SIA Announces Winners of RISE Scholarships

The Security Industry Association (SIA) has announced the winners of its RISE Scholarships for 2021. Each of the five recipients will receive $3,000 to put toward a professional development or continuing education course that will improve their knowledge of the security industry.

The scholarships are handed out through the SIA RISE program, which is designed to support the professional growth of young security professionals. To be eligible, recipients must be an SIA student member, or a RISE member working at one of the SIA’s member companies.

This year’s scholarship winners are Nadim Hammoud, Olivia Peralta, Matthew Rios, Mary Sharp, and Trevor Zuerlein, all of whom are currently working in the security industry. Hammoud is a Software Developer with Feenics, while Peralta is an Account Executive at Allegion and Rios is a Regional Sales Manager at Axis Communications. Sharp is a Human Resources Administrator with Stanley Access Technologies and Zuerlein is a System Designer with VTI Security.

“The 2021 SIA RISE Scholarship awardees are an extraordinary group of young security professionals who represent tomorrow’s industry leaders,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson. “SIA is proud to help foster the careers of these talented honorees, and I look forward to seeing their many accomplishments and successes to come.”

The winners can use the funds to advance their careers in a number of different business areas, including HR, marketing, sales, and project management, in addition to more technical areas like IT, security engineering, and risk management. It can also be put toward professional certifications, SIA programs, and the attendance of industry events. For example, Hammoud is planning to obtain a certification in the field of artificial intelligence, while Peralta is hoping to obtain SIA Certified Security Project Manager certification.

The news comes less than a month after SIA announced that Erin Mann and Kelsey Carnell would respectively be taking over as Chair and Vice Chair of the RISE Steering Committee. Both Mann and Carnell were RISE scholarship recipients in 2018.

The SIA is currently preparing to absorb the Identification Technology Association. The five members of the Association will form a new Identity and Biometric Technology Advisory Board with the SIA.

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December 23, 2020 – by Eric Weiss