CEO and Executive Security Programs: What Boards and Security Directors Should Require From a Ground Provider

Executive security has moved from a discretionary perk to a governance topic. Boards review it. Proxy statements disclose it. Insurers ask about it. Security directors who once managed facilities and investigations now own a program that follows a handful of executives through every hour of the day.

Most of that program is policy, intelligence, and planning. Its most visible and most frequently tested part is simpler: how the executive gets from place to place. The commute, the airport run, the investor meeting across town, the evening event. These are the hours when an executive leaves access-controlled space, and in the New York region they are usually outsourced.

This guide is for corporate security directors, chiefs of staff, general counsel, and board members who set or approve requirements for that outsourced ground work. It sets out what to require from a provider, why the structure of the provider matters as much as the quality of its people, and how to build a statement of work that can be audited.

Why Ground Movement Is the Center of the Problem

An executive's day divides into controlled and uncontrolled time. The headquarters has badge access and a staffed lobby. The home, if the program extends to it, has its own measures. The corporate aircraft is private.

The uncontrolled time is the transitions. Walking out of a residence. Sitting in traffic on a known route at a known hour. Stepping from a vehicle to a building entrance. Arriving at a publicized event. Moving between an FBO and a car.

Three features make these moments the focus of any serious program:

• They are predictable. Commutes, earnings calls, annual meetings, and conference appearances are knowable in advance, sometimes from the company's own publications.
• They are public. Anyone can stand on a sidewalk.
• They are outsourced. The people closest to the executive at the most exposed moments often work for a vendor, and sometimes for a vendor's vendor.

A program that is strong everywhere except the ground is strong in the places an adversary is least likely to choose.

The Usual Model and Its Weak Point

Most corporate programs in this region handle ground movement in one of three ways.

A car service on the corporate account. Reliable transportation, booked by the executive assistant. The drivers are professional chauffeurs with no protective training and no knowledge of the security program. They wait at the curb with a name sign.

A national security firm that subcontracts locally. The company signs with a well-known provider. The provider brokers the New York work to a regional security company, which does not operate vehicles and rents a car and chauffeur from a limousine company. The executive is now three contracts away from the company, and the driver was never briefed.

In-house agents with rented vehicles. Corporate protective staff travel with the executive and hire local cars. The agents are excellent. They also lack New York security licensing in many cases, cannot carry firearms here on out-of-state credentials, and do not know which entrance avoids the plaza.

The weak point is the same in all three: the driver and the vehicle sit outside the security program. They are the element closest to the executive and the least controlled.

The cause is regulatory. Transportation for hire and private security are licensed separately, and very few companies hold both. Stealth Protection holds both the transportation license and the executive protection license. Our security drivers, protective agents, and vehicles belong to one company under one standard, with one point of contact for the client's security director and executive assistant. No subcontracting and no handoffs.

Requirements to Put in Writing

The following can be adapted directly into a statement of work or a vendor standard.

1. Licensing and insurance

• A current New York Watch, Guard or Patrol Agency license, verified with the Department of State. Connecticut security credentials for executives who live or work there.
• Individual security guard registration for every person performing protective functions.
• For armed personnel, a New York pistol license and armed guard registration.
• For-hire transportation authority covering the vehicles and drivers used.
• General liability, commercial auto, and workers' compensation at limits set by your risk manager, with the company named on a certificate.

2. No undisclosed subcontracting

• Drivers and agents are employees of the contracting vendor.
• Vehicles are operated by the contracting vendor.
• Any exception requires written approval in advance and is held to the same standard.

This single clause removes most of the risk described above.

3. Personnel standards

• Background investigation, driving record review, and employment verification.
• Documented protective driving training and refresher schedule.
• Current first aid, CPR, and AED certification. A medical event or a collision is far more likely than an attack.
• Named primary and backup personnel for each executive, introduced in advance.
• Professional appearance consistent with the executive's environment.
• A policy on phones, photographs, and social media.

We outline what protective driving training covers in Security Driver vs. Chauffeur.

