2022 Board Chair James Rothstein’s Message to SIA Members

James Rothstein, chair, SIA Board of Directors

In this video, 2022 SIA Board of Directors Chair James Rothstein shares key updates with SIA members on new initiatives and volunteer leaders and how you can increase your organization’s involvement (and your personal involvement) with SIA.

SIA members, it was great to see so many of you at ISC West! Coming back from ISC West, I am enthused and energized about the industry and your association.

First, I want to thank outgoing chair of the SIA Board of Directors, Pierre Trapanese. Together with the SIA board, Pierre put the association on a great course and led us while we navigated some challenging years, and today, those times feel like they are behind us. The work they did has made it quite easy to take on my role as your new Board of Directors chair, particularly as we emerge from the pandemic and work to ignite further growth for SIA. And speaking of growth, we are now more than 1,200 member companies strong – a record for the organization!

ISC West has always been one of the barometers to measure the health of the industry, and as the industry has come back strong, so has ISC West. We saw this in the show’s nearly 20,000 reported attendees, in the strong showing of exhibits, in the number of new technologies being entered in the SIA New Products and Solutions (NPS) Awards and, of course, attendance at all the SIA events, from our Market Leaders Reception to committee and community events that were often standing room only!

During ISC West, we welcomed many new volunteer leaders. At the board level, Holly Borgmann, vice president of government affairs at ADT; Hamish Dobson, vice president of product management for video security and access control at Motorola Solutions Inc.; Alex Housten, president of dormakaba Americas; Ryan Kaltenbaugh, senior vice president of sales for North America at LenelS2; and Teresa Wu, vice president of innovation and client engagement at IDEMIA, were ratified at The Advance and joined the SIA board with 2-year terms.

Wu not only joined the SIA Board of Directors, but she is taking on the role of leading SIA’s Data Privacy Advisory Board as past chair Kathleen Carroll moves into a chair emeritus role. Hanwha Techwin America’s Tom Cook has taken the role of vice chair for the Executive Advisory Board and will become chair of that executive-level think tank and peer group later this year.

Gene Fullano at Motorola Solutions assumes the chair role for our Government Relations Committee, with ADT’s Borgmann serving as vice chair, and Brinks Home Security’s chief procurement officer, Akash Sah, will serve as SIA’s representative on the Security Industry Alarm Coalition.

We’ve also created some new groups to help lead and guide SIA. LenelS2’s Kaltenbaugh, a new board member, will also lead the newly formed Membership Engagement and Experience Committee, and Ron Virden, senior vice president for entrance systems and interior glass at dormakaba Americas, will guide our Securing New Ground Conference Board.

SIA is always focused on our members’ opportunities in vertical markets and emerging technology segments, so it’s my pleasure to announce the formation of a new Utilities Advisory Board that will be led by ACRE Operating Group’s director of business development, Joey St. Jacques. Simultaneously, Latch general manager Lee Odess will lead our newly formed Proptech Advisory Board. The enthusiasm and interest in these new groups is tremendous, and we saw renewed energy in our Perimeter Security Subcommittee and our Video and Vision Subcommittee (formerly the Digital Video Subcommittee) – both of these existing groups are taking on some very significant projects this year!

We’re also keenly aware of today’s supply chain challenges; these challenges are nearly universal and are serious, and the security industry has certainly been affected. We are working with manufacturer members and our government affairs team to investigate ways in which we can help both in the short and long term. You’ll see other communications to that effect.

What else is ahead? In addition to the work coming from some of these aforementioned groups on supply chain, video standards, perimeter security and more, I’m pleased to report that SIA will soon be offering a new review course designed to help industry professionals earn the Security Industry Cybersecurity Certification (SICC). And the research arm of SIA isn’t slowing down, with new research coming on the emerging vertical market of the cannabis industry.

We also have some key events ahead: SIA’s government security conference, the GovSummit, is rapidly approaching on May 24-25 in Washington, D.C., with a great mix of government speakers. SIA’s RISE community, which helps grow the next generation of industry leaders, is planning their AcceleRISE conference, taking place Aug. 1-3 in Austin, and is seeking session proposals. Of course, Securing New Ground is being planned for Oct. 18-19 in New York, and SIA’s Women in Security Forum is already planning an exciting gathering at ISC East (Nov. 16-17 in New York).

With all these great initiatives underway, it’s an exciting time to be part of SIA, but I’m going to challenge you. Turn to your colleague at the desk next to you, or the new team member your firm hired, and help them find a place to get involved in SIA. As SAGE Integration’s John Nemerofsky shared with our new Membership Engagement and Experience Committee, getting your people involved in SIA means they learn, they grow and they connect – and not only is this good for them personally and professionally, it’s also great for your business!