Clearwater family prepares for new era after acquisition

The decision to sell a successful family-owned business can be fraught with emotional baggage, but Piper Fire Protection's unique corporate structure helped it get everyone onboard.

By Brian Hartz
| 5:00 a.m. April 6, 2023
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Piper Fire Protection founder Terry Johnson, left, and his eldest son Chris, who's now the company's president, CEO and majority owner.

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Key players in Piper Fire Protection

Terry Johnson: Founded the company in 1986 and ran it as a one-man show for many years. After selling the company to his son Chris, he retained the title of president and worked in a part-time capacity until fully retiring about 15 years ago.

Chris Johnson: Joined the family business in 1994 as its third employee; he became CEO and majority owner in the early 2000s. Chris’s sister Jennifer, 49, and brothers Cary, 51, and Joe, 44, work for Piper Fire Protection, though they are not in executive leadership roles. The company also employs two of Chris’s children and several nieces and nephews.

Don O’Lone: Went to high school with Chris and worked with him at Publix when they were teenagers. While not a member of the Johnson family, per se, O’Lone is a close friend of Chris’s and a minority owner of Piper Fire Protection.

Chris Johnson wanted to go to college and become an engineer instead of working for Piper Fire Protection, the Clearwater-based company his father Terry founded in 1986, a few years after moving the family to Florida. His plan almost worked.

Chris, 54, earned an associate’s degree from St. Pete College and then enrolled at the University of Florida. To help pay for tuition, he worked as a bartender. Yet he liked that so much he dropped out of school to focus on developing a career in the bar and restaurant industry.