4. Vehicle standards

• Late-model, unmarked, full-size luxury SUVs in a common color. Anonymity is the objective.
• Documented maintenance and pre-trip inspection.
• Never left unattended during an assignment.
• Basic equipment: first aid kit, fire extinguisher, flashlight, chargers, and a backup communication device.
• Secure storage of the vehicle between assignments.

Our standard assignment is the Cadillac Escalade ESV, with Chevrolet Suburbans for lower-profile work and support. Details are on the fleet page.

5. Operating procedures

• Primary and alternate routes for regular movements, with deliberate variation in route and timing.
• Advance knowledge of every location: entrances, staging, building security contacts, and nearest emergency departments.
• Defined arrival and departure procedures. The vehicle arrives early, stages out of view, and is at the door as the executive exits.
• Doors locked and windows up while occupied.
• A clear division of roles when an agent is present. The agent stays with the executive. The driver stays with the vehicle.

6. Information security

• Itineraries shared only with assigned personnel.
• A written statement of who inside the vendor can see executive schedules.
• Neutral names on reservations and signage.
• Non-disclosure agreements covering the company and individuals.
• Secure handling and deletion of trip records on a schedule you define.

7. Communication and reporting

• One point of contact reachable at all hours.
• Written confirmation with driver, vehicle, and timing for non-routine movements.
• Immediate notification of anything unusual, including events that prove benign.
• A brief daily summary to the security director or designee.
• Incident reports in writing within a defined time.

8. Integration with the corporate team

• Willingness to work under the direction of the company's security lead.
• Participation in advances for major events.
• Coordination with building security, event security, and law enforcement liaisons as directed.
• Support for traveling protective staff who need licensed local partners.

9. Scalability

• Capacity to add agents and vehicles for annual meetings, investor days, board meetings, and crises, without introducing new vendors.
• Group movement capability for leadership teams and boards.

10. Auditability

• Training and licensing records available for review.
• Trip logs retained and producible.
• Periodic service reviews with the security director.

Aligning Coverage With the Threat Picture

Requirements should be proportionate. Most corporate programs tier their coverage.

Baseline. Security-trained drivers for designated officers on commutes and business travel. Varied routes. No agent. This is the level many boards adopt after an independent security study.

Elevated. A protective agent added around known triggers: earnings, layoffs, litigation milestones, activist campaigns, product controversies, and any publicized appearance.

High. Continuous coverage for an executive facing a specific, credible threat. More agents, residential measures, and possibly armed personnel following an assessment.

A provider that can deliver every tier lets the security director move an executive between levels in hours, with the same vehicles and familiar faces. We describe the local protective picture in Executive Protection in Westchester County.

Common Gaps We See in Existing Programs

When a security director asks us to review ground arrangements, the same issues come up.

The name sign. A chauffeur standing in an arrivals hall holding the chief executive's name. It identifies the executive to everyone in the terminal. Use a company code, a neutral name, or direct phone contact.

The fixed routine. The same driver, the same route, the same minute every morning, sometimes for years. It is comfortable and entirely predictable.

The unattended vehicle. The driver parks in a garage three blocks away and waits for a call. When the executive needs to leave quickly, the car is ten minutes out.

The executive assistant as dispatcher. Assistants are asked to coordinate a car service, a security vendor, and a flight department by text message. Information is lost at each relay.

Undisclosed subcontracting. The contract is with a well-known firm. The driver works for a company nobody on the client side has heard of.

The weekend gap. The program covers business hours. The executive drives alone to a publicized charity event on a Saturday night.

No medical capability. A driver with no first aid training and no knowledge of the nearest emergency department. Statistically, this is the gap most likely to matter.

Out-of-state agents working without local licensing. Traveling protective staff performing security functions in New York without New York credentials, exposing the company to regulatory and liability risk.

Each of these has a simple remedy, and most cost nothing beyond choosing the right provider and writing the requirement down.

Transition: Changing Providers Without Disrupting the Executive

Executives dislike change in their daily routine, and a poorly handled transition can sour a program. A sequence that works:

1. Brief the executive and the assistant on why the change is being made and what will feel different, which should be very little.
2. Introduce the primary driver and the backup in person before the first day.
3. Transfer preferences. Temperature, newspapers, preferred entrances, the coffee stop, conversation or quiet. The new team should know them on day one.
4. Run a two to four week trial on the real schedule, with a review at the end.
5. Keep the assistant's workload flat or lower. One contact, one confirmation format, one invoice.
6. Review after ninety days with the executive's direct feedback.

