About Architect’s Security Group. Inc.,
formerly Steve Keller and Associates
Architect’s Security Group, Inc. formerly Steve Keller and Associates is the leading security consulting and system design firm in the U.S. working exclusively on projects involving museums and other cultural properties. Located in Ormond Beach, Florida, we serve a worldwide clientele and have over 800 past cultural property clients. The company employs an architect, an engineer, and a consultant at its design and engineering office in Ormond Beach, Fl. In addition to a support staff
Past clients include the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Smithsonian,
the American Museum of Natural History, the Los Angeles Museum of
Contemporary Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Fine Arts
Museums of San Francisco, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of
Chicago, Harvard University Art Museums, The American Museum of Natural
History, New York, and dozens of other museums and galleries. A complete list
of past clients can be found on our website here or below.
In 2009 the company became a fully employee owned enterprise. Alicia Ricci,
our staff architect, and Stephen Swen, our engineer, joined Steve Keller as
partners. As part of that process the decision was made to re-name the company
Architect’s Security Group, Inc. but to continue to also do business under the
Steve Keller and Associates name because of the worldwide name recognition
and reputation of the company. Architect’s Security Group/Steve Keller and
Associates maintains professional liability insurance in the maximum amount
available for security projects and is the only firm with this specialized insurance
covering strategy of design for museum projects. Keller is a Certified Protection
Professional.
The re-naming of the company was also undertaken as a way of developing a
second area of specialization. Prior to 2009 the company engaged only in
projects involving cultural institutions. Much of this work was for architects
including some of the most prominent in the world. Over the past 20 years the
firm became recognized by architects as a security system design firm that
understands the design and construction process and one that can meet the
unique needs of architects on complex projects of all types. During 2009 the firm
is developing a separate team to work for architects on projects involving a
variety of institutional and commercial building projects including “green”
buildings while the original team continues to serve the needs of cultural
institutions.
As independent, non-product affiliated consultants, they are not affiliated with any
alarm system, security hardware or equipment manufacturer or dealer. Virginia
clients should know that they are licensed in Virginia as an electronic security
business and are the only cultural property specialists so licensed.
Some Previous Clients
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution, National
Museum of the American Indian; National Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.;
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Anchorage Museum of Art; Gemological
Institute of America, Carlsbad, CA; Contemporary Jewish Museum of San
Francisco; Annenberg Library project, Palm Springs; San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art, San Francisco; Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; The
Temporary Contemporary, Los Angeles; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Armand Hammer Museum & Cultural Center, Los
Angeles; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; Bishop Museum, Honolulu; Jewish
Museum, New York, N.Y.; Albermerle Carriage Museum, Charlottesville, Va.;
Winterthur Museum and Gardens, Winterthur, DE; Peabody Museum, Salem,
MA; Western Heritage Museum, Omaha; Children’s Museum of Indianapolis;
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; Andy Warhol Museum, The
Carnegie, Pittsburgh; Riverfront Museum Park, Rockford, Illinois; Heard
Museum, Phoenix, AZ; Heard Annex, Surprise, AZ; Arizona State Archives,
Pheonix; Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, Florida; Honolulu Academy of Fine
Arts, Honolulu; Musee de Art de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico; Albright Knox Art
Gallery, Buffalo; Ft. Lauderdale Discovery Center; Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston; P. T. Barnum Museum, Bridgeport, CT; St. Petersburg Museum
of Art, St. Petersburg, FL; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Ringling Museum of Art,
Sarasota, FL (Fl. State Art Museum); Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN;
Lannen Museum, Lake Worth, FL; Mint Museum, Charlotte, N.C.; Montgomery
Museum of Art, Montgomery, AL; Houston Museum of Contemporary Art;
Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art; Milwaukee Public Museum; Deland
Museum, Deland, Florida; Danish Immigrant Museum, Elk Horn, Iowa; Barnes
Foundation Museum, Philadelphia; Denver Art Museum, Denver; Whitney
Museum of American Art, Cody, WY; Buffalo Bill Historical Museum, Cody, WY;
Plaines Indian Museum, Cody, WY; Winchester Museum, Cody, WY; Brevard
Museum, Cocoa, Florida; Corpus Christi Museum, Corpus Christi, TX; Ft. Wayne
Museum, Ft. Wayne, IN; The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Jay
County Arts Center, Indiana; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio; The Museum
of the Aleutians, Unalaska, Alaska; The Mississippi State Museum, Jackson;
Montpelier, Home of James Monroe, Orange, VA; The Huntsville Museum of Art,
Huntsville, Al.; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Virginia Museum of
Fine Art, Richmond, Va.; Munson-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY; McNay Art
Museum, San Antonio, TX; The Heinz Center for Architecture, The Carnegie,
Pittsburgh; Museum of Southern Decorative Arts, Old Salem, Winston-Salem,
S.C.; Washington State Historical Museum, Tacoma, WA; Fernbank Museum,
Atlanta, GA; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA; Montclair Museum of Art,
Montclair, N.J.; Department of the Interior Museum, Washington, D.C.; Morris
Museum, Augusta, GA; Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa FE; Dayton Art
Institute; Columbia Museum of Art; Cincinnati Museum Center (Cincinnati History
Museum/Cincinnati Museum of Natural History); Museum of Jewish
Heritage/Holocaust Memorial, NY; Frye Museum of Art, Seattle; Wadsworth
Athenaeum, Hartford; Morse Museum, Winter Park, FL; J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; USS Constitution Museum, Boston;
Tampa Museum of Art; D-Day Museum, Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield,
OH; San Jose Museum of Art; Palm Springs Desert Museum; Norton Simon
Museum, Pasadena; Headley-Whitney Museum, Louisville; Mexican Museum,
San Francisco; American Museum of Natural History, NY; Buffalo Science
Center; DuSable Museum, Chicago; SFMOMA Garage and Sculpture Court;
National Sculpture Garden, Mall, Washington, D.C.; Frist Visual Arts Center,
Nashville; Jamestown-Yorktown Museum, Virginia; Mobile Museum of Art,
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Academy of Fine Arts,
Philadelphia; Orange County History Center, Orlando; Brooklyn Historical
Society; Ohr-O’Keeffe Museum, Biloxi, International Glass Museum, Tacoma, New York State Museum, Albany ; the Museums of Walt Disney World, Orlando; The Disney Family Museum, San Francisco; Crocker Museum, Sacramento; National World War II Museum, New Orleans, and others.
