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About Adamo

Our Story:

A Company Built on an Impeccable Reputation

Adamo has on-staff subject-matter experts in security, design and construction with decades of experience in their respective fields. The history of Adamo is a true testament to the fact that commitment to excellent service and quality will always stand the test of time.

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Adamo Security Group: Who We Are

  • PROVIDING SOLUTIONS
    FOR 60 YEARS
  • DESIGNED & BUILT MORE
    THAN 600 SCIF/SAPF
    PROJECTS
  • 100% SUCCESSFUL FACILITY
    ACCREDITATION

Established in 1962, Adamo (pronounced a-DOM-o) has provided turnkey solutions for our clients for almost 60 years.

We have maintained an impeccable reputation by consistently meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations and building positive customer relationships along the way. Our work is centered around the high-security industry, specifically constructing secure facilities for the government and defense contractors, and educating and supporting industrial security professionals.

Starting as a design/build contractor, Adamo grew steadily for the first 20 years in the residential, commercial and industrial markets. In the early 1980s, Adamo’s reputation for excellence attracted some of the nation’s top defense contractors. This led to the award of multiple secure facility design/build projects throughout the U.S. As a company, Adamo has designed and built more than 500 SCIF/SAPF projects, and each facility has met its accreditation requirements.

Our History:

Humble Beginnings, An Evolving Enterprise

Black and white photo of Adamo's founder posing with a certificate next to another man
Founder James J. Adamo

As with many family-owned businesses, Adamo had humble beginnings. In 1962, founder James J. Adamo, Jr. started Adamo Construction as a residential remodeling company in San Diego, California.

James founded the company on the belief that a business is a direct reflection of the men and women who lead it, and that success would be the natural outcome when you are committed to integrity, quality and service. This belief has proven to be true as the company was given more and more opportunities through the years to be a resource for construction services and products.

An Evolution to Designing and Building Secure Facilities

By the early 1980s, James had grown the business into a thriving enterprise focusing on custom design and construction in the residential, commercial and industrial markets. With a proven record of performance as a commercial/industrial contractor, Adamo was approached to design and build secure facilities. Adamo’s culture of adaptation and innovation allowed an immediate high level of success with these facilities. The recognition for Adamo’s emerging expertise led to defense contractors and military groups all over the United States soliciting Adamo to design and build their secure facilities.

Company Growth and New Additions

As the company grew, new personnel were continuously added, but two key additions were that of Mike Gaetke (married to one of James Adamo’s four daughters, Cathy) and Christine Bailey (the youngest of the four Adamo daughters). Mike began as a construction superintendent in the field. He worked his way through the ranks of leadership serving as project manager and eventually general manager of the company. Christine started as the company’s bookkeeper before moving to the office manager position as the company continued to grow.

A headshot of Josh, Adamo's CEO
Ownership Changes

In the 1990s, Mike and Christine purchased the company from James. Mike, as majority owner, became the company’s President and CEO as well as a subject-matter expert in SCIF construction. Christine filled the role of Vice President and Facility Security Officer (FSO). With the new ownership in place, the company narrowed its primary focus to the government secure facility niche, specifically SCIF and SAPF. In 2015, as technology advanced and the defense industry expanded, Adamo was increasingly sought out as a leading expert in the design and construction of secure facilities. Under Mike’s leadership, Adamo expanded beyond design/build to include technical consulting and education. In the education courses, Mike and Josh Godknecht, both subject-matter experts, led government trainings on building SCIF projects successfully.

As technology advanced and the defense industry expanded, Adamo was increasingly sought out as a leading expert in the design and construction of secure facilities.

Today’s Leadership

Adamo’s leadership team is now led by CEO Josh Godknecht. Josh’s career at Adamo began as a field superintendent more than 10 years ago. He moved through the construction leadership into general management, and he led the initiative to offer training to the government and helped to establish the consulting business unit at Adamo. He continues to lead as an executive, and has solved the most complicated client scenarios to get program space operational.

His leadership style is marked by meeting one-on-one with team members and focusing on taking care of Adamo’s own people so that they can be at their best to focus on people outside of the company.

For the last few years, Adamo has seen incredible year-over-year growth. Josh is taking the company into the future, adding products, services and new businesses to continue to make the world a safer place.