Handled this way, the usual response from the executive is that the ride got better and nothing else changed.

Events That Deserve Their Own Plan

Annual shareholder meetings. Publicized, open to shareholders, and sometimes a focus for protest. Plan executive and director arrivals through non-public entrances, stage vehicles for immediate departure, and brief drivers on alternates.

Investor days and roadshows. Tight schedules across multiple buildings. One vehicle and one security driver for the full day keeps materials secure and removes curb waiting. Our corporate transportation service is built for this, and hourly chauffeur bookings keep the vehicle dedicated.

Board meetings and offsites. Directors arriving from several airports. Coordinate as one movement with flight tracking and a single dispatcher. See our airport car service.

Restructurings and terminations. Risk rises for executives and for the human resources and legal staff involved. Short-term coverage for a defined period is common and sensible.

Visiting executives and dignitaries. Out-of-state or international principals need licensed local support. Planeside pickups at Westchester County Airport and Teterboro are routine for us.

Public appearances and galas. A short, planned arrival and an attended vehicle are the two measures that matter most. Group and event movements run through our event transportation service.

The Executive's Family and Personal Time

Boards increasingly extend programs to commutes and personal travel, and sometimes to family members, on the reasoning that risk created by the role follows the executive home. Where the company's program stops at the office door, executives often arrange household coverage privately.

Using the same provider for both keeps standards and information in one place. The company's agreement covers business movement. A separate household agreement covers the family. We explain the household side in our guide to private family security drivers.

Budget and Disclosure

Security directors often need to help finance and legal teams understand the expense.

• Independent security studies commonly support the business purpose of executive security and should be kept current.
• Proxy disclosure. Public companies disclose certain security costs for named executive officers. Coordinate with counsel on what is reportable and how it is characterized.
• Cost structure. A retained program with dedicated personnel prices better per hour than ad hoc bookings and is easier to forecast. We explain pricing structures in What Does Executive Protection Cost in New York.
• In-house or outsourced. The comparison, including coverage gaps and liability, is set out in Full-Time Executive Protection: Hiring In-House vs. Retaining a Licensed Firm.
• Productivity. An executive who works through a ninety-minute commute returns meaningful time to the company every week.

How We Work With Corporate Security Teams

• We take direction. Your security lead sets the posture. We execute it on the ground.
• One company, both licenses. Security drivers, agents, and vehicles under one contract, one insurer, and one confidentiality agreement.
• Named teams. Your executives see familiar faces.
• Local knowledge. We are based in Port Chester on the New York and Connecticut line and work Westchester County, Fairfield County, and New York City every day.
• Around the clock. One point of contact for the security director and the executive assistant.
• Surge capacity for meetings, events, and crises.

More detail is on our executive protection and secure transportation pages.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you support our traveling protective team when they are in New York?Yes. We provide licensed local agents, security drivers, and vehicles, and work under your team's direction.

Will you complete our vendor security questionnaire and provide certificates?Yes.

Can you dedicate the same driver to our CEO every day?Yes, with a named backup approved in advance.

Do you provide armed agents?When an assessment supports it. Armed personnel hold the required New York credentials.

Can you cover directors and guests for board meetings?Yes. We coordinate multi-airport arrivals as a single movement.

Do your drivers sign confidentiality agreements individually?Yes. Agreements cover the company and each person assigned to your account.

Can you support executives who live in Connecticut and work in New York?Yes. Cross-border days are routine, and we staff them with properly credentialed personnel for each state.

How quickly can you start?Baseline transportation can begin immediately. Dedicated programs usually begin with a short trial period. Learn more about us on the About page.

Start With a Confidential Discussion

Send us your requirements and we will respond point by point, or call to talk through the program you are building. Reach us at (914) 653-6228 at any hour or through our contact page. To evaluate our drivers and vehicles first, reserve a trip on an ordinary business day.

One contract. Both licenses. One point of contact.