The Monitoring Association’s (TMA) new CEO, Whitney A. Doll, officially began on Oct. 1, 2025. Two days later, she was heading to TMA’s annual meeting, celebrating its 75th anniversary. “It was really nice to meet a lot of the big names in the industry, get a chance to talk in person,” Doll said. “It was a good crash course in understanding TMA, the security industry, and people’s priorities.”

Stronger Together: Solving Industry Issues

TMA’s annual meeting was a stepping stone in achieving Doll’s mission as CEO: to collaborate with industry professionals, identify issues that are important within the monitoring space and be vocal about solving these problems. “I’m really focused on bringing together many individuals, many organizations, to build consensus, to bring everyone to the table,” Doll said. “I think, in almost every case, we are stronger together. It’s important to listen to diverse voices to have that collaboration, and we can get better outcomes.”

Doll’s primary priorities as CEO are to make an impact, further the mission of TMA, increase public safety and security, and work with public safety partners to find ways to promote important messages to help individuals feel more secure. From her position as CEO, she also wants to ensure industry voices are heard and amplified. “In some cases, in the past, it’s been a little bit fragmented,” she said. “I think collective action is where you can get issues moved forward.”

TMA’s collaboration with the Security Industry Association, the Electronic Security Association and the Alarm Industry Communications Committee to address the risky NextNav proposal was a notable situation in which the monitoring, security, and public safety industries came together — and it was a necessary collaboration, in Doll’s opinion. “That’s an example of the types of issues that I want to make sure TMA is front and center on,” Doll said.

Doll is cognizant that TMA is a longstanding industry association, and she wants to continue to foster its history of excellence. “I think it’s important that TMA continues to be the go-to resource for the professional monitoring industry, and I think it’s important to find more opportunities to bring the industry together.”

To accomplish this, Doll would like to grow TMA’s suite of education and certification offerings. “I think that will help TMA’s members and stakeholders navigate what’s particularly challenging time for a lot of businesses, particularly in the security industry, because technology is changing,” she said. “There’s a lot of new ways to do business and ways to create efficiencies and better customer experiences. Education is central to helping our members succeed.”

Industry Outlook: The Tech Takeover

The industry is always changing, and Doll is prepared to lead herself, her team, and TMA’s members through these ever-changing priorities. Doll anticipates five key trends will affect the industry: AI, ASAP, standards development, cybersecurity, and data usage.

AI won’t just affect the industry; it has the potential to completely transform it. “[AI will influence] how not only TMA does business, but our members do business. … AI is evolving the hardware and the software solutions that security monitoring companies use and advancing how we provide physical security solutions and monitoring capabilities,” she said. AI will have an impact on the training and certification the TMA provides its members, as the association will build offerings to help the security industry adjust to AI. Doll also wants to ensure TMA staff are using AI to advance the association’s products and services.

Among the many things that will likely have a positive influence, in Doll’s opinion, is the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol, which is designed to ensure faster connections between security companies and public safety organizations so that dispatch times are shortened. “That has the possibility of really transforming the industry and speeding up reaction times to incidences to incidents,” Doll said.

She also points to two standards in the beginning stages of development: AVS-01 and ATN-01. “Standards remain a really important part of bringing people together and having this baseline throughout the U.S.,” Doll said. “Putting standards like that in place could really help transform the industry.”

Cybersecurity is an ongoing focus, particularly as technology rapidly advances. Data usage and privacy concerns are going to affect the industry, and companies will have to effectively address these challenges. “People are worried about how their data is being used from a marketing perspective,” Doll said. “That has only increased over the past decade and will continue to evolve how the security monitoring industry uses data, how they protect data, what sort of data they share.”

These concerns will increase as AI continues to evolve. “[AI and data privacy] are going to come together and affect each other, and we have to find ways to adjust and make sure the customer feels comfortable with how their data is being used and the protections in place there,” Doll said.

Making a Difference With Mission Work

Doll describes her background as “adjacent” to the monitoring industry, though still incredibly relevant to her role as CEO. She has experience in public safety and security membership associations, as well as nonprofit leadership. She was most recently vice president, the International Code Council (ICC), a building of safety organizations. Prior to ICC, Doll worked at the CNA Corporation, a nonprofit organization serving national security organizations. She brings to TMA deep expertise in membership training and certification, marketing and communication, and bringing groups together — all imperatives she’s dedicated to advancing within the industry.

“I always knew I wanted to do some sort of mission work and something that made a difference and an impact on the world,” Doll said. “And public safety, I mean, what could be more important than that, honestly? The impact that you can have in organizations that work on public safety is just immeasurable.”

As many in the industry have come to observe, there aren’t many opportunities for job seekers to learn about the industry before just ‘stumbling into it.’ “That’s a story that I’m already hearing over and over again,” Doll said. “Either it’s a family, the person that brought them in, or they kind of stumbled upon it. I don’t know that many kids or young adults are thinking, hey, the security industry, that’s a good place to go. And that is a problem because this is an exciting field.”

She would like to see more emphasis on sharing industry stories and widespread emphasis on the industry being a good place to go. “All of the technological advancements … make security a really exciting field to work in,” Doll said. She also believes the security ‘mission’ or protecting people and property is something that will draw people in.

This is where TMA comes in. For Doll, TMA committees are an imperative, such as the NextGen Committee, which is dedicated to bringing new entrants into the industry and making them feel welcome. “I think that’s so important. Sometimes, people stumble across the industry, and then, if they don’t feel welcome, no matter what the job or the industry is, then they leave, and you’ve lost good talent,” Doll said.

Once young professionals are in the industry, it’s important to foster their growth. Doll is a strong believer in the fact that no one person rises alone, so she encourages young and seasoned professionals to collaborate and share knowledge. “I have asked so many people for help, for advice, and you’d be surprised how many people are, even if they don’t know you already, willing to offer that advice,” she said.

Mentoring and sponsorship can prove to be beneficial for those looking to grow in the industry as well. “I can’t stress that enough, that advice from a diverse board of advisors is essential to success, particularly if you’re looking for leadership positions,” Doll said.

Her final piece of advice is to volunteer. “For me personally, outside of the security industry, [volunteering] is what I am passionate about,” Doll said. “It doesn’t sound like that leads to leadership, but it really does. Find your passion, get involved, spend the time outside of a paid job, and that will pay dividends in your job and your personal life.”