Superior Alarm Systems

Founding Story

“I developed a keen interest in home security in 1977 after my parents’ home was burglarized while I was at school, and the intruders stole my prized stereo system.

While in college, I was approached by a start-up security company to help drive sales for a newly passed smoke detector ordinance in the City of Los Angeles. Once on staff, I tagged along on a couple of security installations to get a better understanding of the processes. But after a few months, I learned that the owners were more interested in playing golf than driving the business. I had more ambition than that.

I started Superior Alarm Systems in the garage of my rented Simi Valley home in 1981. I bought a drill motor and a drill bit, and a week later I sold two installs at residences in Canoga Park — which coincidentally is where SAS headquarters are now located — and at that point, I knew I would be OK. From there, I picked up some referral work and caught a few breaks, most notably landing consumer electronics retailer Circuit City and vitamin and supplement manufacturer Pharmavite.

To this day, the break-in incident from 1977 remains top of mind and is a constant reminder of the importance of the work we do here at SAS in providing peace of mind to our customers.”

— Doug Leener, Founder & President (1981-2025)

Why Cobalt

“I made the tough decision to sell SAS a couple of years earlier when I knew it was time to retire. I wanted to leave the business in the hands of someone whom I could trust – someone to carry on our mission of fulfilling the unique and diverse security needs of our customers by exceeding their expectations for service, quality and value.

As an employee-owned company, we were always fully committed to offering growth and learning opportunities to our people. I had spoken with literally dozens of companies before I found Cobalt, and it was clear to me right away that the people who run it understood our mission and would place a high value on our employees and the work that they do.

Cobalt values each and every worker as we do and allows us to keep the kind of company culture we had carefully fostered over more than four decades. And they’ll provide us with the resources of a much larger company, while respecting the integrity and uniqueness of our local operation.”

— Doug Leener, Founder & President (1981-2025)

“My father and I chose Cobalt for a multitude of reasons — but most importantly because we felt Cobalt would preserve the SAS family culture that was built over our 44 years of existence. We also felt that Cobalt’s model and mission were a perfect fit to allow us to focus on continuing to grow our business and support our customers — while still maintaining our ‘boutique’ customer experience.

I am confident that Cobalt’s thoughtful and reasoned approach to M&A and partnership will allow both Cobalt and SAS to learn from each other and foster each other’s growth — and I can’t be more excited for the future of our business for years to come!”

— Jared Leener, Director of Business Development and Sales (2016-present)