Industry Advocate Award

Recognizing Leadership in Public Policy

About the Industry Advocate Award

SIA's Industry Advocate Award is presented to individuals making an extraordinary contribution of professional time, leadership and resources to position SIA and its members to address public policies impacting the security industry.

SIA Industry Advocate Award Brett Feddersen, D-Fend Solutions Gene Fullano, Motorola Solutions John Steele, Johnson Controls2026 Industry Advocate Award Recipients: Brett Feddersen, Gene Fullano and John Steele

SIA has named Brett Feddersen, Gene Fullano and John Steele as the 2026 recipients of the SIA Industry Advocate Award. The 2026 awardees were recognized during Security Hill Day.

Brett Feddersen is the vice president for strategy and governmental affairs at D-Fend Solutions, where he leads the company’s strategy, public policy and government relations and engages with U.S. government branches, policymakers and regulators. Feddersen serves as chair of the SIA Drone Security Subcommittee, where he leads the group’s  efforts to educate about available counterdrone technologies and appropriate training and give authorities options to mitigate uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) attacks. Under his leadership, the subcommittee has issued guidance on how to spot a drone, the complexities of addressing hostile drone threats and the need for legislative changes to help prevent domestic drone attacks and advocated for legislation to address the threats to public safety and infrastructure posed by the misuse of drones. Feddersen has spoken at SIA GovSummit on topics related to counter-UAS and safeguarding sensitive environments in the era of hostile drone threats.

Gene Fullano is the senior director of government affairs at Motorola Solutions. Fullano’s engagement with SIA includes previously serving as chair of the SIA Government Relations Committee for three years, where he helped SIA and its members navigate complex and critical issues surrounding data privacy, artificial intelligence and biometrics. Under his leadership, the committee created critical resources like SIA’s guides to federal grant opportunities and school security funding. Fullano has been actively involved in SIA’s efforts to ensure the availability of spectrum for the critical services the industry provides and advocacy around the responsible and effective use of innovative technologies.

John Steele has more than 30 years of government, association and private-sector experience and currently serves as the senior director of government relations for Johnson Controls. Steele is a longstanding active member of SIA’s Government Relations Committee, and his leadership and direction was the catalyst for SIA’s government relations team developing a robust state and local advocacy program. He has been a strong advocate for SIA and encouraged other members to take coordinated action on state-level policy issues for the good of the security industry as a whole. His efforts have helped SIA achieve many successful legislative outcomes on a wide range of issues involving government procurement rules, school safety, right-to-repair policies, artificial intelligence, biometrics and more.

(View the official press release here.)

Previous SIA Industry Advocate Award Recipients

  • 2025: Erica McCann and David McCarthy
  • 2024: Leire Arbona Puértolas and Arielle Thomas
  • 2023: Lisa Shoemaker and Matthew Starr
  • 2022: Joseph Hogan and David Ray
  • 2021: Gabrielle Shea
  • 2019: Wayne Esser and Dhira Gregory
  • 2018: Rob Reiter
  • 2017: Teresa Wu and Holly Borgmann
  • 2016: Anthony Incorvati
  • 2015: Paul Shomburg
  • 2014: Shene Commodore and John Convy
  • 2013: Libby Elliott
  • 2012: Craig Sharman
  • 2011: John Romanowich
  • 2009: Jay Hauhn
  • 2008: Scott Boylan, Roger Roehr and Rob Zivney
  • 2007: Kathleen Carroll
  • 2006: Lynn de Seve and Jim Gingo