APi Group CEO and wife donate $250K to help pay for mental health costs of workers’ children

Russ and Trish Becker, understanding the impact a child’s mental health or chemical dependency needs can have on family finances, donated $250,000 to help start an employee-assistance fund at APi Group this spring.

Russ Becker, CEO of the company, then outlined the plan to the board. Co-Chairs Jim Lillie and Martin Franklin and board member Ian Ashken each donated $250,000 as well. So did Paul Grunau, chief learning officer, and his wife, Jeanie.

Smaller contributions also came in from around the organization to build up the benefit that helps pay up to $10,000 of out-of-pocket costs, depending on income, for mental health and chemical dependency care for employees’ children 28 years or younger.

“If we can help one person get healthy, then this program is a win,” Becker said.

With more than $1.25 million to start, New Brighton-based APi launched the Care Factor Fund on June 1 and is promoting it and other mental health services in conjunction with Suicide Awareness Month.

APi is a collection of industrial companies, with over $7 billion in annual revenue, that provide specialty products and services such as fire and life safety, security, elevator and escalator, and specialty service.

Workers are often asked to make long commutes between jobs or to be on the road for extended periods of time, Becker said. The work can be physically and mentally challenging and deadline-driven.

“All of that stuff adds up,” Becker said.

APi Group is also promoting Suicide Awareness Month because it’s an issue within its sectors. Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment repair and maintenance installation has among the highest suicide rates among professions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For its employees, APi provides mental health first-aid training, 20 free therapy sessions, virtual psychiatry care, chat-based coaching, meditations, mindfulness exercises and other resources.

APi Group has 29,000 employees and more than 500 locations globally. Becker, who balanced a collegiate hockey career with a civil engineering degree at Michigan Technological University in the 1980s, refers to them as teammates.

It’s a core value of the company that all teammates are leaders, he said. It’s also a core value to commit “genuinely and consistently” to caring for employees.

The Minneapolis Foundation has managed similar funds since 2006 and manages similar accounts for 13 Minnesota companies ranging in size from 350 employees to more than 100,000.

“We have a team of people who help support applicants along the way,” said Andrea Cummings, vice president of philanthropic services at the Minneapolis Foundation.

The foundation provides quarterly reports on the use of the funds.

Cummings said the first grant has been made.

Becker said the company realized early it needed to loosen some income parameters of eligibility. He also has pledged to keep the fund well-capitalized should balances get low.