Lake Forest Group

What Lake Forest Group does

The Lake Forest Group is a privately held, boutique security consulting practice headquartered in the Chicago metropolitan area, founded and led by G. Michael Verden, a former U.S. Secret Service Assistant Special Agent in Charge (21-year tenure including the Dignitary Protective Division) who also served as Senior Director of Security for the NBA. The firm delivers risk, threat, and vulnerability assessments, emergency management plans aligned with the DHS four-phase framework, customized workforce security training, executive and CEO protection assessments and consulting, independent security studies with IRS compliance documentation, and corporate and private investigations. It also operates specialized vertical offerings: a Healthcare Security Plan tied to Joint Commission workplace violence prevention standards, a Higher Education Security Plan for campus environments, and a Cannabis Security Plan addressing state-by-state regulatory licensing requirements.

The practice is built on human-expert methodology — specifically, frameworks originally developed and applied during the founder's Secret Service and NBA tenures — rather than on a proprietary technology platform or software product. The team consists of the founder-CEO plus a lean advisory bench including a Director of Communications, a Strategic Advisor (former CSO at Thermo Fisher Scientific and SVP/CSO at Bain Capital), a Senior Security Advisor (former SVP/CSO at News Corp/FOX and ex-Deputy Director of the Federal Air Marshal Service), and a General Counsel. Services are delivered through direct consulting engagements with no channel or reseller distribution model.

Commercial mechanics are those of a relationship-driven professional services boutique. The firm offers a free 30-minute initial consultation as lead generation, followed by project-based or multi-year engagement pricing negotiated on a quote basis (no public pricing is disclosed). The named-but-anonymized enterprise client base spans hospitals and healthcare networks, urban universities, global corporations, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, manufacturing plants, and cannabis operators. Go-to-market is anchored in the founder's industry credibility, professional association memberships (ASIS, IACP, IAHSS, OSAC, SHRM, SOA, UL, USSSA), sustained thought leadership publishing, and recurring media commentary on national security incidents.

Name

Lake Forest Group

Legal name

The Lake Forest Group

Website

https://lakeforestgroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Lake Forest Group is a privately held boutique security consulting firm based near Chicago that delivers risk assessments, emergency management plans, executive protection consulting, training, and investigations to enterprise clients across healthcare, higher education, corporate, and cannabis sectors, leveraging a former U.S. Secret Service founder.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Security Consulting

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Detective, Guard & Armored Car Services (7381)

akta.pro primary industry

Security Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Advisory (BPAKADAG)

Keywords

• Security consulting services
• Executive protection consulting
• Risk and threat assessment
• Emergency management planning
• Workplace violence prevention

Headquarters

HQ city

Lake Forest

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Security Consulting Services: The Lake Forest Group generates revenue through professional security consulting engagements. Services include security assessments, emergency management plans, executive protection assessments, independent security studies, workplace violence prevention programs, training programs, investigations, and specialized security plans (healthcare, higher education, cannabis). Revenue appears to be project-based consulting fees or retainer arrangements typical of boutique advisory firms. The firm offers a free 30-minute initial consultation, suggesting a lead generation approach followed by paid engagements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Lake Forest Group is a boutique security consulting firm that provides risk, threat, and vulnerability assessments, emergency management planning, executive protection consulting, workplace violence prevention, security training, and specialized industry security programs (healthcare, higher education, cannabis). Engagements are delivered directly by founder G. Michael Verden and his advisory team using methodologies drawn from his 21-year U.S. Secret Service career and his tenure as Senior Director of Security for the NBA, with each engagement scoped as a custom advisory project.

Product overview

Lake Forest Group is a security consulting firm offering a comprehensive portfolio of advisory services built around core assessment, planning, and training capabilities. The offering centers on Security Assessments and Emergency Management Plans as foundational services, supplemented by Training programs, Independent Security Studies (for IRS compliance), and specialized vertical solutions including Healthcare Security Plans, Higher Education Security Plans, and Cannabis Security Plans. Additional services include Investigations, Executive Protection Assessment, CEO Protection Assessment, and Executive Protection Consulting. The portfolio is designed as an integrated approach where assessments inform emergency plans, which are then operationalized through training, with specialized services addressing specific industry and executive protection needs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Security Assessment Comprehensive evaluation of an organization's security posture that establishes a baseline for the security program, examining physical, technical, procedural, and personnel security measures to identify gaps and provide strategic recommendations.
• Emergency Management Plan
• Training
• Independent Security Study
• Healthcare Security Plan
• Higher Education Security Plan
• Investigations
• Cannabis Security Plan
• Executive Protection Assessment
• CEO Protection Assessment
• Executive Protection Consulting
• Workplace Violence Mitigation

Named customers4 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Hillard Heintze (Ankura): Security and risk consulting firm where Lake Forest Group's founder G. Michael Verden served as SVP/Managing Director before founding his own practice. Offers security assessments, investigations, and executive protection with similar boutique-to-mid-market positioning.
• Guidepost Solutions: Security and technology consulting firm offering security assessments, emergency management, investigations, and executive protection. Directly competes in the same boutique-to-mid-market enterprise security advisory space.
• Chertoff Group: Security and risk management advisory founded by former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. Comparable in providing strategic security consulting, risk assessment, and threat management to enterprise and government clients using government-grade expertise.
• Protus3: Boutique security consulting firm offering assessments, training, and investigations for corporate, healthcare, and education clients. Similar size and vertical specialization to Lake Forest Group, including healthcare and higher education security.
• Gavin de Becker & Associates: High-end security consulting and executive protection firm founded by a renowned security expert. Closely comparable to Lake Forest Group in founder-led model, premium positioning, and focus on threat assessment, executive protection, and high-net-worth clients.
• Concentric Advisors (formerly AS Solution): Executive protection and corporate security consulting firm. Comparable to Lake Forest Group in executive protection assessments, travel risk, and security consulting for high-profile individuals and corporate clients.

Broad incumbents

• Pinkerton: Major corporate security and investigations firm offering security consulting, executive protection, and threat assessment. Overlaps with Lake Forest Group's service portfolio but at significantly greater scale and global reach.
• Control Risks: Global risk consultancy providing security, political risk, and crisis management services. Competes for the same enterprise security advisory engagements, with a much larger delivery capability and international footprint.
• Kroll: Global investigations, risk consulting, and security firm. Overlaps with Lake Forest Group in security assessments, executive protection, investigations, and threat management, but operates at significantly larger scale with broader geographic and service footprint.
• FTI Consulting: Global advisory firm with a security and risk management practice. Provides security consulting, investigations, and crisis advisory to enterprise clients, competing for similar engagements but with broader multidisciplinary capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-lake-forest-media-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lake Forest Group