Rick Dakin, co-founder and CEO of Coalfire, passed away over the weekend while hiking with family and friends.
Dakin, 63, graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point before going on to start Coalfire in 2001 as a three-person operation. Today, the risk management and compliance company has more than 300 employees.
In a Wednesday email correspondence with SCMagazine.com, Mark Weatherford, principal at The Chertoff Group, referred to Dakin as his best friend, an “entrepreneur's entrepreneur,” and “one of the most honorable men I've ever known.”
Weatherford explained that “while his business was important, doing things with integrity was his signature and his family and employees were his priority."
Larry Jones, who served as Coalfire's Board Chairman for the past three years, will become CEO effective immediately. Jones will proceed with strategy and operating plans already in place.
A memorial service is scheduled for June 30, 10:00 a.m. MST, at The Gatehouse in Lionsgate Event Center in Colorado. In lieu of flowers, the Dakin family requests donations be made to The Harambee Foundation, a nonprofit established by Rick's son Luke.