The Security Industry Association (SIA) named the 2022 recipients SIA RISE scholarship, a program offered by the IAT RISE community for young security professionals and students, which supports the education and career development goals of young talent in the industry.
Through this scholarship program – open to student members of the SIA and to members of RISE who are employed in member companies of the SIA – each recipient will receive a scholarship of $ 3,000 to be used for continuing education and development courses. professional, SIA program offers and / or other academic or educational programs. Scholarship funds can be used to deepen knowledge in business, human resources (HR), information technology (IT), marketing, sales, project management, engineering security and / or risk management, and can also be used for student loan repayment.
“The SIA is proud to offer the RISE scholarship as a way to nurture the next generation of security talent and help them achieve their professional and educational goals,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson. “The 2022 class of RISE Fellows is an impressive, diverse and accomplished group of students and young security professionals, and we look forward to working with them and celebrating their many successes going forward.”
The winners of the SIA RISE 2022 scholarship are:
Gracie Bishop, student, Fayetteville Manlius High School
Gracie Bishop is in her final year at Fayetteville Manlius High School in Fayetteville, New York, where she is a varsity softball player and a member of the school’s Student Athletic Advisory Council. Bishop has been recognized as a candidate of the National Honor Society and a member of the Spanish National Honor Society and will continue her studies next year as a freshman at Bryant University, where she plans to study politics and law and play on the school’s Division 1 softball team. She will use the scholarship funds for her undergraduate tuition at Bryant University and wishes to pursue a career in security and law enforcement after college.
Marquis Chester, Business Development, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Securitas USA, Inc.
In his role at Securitas, Marquis Chester develops and produces all marketing campaigns for the South region, designs and develops websites and landing pages for marketing pages, leverages search engine optimization for web content , performs various sales support tasks, administers campaign performance data collection, and develops sales proposals for business development managers and leads. Prior to joining Securitas, he held positions as a Marketing Communications Intern at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and as a Digital Media and Web Design Intern for the Athens Regional Library System. Chester holds a BA in Journalism and Entertainment Media from the University of Georgia. He plans to use the scholarship funds to enroll in cybersecurity and marketing certification courses to further his education.
Kelly Ann Christenson, Marketing Coordinator, BCD
Kelly Ann Christenson is Marketing Coordinator at BCD; in this role, she assists in the creation and management of social media content BCD International, BCDVideo and VSS, coordinates physical and virtual events, monitors social media analytics and trends, creates e-marketing content engaging mail, assists in web publishing and content management, and monitors and maintains external sites. She is a 2021-2022 participant in SIA RISE Talent Inclusion Mentorship Education Program (TIME). Prior to joining BCD, Christenson held marketing positions at Scotsman Ice Systems, Orion Industries and Aaron Kendell Packaging Equipment. She holds a BA in Marketing from Foster College of Business at Bradley University. Christenson is exploring options to pursue an MBA and plans to use the funds from the RISE scholarship for student loan repayment.
Jill Frack, Senior Project Manager, Integrated Security Technologies, Inc.
As a senior project manager at Integrated Security Technologies, Inc. (IST), Jill Frack manages a portfolio of projects in excess of $ 7 million, coordinates interdepartmental efforts to meet project deadlines and budget targets and ensure smooth transitions, help customers schedule site visits and provide updates to customers on installation progress, monitor project performance, maintain installation schedule and coordinate planning with others trades, develops comprehensive project plans, creates program management processes and models, and serves as co-chair of the IST Safety Committee. Prior to joining IST, Frack held project management positions at Opportunistic Consulting, Global Defense Inc., Amsec LLC, San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine and Fisher Clinical Services. She holds a master’s degree in industrial / organizational psychology and business administration from Alliant International University, a bachelor’s degree in business management and industrial / organizational psychology and a certificate in human resources from the Moravian University and Project Management Professional certification and is a doctoral candidate in Business Administration. in Information and Data Science at Alliant International University. She plans to use the scholarship funds for her college courses and certification fees.
Suresh Jayabal, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Allegion
Suresh Jayabal joined the Allegion team in 2013 as Technical Manager based in Bangalore, India, and currently holds the position of Senior Mechanical Engineer at Allegion Mexico, where he initiates, drives and supports new product development / productivity in a mass production plant and act as a liaison between stakeholders in the US, Mexico and India. Prior to joining Allegion, Jayabal held engineering positions with Ingersoll Rand, Pricol Limited and Hiwin Technologies. He holds a master’s degree in manufacturing management from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Park College of Engineering and Technology. Jayabal plans to use the funds from the RISE scholarship to take a Harvard School of Business course in business analysis.
Jenell Jones, Materials Planning Manager, Supply Chain Leadership Development Program, Allegion
Jenell Jones joined Allegion in May 2019 as a Global Quality Intern, then held positions as Materials Project Manager and Shipping Supervisor and was responsible for Materials Planning in the Leadership Development Program of the the company’s supply chain since June. She performs analysis of sourcing, financial and warehousing data established from pre-existing systems for migration to the company’s new enterprise resource planning system, collaborates cross-functionally to interpret and achieve opportunities related to new sales and operations planning and purchasing capabilities and prepare project data for data. Download conversion mapping during failover. Jones holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Ball State University and the Certified Quality Process Analyst certification. She plans to use the scholarship funds to obtain the APICS Certified Planning and Inventory Management certificate.
Taylor May, Vice President of Sales, ZeroEyes Inc.
Taylor May joined ZeroEyes as Vice President of Sales in December 2020 and is responsible for corporate sales, managing a team of high performing regional sales directors across the United States, managing and creating an effective channel of partners certified, recording and tracking all calls. / leads Salesforce and grows the pipeline, executes annual recurring revenue goals and ensures an accurate pipeline for customer relationship management hygiene and reports to the board on expectations, forecasts and position on the Marlet. Prior to joining ZeroEyes, May held sales and management positions at AnyVision, Pro-Vigil Surveillance Services and Bridgestone. He is the owner and host of the SecurityVIP podcast and holds an MBA from the University of Dallas and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Oklahoma State University. May plans to use the funds from the RISE scholarship for student loan repayment and professional development of the security industry in the areas of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, computer vision, LiDAR and l sound intelligence.
Willie Strong, Program Manager, National Accounts, Stanley Security
Willie Strong joined Stanley Convergent Security Solutions in June 2019 and is responsible for managing over $ 5 million in global health for National Accounts clients. Strong works directly with customer contacts to provide weekly account updates and project status reports, presents a quarterly activity review with the sales team for customers to cover Stanley’s performance in key areas and leverages project management skills to effectively lead projects and service electronic security installation / maintenance calls. Prior to joining Stanley, Strong served as Director of Operations, Departmental Safety and Quality Team Leader, and Operations Point of Contact at the Target Regional Distribution Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. He holds a BA in Rhetoric from Wabash College and Lean Six Sigma – Green Belt certification. Strong plans to use scholarship funds to pay off student loans.
SIA RISE is a community that promotes the careers of young professionals in the security industry. In addition to awarding the annual SIA RISE scholarship, SIA RISE offers fun in-person and virtual networking events for young professionals, created the TIME Mentorship Program for early and mid-career security industry professionals , develops professional growth content like the RISE Microlearning Series, hosts career development webinars and trade show training paths, and presents the annual AcceleRISE conference – an essential experience designed to spark new thinking, strengthen leadership and sharpen business acumen among young security talents. RISE is available to SIA student members and all employees of SIA member companies who are young professionals under the age of 40 or who have worked in the security industry for less than two years.
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