The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named Sean A. Ahrens and Elizabeth Lowe as the 2022 recipients of the Sandy Jones Volunteer of the Year Award, which recognizes SIA volunteers who have made tireless efforts to expand SIA’s programs and services. SIA will present Ahrens and Lowe with their awards at The Advance, SIA’s annual membership meeting, which will be held March 22 during ISC West.

An active member of SIA with over 20 years of industry experience, Ahrens leads the security consulting practice at Affiliated Engineers Inc. He serves on the board of directors of the International Association of Professional Security Consultants and has served on several standard/guide-setting panels, including Underwriters Laboratories and ASIS International. Beyond this, he authored his own guide on safe involuntary termination strategies. Ahrens provides security threat and risk analysis, contingency planning, loss prevention and force protection design and planning for domestic/international commercial, government, health care, laboratory, manufacturing, educational and institutional clients.

“Thank you to my loving family — my late father, who tirelessly taught me how to be a man of excellence; my mother, Anne, who always was there; my mother-in-law, Kathy; my loving wife, Heather; and, of course, my amazing children,” Ahrens said. “Thanks for your patience and for being ever present, always cheering me on and supporting what I love — security and resilience. Thank you to Robert Reiter for pushing me to become involved and connecting me with fellow SIA members and industry professionals like Don Erickson, who has become a personal champion of mine. I am so grateful to be a part of the SIA mission and look forward to contributing and collaborating as much as I can.”

Ahrens is an active member of SIA’s Public Safety Working Group and AI, Drones and Robotics Working Group. He has presented on multiple SIA webinars and delivered expert presentations during two of SIA’s Vertical Insights Symposium Series events. He was a significant contributor to SIA’s Good-Better-Best recommended practices resources for the public transportation and health care markets.

Elizabeth Lowe, a former journalist, is the marketing communication director for security manufacturer Cypress Integration Solutions. She shares Cypress’ devotion to SIA’s Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) access control communications standard and participates in SIA’s OSDP Working Group marketing committee. According to Lowe, she has a tendency to dive in “over her head” on projects such as the youth robotics and STEM learning festival she co-founded with Cypress founder and robotics champion Tony Diodato.

“I am blown away by this incredible and unexpected honor,” said Lowe. “The need for SIA’s OSDP protocol is clear to all of us at Cypress, due to the company’s longtime focus on solving problems with Wiegand and legacy protocols. I’m grateful for the guidance and inspiration of our own security technology gurus, as well as those we have worked with throughout the industry.”

Lowe has been a leading advocate of SIA’s OSDP standard and OSDP Verified, a comprehensive testing program that validates device conformance to SIA OSDP, and she frequently recommends ideas for elevating the promotion of OSDP.

“What makes the SIA community so special are individuals such as Elizabeth Lowe and Sean Ahrens who never hesitate to support meaningful initiatives that lift the industry up and help all SIA members become more successful, including OSDP, and initiatives around public safety, drones and robotics,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson. “We are honored to recognize Sean and Elizabeth for their leadership, support and vision at The Advance this year.”

In addition to presenting the Sandy Jones Volunteer of the Year Award, SIA will honor the 2022 recipients of the SIA Chair’s Award, Member of the Year Award and Committee Chair of the Year Award.