Meet Mother-Daughter Team Kathleen Ford and Alaina Meyer of scDataCom

In a traditionally male-dominated field, Kathleen Ford and Alaina Meyer are the dynamic mother-daughter duo behind scDataCom, a fast-growing security technology integration firm. Meyer founded the Savannah, Georgia-based company at just 22 years old, bringing bold vision and entrepreneurial energy to the table. Ford, her mother, joined after a distinguished military career, contributing decades of leadership and strategic expertise. Together, they’ve built one of the country’s fastest-growing veteran-owned companies, securing major federal contracts and earning national recognition for their work.

As women business owners and leaders, Meyer and Ford are challenging industry norms and creating a company culture rooted in transparency, mutual respect and work-life balance. Their complementary strengths and deep family bond have shaped their leadership style and fueled their success. In this candid Q&A presented by the SIA Women in Security Forum (WISF) IlluminateHER subcommittee, the mother-daughter team discuss the realities of building a business together, navigating bias and how their values continue to shape scDataCom’s growth.

What inspired the two of you to go into business together, and why did you choose the security industry in particular?

Kathleen Ford: Alaina founded the business, and a year or so after my retirement from the military I dropped the hint that I was getting bored, so she encouraged me to join her. My motivation was less about the security industry. While Alaina came with a passion for IT and communications, I came with a different background and had self-doubt that I had anything to contribute. My motivation was to support my daughter 100%. We discovered pretty quickly that we worked pretty well together as a team. 

Alaina Meyer: I have an entrepreneurial spirit, which is largely rooted in self-confidence with a splash of delusion, but I really didn’t have any chops. I didn’t have an MBA or leadership experience, but I had sales experience. Once I had people on my team working under me, I was feeling underqualified to lead, but my mom had held leadership roles in her military career. She has served in multiple high-level roles and has a master’s degree in strategic studies from the Army War College. 

As a mother and daughter team, how do you balance family dynamics with running a business – especially in an industry that’s traditionally male dominated?

AM: We’ve always been a very close family, and I think that has been a product of family values. As a military family, we also moved quite a bit, so we were always our own unit. We were very accustomed to being vulnerable and facing hardships, so that set the foundation as well. My mom and I have always had a very honest relationship, and that works very well for us. We like radical candor and no-frills communication, and that really serves us well in the business world. I feel very confident that everything I say to her and she says to me is from a place of wanting each other to do better and be successful.

KF: For us, we have a basis of understanding that our relationship isn’t fracturable. It allows you to say the hard things or accept the hard things without any ego because it’s said for the right reasons. That’s a great fortune for us to have what others might not have, where they have to bite their tongue or package things in a safe way for another colleague. We can move on to results and not get mired in feelings. 

AM: Our lack of politicizing with each other echoes down into the organization. I had an employee remark to me today that we have a very transparent workplace. Kathleen and I are never playing games with each other. 

KF: We try to practice what we preach with a work-life balance environment for our staff. Alaina has a two-year-old, and she tries to leave at a reasonable time to pick her daughter up from day care. Because of our family dynamics, we are understanding of what quality of life looks like, and then we are also self-employed and we can do things for our families.

How do your individual roles complement each other in the business? Does this have any correlation to your individual personalities or personal relationship with each other? 

KF: I think to put it simply my strengths are probably in analysis and detail and Alaina’s strengths are vision and imagination; between us we have the bases covered. If there’s a veteran issue or veteran customer, she will defer to me, but if it’s a sales issue, I will defer to her, and we both get final answers in our lanes. We bring all those things together to create a strategic vision.

What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as women in the security installation field, and how have you overcome them?

KF: The gender issue has raised some eyebrows. I remember when I sat for my low-voltage exam, I was the only woman in a room of 50 people, and they made me sit in the front row of the prep course. There is a bias, and men are surprised to see a woman in the ranks. I’m not sure it’s as much of a barrier to entry as it is a surprise and a little bit of a prove- yourself attitude. Alaina has had a double whammy with her age and gender because she was 22 when she started the company.

AM: I was just at a conference attended by manufacturer’s reps and other high-level integrators. One of the reps stopped me and asked what I did, and I told him I was the owner and he responded, “You’re the owner?”

On one hand it was flattering because he knew my company, scDataCom, but he was incredulous that I was the owner – whether it was my age, my gender or other factors I’m not sure, but I was not what he was expecting.  It used to bother me when I was younger, but I’ve become more used to it. I feel very comfortable in what I’m doing, and I know I’m doing it well.

KF: Something that stands out to me is when we applied for the Georgia Department of Transportation certification as a woman-owned company, we were denied. When we went through the appeals process, they couldn’t get over the fact that my military background was in nursing but I was now running a security company. They believed a man must be actually running the company behind the scenes.  The words they used in their response document were, “you were just a nurse.”

Can you share a proud moment or milestone that really affirmed your decision to work together in this field?

AM: In 2018 we won our largest contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in New York for a multimillion-dollar contract. Our largest contract up until that time was only $200,000. We knew when we put the bid together that this could be a catalyst for the growth we were seeking. It’s still one of the most successful jobs ever for us, and it reinforced our legitimacy and ability to scale.

KF: Alaina and I share many micro successes. This year scDataCom made the VET100 list of the top 100 fastest-growing veteran-owned companies. Being recognized with this honor was one of our aspirations. We’ve had a lot of proud moments, and we’ve been able to share in them together. 

What unique perspectives do you think women bring to the industry? What do you think that adds to your company specifically? 

KF: We are trying to break down gender stereotypes, and this is a gender stereotype question. That being said, women seem to have a natural inclination for being multitaskers, which is certainly useful in running a business. We both happen to be very good at keeping multiple balls in the air. Another trait that may be more female inherently is the way we communicate – the feeling side of leadership. We care about people both on and off the job and make it a point to know our staff personally.  

AM: The security industry has been very male dominated, but because we are women in this space and in a leadership position we have a unique understanding of what it’s like to be underestimated. For example, at scDataCom we have a talented technician who had no prior technician experience but a desire to learn. He had a master’s degree in graphic design. Most likely he would not have been a good fit for a big-box company given the opportunity, but we saw his potential and now he’s leading multimillion-dollar installations. 

What advice would you give to other women – or mothers and daughters – who are considering starting a business together, especially in a male-dominated industry?

AM: I would give the same advice that my mom gave me: “Yes, you can.” I wrote about this in a blog I wrote called 10 Life and Leadership Lessons From My Mother. 

KF: We are leaning into our differences and making them strengths. When we don’t look like everyone else in the room, it can be a conversation starter and people remember us. If you can leverage that and follow it up with competency, you’ll be successful. Not every mother and daughter relationship is the same, so you need to know if you can take the strengths of a family relationship and turn it into a business relationship. For some, that might cause a strain, but for us it’s been a force multiplier.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association.