Jake Toolson

BIO

Alex Ford is an accomplished executive, entrepreneur, angel investor, public speaker and entrepreneur. He founded and was longtime CEO of Praetorian Digital, the leading learning and content platform for first responders and local government leaders, which was acquired by Riverside and merged with Lexipol, the leading provider of public safety policies, in 2019. He combines deep experience in online learning, digital media and SaaS workflow tools and is a recognized thought leader for business models where content, audience, data and technology intersect. Founding Praetorian in 1999, Alex led the company as CEO through recapitalization and two market downturns to a clear market leadership position in public safety, driving 15 years of profitability and double-digit growth annually. During that time, he launched and scaled 5 of the largest digital communities in local government, completed 7 acquisitions and built multiple seven figure revenue SaaS products. With the exit to Riverside, he merged Praetorian with Lexipol creating a combined company that offers an unequaled portfolio of content and SaaS solutions in the public sector, including a library of 200,000 articles, 16,000 policies, 4,000 training courses and a network of digital media communities that includes PoliceOne.com, FireRescue1.com, EMS1.com and CorrectionsOne.com. Lexipol now serves more than 8,500 police departments, fire departments and municipalities, with 2.4 million public safety professionals and local government leaders who rely on the company for mission-critical information, training and policies. Post-merger, Alex led the combined business through the integration as CEO and now sits on the Board of Directors and is an active advisor to the business.