take chances – reliable systems are paramount. In CareHawk, they know they can trust the brand and their certified partners. Their broad distribution channel has trained people resources that are certified in project design, equipment installation, and system commissioning. Customers realize their investment in CareHawk products will provide performance returns for decades.

Journey of an Engineer

Dan loves to describe his journey as a cocky, inventive engineer who worked far too much in his young years, who transitioned into operations, grew into sales and marketing, understood finance and cost-accounting, and then ultimately landed as a business junkie (executive) that loved the challenge of expanding customer base. Although he feels he is the same person in many ways, now he understands the value of work-life balance and makes sure his team understands this as well.

According to Dan, ‘Ecstatic end-users, successful distributors, delighted business owners, celebrated employees, and a brand that stands proudly on its own.’ Is the mark of success. He also adds, “We will stay at the winner’s podium with ethical strategy and a team celebrated culture.”

Piece of Advice

When asked for a piece of advice to upcoming entrepreneurs Dan says, “You have to believe in yourself, in your vision, and in your ability to triumph over obstacles that will surface at all the wrong times. Know that you will not have all the answers at the beginning of the journey, no one does, but get started anyway.”

Dan also suggests taking great care while building a team. Fit the skills of the person to the needs of the position, but always hire attitude over a particular skill. Also adding, “Make sure everyone embraces the culture you want for your organization. Have the discipline not to always chase the next “what if”. Be sure you are targeting a real gap in the market with your product or service. Communicate to your employees and your customers. Also, have fun!”

Future Roadmap

When it comes to the future, Dan expects the company to triple in size by 2028, both by organic means and with partnerships. CareHawk USA will expand their reach into sectors that are appropriate for its technology and their distributors. The company’s technical support services and application engineering staff will continue to expand so it can triumph in new sectors with both hardware and software solutions.