A Year of Accomplishments for SIA’s Women in Security Forum

women in security

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and it also marks a year since the Security Industry Association (SIA) established the Women in Security Forum, a group that supports the involvement of women in the security industry through programs and opportunities for professional development, networking and thought leadership. SIA recognizes that gender diversity in the workplace is good for business and has shown leadership in several meaningful strides toward gender parity in the security industry. Here are some of the Women in Security Forum’s key accomplishments in the past year:

The SIA Progress
Award
, sponsored by the Women in Security Forum, celebrates
individuals who advance opportunities and pave the way to success for women in
the security industry. At SIA
Honors Night 2018,
SIA presented the inaugural Progress Award to
Edwina (Eddie) Reynolds, president and CEO of iluminar Inc., for her longtime
leadership in initiatives supporting the advancement of women and overall
diversity in the security and technology industries.

In spring 2018, SIA partnered with Security Sales
& Integration
 to introduce SECURE
Perspectives
, a new
monthly column supporting the participation of women in the security
profession. Each column profiles a successful woman in security, highlighting
her background, perspectives on security trends, challenges and opportunities and
advice for women in the industry. Read
the latest column here
.

As part of the Women in Security Forum initiative, SIA
featured entirely women-authored content in the fall
2018 issue
of SIA Technology Insights,
a semi-annual journal featuring original, vendor-neutral articles distilling
the most current thinking for applying today’s security technologies.

SIA also participated in a number of events as part of the
Women in Security Forum in 2018. On Sept. 20 in New York City, SIA hosted the pilot
event of its networking roundtable series
, which offers an
opportunity for an open discussion about topics important to security industry
professionals and allows attendees to discuss experiences and challenges,
collaborate and share actionable ideas. The first event featured two Women in
Security Forum members – Janet Fenner, chief marketing officer at ISS
(Intelligent Security Systems), and Elaine Palome, vice president of human
resources at Axis Communications – as keynote speakers and addressed a variety
of workforce development topics, like how to successfully onboard new hires and
understanding the roles, risks and potential biases of artificial intelligence
in hiring.

The Women in Security Forum also hosted a networking happy
hour at SIA’s booth at GSX 2018; the happy hour was a huge success, and SIA’s
booth was the place to be on the show floor during the event. Finally, SIA
closed out the year with a breakfast hosted by the Women in Security Forum at
ISC East. The breakfast and networking event featured a panel discussion
moderated by Dark Reading’s Sara
Peters in which successful female security professionals shared their advice, perspectives
and experiences in the industry.

SIA is proud of all that we’ve accomplished in this first
year of the Women in Security Forum, and we’re looking forward to expanding on
our efforts to support women in the industry in 2019. We hope you’ll join us
for the Women
in Security Forum Breakfast @ ISC West
on Friday, April 12; attendees
will enjoy complimentary breakfast and networking and get insights from special guest Juliette Kayyem, a national leader in America’s homeland security efforts. Kayyem, CEO of lifestyle company Zemcar, previously served as President Obama’s assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s homeland security advisor.

SIA’s Women in Security Forum is open to anyone at a SIA member company – regardless of their gender – and offers programs, professional opportunities and networking events to celebrate and advance the involvement of women in the security industry.

Want to learn more or get involved? Check out the Women in
Security Forum and sign up to join on
our website
. Questions? Contact SIA’s staff liaison, Ellie Reges,
at ereges@securityindustry.org
or 301-804-4708.