Libraries and Archives:
Library of Congress (Main Reading Room, Manuscript Reading Room,
LaFolette Reading Room; Science Reading Room; Prints and Photographs
Reading Room & Stacks; Serials and Government Publications Reading Room;
Law Library Reading Room; Law Rare Books; Colonnade Reading Room and
Offices); Walpole Library, Yale University; The Huntington Library, Art Gallery
and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA.; The Art Institute of Chicago Libraries;
The Alabama State Archives, Montgomery, AL; The Boston Athenaeum, Boston;
The Wilson Library, U. of N.C., Chapel Hill; Baseball Hall of Fame Library and
Archive; The Carnegie, Pittsburgh, Duke University Special Collections library;
Columbia University Avery Rare Book Library; New York Society Library; New York State Library and Archive, Albany., and others.
Historic Sites
The Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island; Ellis Island National Historic Site; Mount
Vernon National Historic Site, Va; Hanford Mills, N.Y.; Sagamore Hill, Oyster
Bay, N.Y.; Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthplace, Manhattan; Graue Mill, Illinois;
Shelburne Museum, Vt. (42 buildings and a ship); Mary Moody Northen House,
Galveston; Miles Brewton House, Charleston, S.C.; Hearst Castle, San Simeon,
CA; Ogden Museum of Southern Art Telfair Academy, Savannah; Owens
Thomas House, Savannah; Rochelle Plantation, Georgetown, S.C.;The
Hermitage, Nashville; Church of the Advent, Boston; Olana, Albany, N.Y.; Musee
Toulouse Lautrec, Albi, France; Private Residence Restoration, Charleston, S.C.;
The Breakers; The Hunter House; Kingscote; Chateau-Sur-Mer; Marble House;
The Elms; Rosecliff; Green Animals Topiary; The Warren House all of Newport,
Rhode Island; The Confederate Museum, Richmond; The White House of the
Confederacy, Richmond; Ca d’Zan (Ringling Home), Sarasota; Baltimore City
Life Museum, Penneman House, Cape Cod; Fullerton House, Charleston, S.C.;
Bayou Bend Historic Site, Houston; Springfield Arsenal, MA; Longfellow Home,
Cambridge; John Quincy Adams Home, Quincy, MA; FDR Home and Vanderbilt
Mansion National Historic Site, Hyde Park, NY; Geo. Washington Headquarters,
Morristown, NY; Customs House Restoration, Key West, FL; San Francisco Old
Mint Restoration; Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, MA; Rienzi, Houston; Doris Duke
Residence, Newport; Bayou Bend, Houston; Iolani Palace, Honolulu and others.
College Galleries
Loeb Art Center; Vassar College; Yale University Art Museum; Yale Center for British Art; Harvard University (numerous projects); Snite Museum at the University of Notre Dame; Ackland Museum, University of North Carolina; Harn Museum, University of Florida; Oberlin College; University of Chicago; School of the Art Institute of Chicago; College of DuPage; Miami of Ohio; Smith College; Dickinson College; State University College of Buffalo; Indiana University; Bard College Art Center; Fowler Museum, UCLA; LSU Art Museum; Auburn University Art Museum; Ohio University Art Museum; University of Georgia Art Museum; Rhode Island School of Design Art Museum; Grinnell College Art Museum; Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University; Loeb Art Museum at Stanford University; Cornell University Art Museum, Wolfsonian Museum, Miami,University of Oregon Museum of Art, Tibbals Learning Center, Sarasota; Berkeley Art Museum and Film Archive, Berkeley; Chazen Museum, University of Wisconsin; Yale University Campus Central Station, and others.
