Guardian Data Destruction Announces a Strategic Growth Investment from Housatonic Partners and the appointment of Rob Alston as the New Chief Executive Officer

Founder Glenn Laga to retire as company CEO

SOUTH HACKENSACK, NJ, AND SAN FRANCISCO, CA – May 8, 2024 – Guardian Data Destruction (“Guardian”), a leading provider of data destruction services and trusted partner in the Information Technology Asset Disposition (ITAD) industry, announced today a strategic growth investment by Housatonic Partners, and the appointment of Rob Alston as the new Chief Executive Officer.

Founded in 2009 by Glenn Laga, Guardian Data Destruction is a leading service provider to the fast-growing ITAD industry providing onsite services for data destruction, enterprise and data center relocations and decommissioning, secure IT packing and logistics, and customized solutions for end-of-life IT assets.

Housatonic is investing alongside both Laga and his long-time business partner Michael Sirota, as well as Alston, who will be teaming up with Housatonic for the second time. Alston was previously the CEO at Access Information Management, a former Housatonic portfolio company. During his tenure at Access, Alston helped grow Access into the world's largest privately held records and information management services provider. Alston succeeds Laga, who will retire after fifteen years as CEO. Sirota will remain with Guardian as Chief Operating Officer.

“I am proud of the reputation that Guardian has earned and excited about the company’s continued growth with Housatonic, Rob and Mike at the helm,“ Laga commented. “I can assure our customers that their needs will continue to be met and exceeded. Our team members are in good hands.”

Housatonic Partners Managing Director Joe Niehaus, who has joined the Guardian Data Destruction Board of Directors, added, “We are excited about partnering with Rob and the Guardian team to build a best-in-class company serving the ITAD industry.”

Plans for Guardian’s continued growth include creating deeper relationships with Guardian’s existing network of channel partners, expanding its geographic reach, and bolstering its service offerings. “As the new CEO, I am excited to leverage the strong groundwork laid by Glenn, Mike, and the strong, established team. Guardian has enduring client relationships, a commitment to and reputation for high-quality service, extensive service offerings, consistent year-over-year growth and strong brand recognition,” said Alston.

Sirota, Guardian’s COO, added, “Our management team could not be more enthusiastic about partnering with Rob and Housatonic Partners to serve our clients and the industry at an even higher standard.” Brooks, Houghton & Company, Inc. (“BHC”) and KOOP Advisors served as financial advisors and Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC (“CSG Law”) served as legal counsel to Guardian Data Destruction. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Guardian Data Destruction
Headquartered in South Hackensack, New Jersey, Guardian Data Destruction serves IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) providers, Value-Added Resellers (VARs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and IT resellers nationwide. The Company has become the leader in onsite e-media data destruction across North America. Guardian offers comprehensive onsite services for data destruction, enterprise and data center relocations and decommissioning, secure IT packing and logistics, as well as customized solutions for end-of-life IT assets.

The Guardian team brings extensive expertise in logistics, chain of custody, auditing, verification, reporting, data center protocols and data sanitization including shredding, degaussing and erasure. Guardian Data Destruction holds NAID AAA certification, ensuring 100% secure, compliant, and absolute data destruction through NIST-compliant processes. For more information, please visit www.guardiandatadestruction.com

About Housatonic Partners
Housatonic Partners, founded in 1994, is a private equity investment firm with more than $1.5 billion in capital under management. The firm invests in growing, profitable businesses with highly recurring revenue. Housatonic Partners has backed exceptional management teams in more than 100 small to mid-sized companies over the last 30 years. For more information, please visit WWW.HOUSATONICPARTNERS.COM