December 29, 2025
Shari Wilson, the 2025 TMA Monitoring Center Manager of the Year as honored by the TMA Excellence Awards, brings more than four decades of hands-on security monitoring leadership to her role. With 42 years invested in this field, she has built a career guided by a strong sense of purpose and an unwavering focus on safeguarding lives.
Wilson directs all monitoring functions at ADT, which include its emergency dispatch, health monitoring, bilingual support, and mobile security teams under the Safe by ADT banner. “I save lives for a living,” she says. Her daily mission is to ensure best-in-class service, uphold regulatory compliance, and drive ongoing enhancements that keep customers protected around the clock.
She traces her beginnings to a stint as a 911 operator in Wichita, Kansas, before joining Multimedia Security, a startup offshoot of a cable firm venturing into alarms. At that time she handled incoming alerts via a ticker-tape device. A printed account and zone number had to be manually matched with customer details in a logbook, and every action was stamped on a time clock. Computers would arrive later and reshape the workflow, yet Wilson notes that the noble goal of helping people when they need it most remains unchanged.
Over the years she has guided multiple acquisitions and stitched together teams with differing cultures and processes. Adapting and communicating well proved essential when various platforms and standards needed harmonizing. “Transparency is key, and being empathetic is key,” she explains. Wilson believes that forging trust depends as much on open dialogue as on strategic clarity.
The demands on today’s operator extend well beyond following fixed protocols. Team members must think on their feet, absorb a flood of data points, and make split-second judgments under pressure. Clear communication and a customer-first mentality now rank as top qualifications, in place of the rote step-by-step routines of decades past.
Wilson collaborates closely with ADT’s learning and development group to shape training materials. One proud initiative is a three-module resiliency curriculum dedicated to mental wellness. Agents who hear vivid accounts or witness footage face stressors that go beyond routine alerts. The program meets monthly during performance reviews, and participants are encouraged to carve out time for their own self-care.
In her view training centers on building operator confidence as much as achieving compliance. When trainees can demonstrate accuracy and command of procedures, they graduate ready to handle real events with calm assurance.
More than a thousand employees across multiple shifts take part in daily stand-up meetings, where leaders share insights from the prior shift and set goals for the hours ahead. Key performance indicators are reviewed so everyone stays aligned on service levels and response times. These check-ins foster a sense of shared ownership: if one team hits a snag, others step in to help.
Customer experience workshops gather agents whose survey scores fall outside target thresholds. Over three weeks they dissect recordings, spotlight successes, and drill into improvement opportunities. By the final session, participants share their own calls and field feedback from peers, resulting in genuine growth and renewed commitment to quality.
Senior leaders, including Wilson, hold skip-level discussions to tap frontline perspectives on pain points and wins. A leadership book club convenes on a monthly basis, giving managers at different levels a forum to explore new ideas and strategies together.
All these programs aim to cultivate the next generation of ADT leaders, nurturing both skills and cultural values. Wilson says that providing space for personal and professional development builds engagement in an area of work that can feel intense at times.
Under her direction, several employee resource groups thrive. A women’s network boosts mentorship and inclusion, the mental wellness collective offers meditation sessions and guest speakers to support monitoring agents, and a sustainability circle organizes local clean-up events. Attendance at these groups is encouraged by granting time off the phones, and many team members report that the sense of belonging has strengthened morale and retention.
Technology plays a critical role in maintaining high service levels. Advanced systems flag dropped or missed signals, triggering root cause investigations and corrective actions. When a lapse is traced to a process or system gap, targeted training or a software update follows. Wilson says, “We treat each incident as a learning moment, not a moment to assign blame.”
Rolling out new tools can unsettle some staff, so pilot teams evaluate fresh solutions and provide feedback. This feedback loop shapes rollout plans, training aids, and reinforcement exercises. Before a full launch, simulated scenarios and audits help confirm that scripting and procedures meet standards.
Wilson urges other managers to involve key influencers early, explain the rationale behind every change, and celebrate milestones along the way. She has seen that those milestones become rallying points that fuel momentum for the next project.
She stays active with industry groups and is scanning the market for AI-driven verification and decision-support platforms that can boost speed and accuracy. Electronic dispatch integration with PSAPs promises significant time savings, while mobile safety tools continue to open new service possibilities on ADT’s roadmap.
Looking ahead, she predicts that automation and AI will drive the largest gains in efficiency, yet success will belong to those who combine cutting-edge systems with a strong personal touch. Monitoring, she insists, remains more than a job; it’s a calling that inspires loyalty and longevity among professionals who know their work can protect people and property.
Her advice for managers is simple: invest deeply in your people, stay open to technological advances, and keep customer needs front and center. By balancing innovation with empathy, organizations can build the resilience and responsiveness required in an ever-changing security environment.
The next generation of monitoring leaders will emerge from teams that marry human insight with smart technology. Companies that get that mix right will stand apart as the ones who continuously earn trust and deliver peace of mind.
