Todd Richard Pedersen (born November 23, 1968) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and the founder of Vivint, Inc., a

home automation Home automation or domotics is building automation for a home, called a smart home or smart house. A home automation system will monitor and/or control home attributes such as lighting, climate, entertainment systems, and appliances. It m ...

, security and energy company. Vivint, Inc. was acquired in late 2012 by the

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate b ...

Biography

Todd Pedersen was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, the fourth of eleven children, and grew up in

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls (Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, Bonneville County, Idaho, United States. It is the state's largest city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 Un ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, where he attended

Idaho Falls High School Idaho Falls High School (IFHS) is a four-year public secondary school in central Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA. The current building opened in 1952, though the school itself has been in operation since 1897. Idaho Falls is the older of the two tradition ...

. After finishing a 2-year mission for his church, he returned and settled in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU). Provo lies between the ...

. In 1992 he began selling pest-control services

door-to-door Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a p ...

from a small business with 10 employees based in a trailer in Arizona. A few years later, he switched to a different product, burglar alarms, though using the same marketing technique. He contacted high-school friend

Keith Nellesen Keith Nellesen (born 1967) is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder of Vivint, Inc., a home automation, security and solar energy company. Vivint, Inc. was acquired in late 2012 for $2.2 Billion by the Blackstone Group. Following the sale ...

to assist in this venture. Together, they founded APX Alarm Security Solutions in 1999 in

, utilizing his door-to-door marketing strategy. In 2011 APX Alarm was rebranded as

Vivint Vivint is a public smart home company in the United States and Canada. It was founded by Keith Nellesen and Todd Pedersen in 1999. In 2012, The Blackstone Group acquired Vivint for more than $2 billion. In January 2020, the company completed ...

to reflect its emphasis on living intelligently through home automation. The company became a major competitor in the industry, as well as expanding its marketing through more traditional venues such as

television advertising A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

and telephone sales representatives. Pedersen was featured in the sixth season finale of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

reality show, ''

Undercover Boss ''Undercover Boss'' is a reality television series franchise created by Stephen Lambert and produced in many countries. It originated in 2009 on the British Channel 4. The show’s format features the experiences of senior executives working u ...

'' in 2015. The experience afforded him valuable insights into his employees' work days. In 2021 Pedersen stepped down as Vivint's CEO after the company was fined $20 million by the FTC.

Innovations

Pedersen created a workforce of approximately 13,500 full-time and part-time employees through innovations in employee relations. These innovations include an on-site restaurant at his corporate headquarters in Provo, a free medical clinic, and various recreational areas including a basketball court and a weight room. Under his direction, the firm branched into

Vivint Solar Vivint Solar was an American provider of photovoltaic solar energy generation systems, primarily for residential customers. The company was established in 2011 as an offshoot of home automation and security company Vivint and was headquartered in ...

, a solar-energy company. Outside of his industry, Pedersen has sought innovation in

public education State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

, particularly emphasizing use of the

abacus The abacus (''plural'' abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool which has been used since ancient times. It was used in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the Hin ...

in the classroom at early ages to strengthen mathematical skills. He also partners the

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organization Vivint Gives Back with organizations such as

Feed My Starving Children Feed My Starving Children is a Christian non-profit organization that coordinates the packaging and distribution of food to people in developing nations A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base an ...

. Pedersen was named Entrepreneur of the Year by three separate entities, first in 2010 by

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

, next by the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum in 2012, and in 2013 by MountainWest Capital Network. In 2015 Pedersen was inducted into the

David Eccles School of Business The David Eccles School of Business is located on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Utah. The school was founded as the "School of Commerce & Finance" in 1917 and subsequently changed its name to "School of Business" in 1927, althou ...

Hall of Fame.

Personal life

In 2016 Pedersen was involved in a fatal accident during the SCORE

Baja 500 The Baja 500 is a Mexican off-road motorsport race on the Baja California Peninsula that is sanctioned by SCORE International. The course has remained relatively the same over the years with the majority of events being a loop race starting and f ...

off-road race. Pedersen lives with his wife and their five children in the Provo, Utah area, and is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

.McKenzie, Hamish.
The Book of Mormon: Why the world's most capitalist religion breeds so many entrepreneurs
" '' Pando,'' July 31, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedersen, Todd 1968 births Living people Latter Day Saints from Washington (state) Brigham Young University alumni Latter Day Saints from Idaho Latter Day Saints from Arizona Latter Day Saints from Utah