Other Cultural Institutions:
Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Library, Cooperstown, NY; U.S. Golf Association Museum, Far Hills, NJ; The National Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum, Oklahoma City, Symphony Hall, Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Catherine the Great U.S. Tour 1991-92; The French Impressionists on Tour in Japan ; American Impressionists on Tour in Europe; Vatican Art Collection onTour in the U.S.; Ramesses II (part of tour); The Search for Alexander; The French Impressionists: A Day in the Country ; Edward Hopper, Treasures of Tod’ai Ji, The Works of Toulouse Lautrec; 5000 Years of Korean Art ; The National Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C; Baltimore Museum of Art Sculpture Garden; Houston Museum of Art Sculpture Garden;, Columbus Museum of Art Sculpture Garden; Steamship Ticonderoga; Statue of Liberty; T-Rex (Sue) Restoration Project; U.S. Ambassador's Residence (art collection); Gated Community, Palm Coast, Florida; Gated Community, Orlando; Gated Community, Bahamas; corporate art collection, Lexington, MA; corporate headquarters, Heathrow, FL; numerous collections in transit; numerous private residences with art collections.
About Steve Keller, CPP
Steve Keller is a Certified Protection Professional, President and Managing
partner of Architect’s Security Group, Inc./Steve Keller and Associates. He has
served in this capacity since formation of the company in 1986. Prior to that time
he has held a variety of positions in the security field including Executive Director
of Protection Services and Construction Projects Advisor for the Art Institute of
Chicago. Before working in security, he was with the Washington, D.C.
Metropolitan Police Department as a Detective and later with the Federal
Reserve Board in Washington (the central bank of the U.S.) as Special Agent
then Assistant Director of Security for the agency.
Steve holds a B.A. from American University in Washington, D.C. and has
attended a large number of professional development programs in technology.
He has taught museum burglar and fire alarm design at New York University and
was a regular member of the faculty at the Smithsonian Institution’s National
Conference on Cultural Property Protection since 1980.
Steve’s articles have been published 22 times to date in national and
international publications such as “Security Management” “Construction
Specifier”, “Building Design and Construction”, “Security”, “Security Technology”,
and others. He has contributed to several books and wrote security sections of
the Encarta Encyclopedia for Microsoft and the Encyclopedia of Security. He
wrote a widely used software program for managing a museum’s security
operation and a policy manual template used by hundreds of museums and
galleries. His video training programs, nearly 40 in all, are used by more
museums to train security officers than all other packaged training programs
combined. He has been interviewed by “60 Minutes”, National Public Radio, all
major networks, and many local TV stations and newspapers on the subject of
museum protection. He recently turned down an invitation to appear on “Good
Morning America” and “Nightline” after a major art theft because he will not
discuss specific museum thefts with the press. He is the recipient of the ASIS
“President’s Award of Merit”, the ASIS “Distinguished Achievement Award”,
Security Magazine’s “Executive Achievement Award”, and awards from
Smithsonian Institute and the IAPSC.
In May 2006 Steve Keller was honored as an inductee to the Centennial Honor Roll of AAM. The Centennial Honor Roll identified the 100 most influential individuals in the museum profession for the past 100 years.
Steve has served as Chairman of the American Society for Industrial Security’s
Cultural Property Committee and as a member of the AAM’s standing committee
on museum security and has been a continuous member of these committees
since 1979. Steve Keller is the primary author of “The Suggested Guidelines for
Museum Security” the prevailing standard for security and security systems in
North America and he is widely recognized as a leading authority on museum
security with a specialty in historic preservation.
Alicia Ramirez-Ricci, Architect
Alicia Ramirez-Ricci, Vice President and Secretary of the company is a native of
Venezuela and practiced architecture for several years before becoming involved
in the construction trade as a building inspector. She is a proficient AutoCAD
operator and serves as our primary liaison with architects. Well versed in all of
the equipment and practices in security, she works closely with architects to
minimize the visual intrusion of detectors, cameras and other equipment in
landmark and historic buildings. Alicia is in charge of the CAD operation and is
also responsible for all of the construction details, elevations, and other drawings
required on a project. She designs consoles and maximizes the use of space in
security closets, a coordination nightmare. Alicia is trained in system design and
checks work of others. She holds a degree in Architecture from the University of
Zulia in Maracaibo. While we do not practice architecture, Alicia’s education and
training is very valuable to the architects we work with and on projects involving
historic restorations, etc.
Steve Swen, Engineer
Steve Swen, Vice president and Treasurer of the company also serves as our
Manager of Advanced Technology who came to us after a career with a number
of engineering firms. His specialty is computer networks and computer security, a
valuable skill in an era when advanced security systems are computer network
based. He is an accomplished CAD drafter and electronics engineer. He teaches
advanced digital CCTV system design for a number of programs and is currently
developing a tech blog for the firm which he will moderate. For his last hobby
project he built his own home computer. He and Steve Keller are computer
security experts and develop countermeasures for client security networks.