The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named Jonathan Aguila as the 2025 recipient of the SIA Insightful Practitioner Award, an honor recognizing excellence in promoting the implementation of innovative security solutions. Aguila will be recognized Nov. 19 during the 2025 SIA Celebrates & Honors event.

Jonathan Aguila is the global services director, systems and technology at Meta. He entered the security industry as a technician about 30 years ago and progressed through the industry, serving in roles in project management, global program management, national accounts and global accounts and then transitioning to the end-user space at Meta. Aguila previously served on the SIA board of directors’ executive committee and has advised the SIA executive committee on topics that were important to end users or could create additional value for them and has shared his insights as a speaker at SIA and other industry events. He has also provided leadership and expertise in the formation of SIA’s Security Systems Technician Apprenticeship Program for security technicians and installers.

During Aguila’s board tenure, he was a constant advocate for SIA within the practitioner community and strongly contributed to the vision for creating the Security Practitioners Advancing Real Conversations (SPARC) community, a forum for technical end users within SIA. SPARC is a community of security professionals dedicated to advancing state-of-the-art security technology that provides access to cutting-edge research, training and networking opportunities for its members and works to influence the direction of security technology standards and compliance. The community has produced intelligence reports on mobile credential development trends and guidance for evaluating artificial intelligence vendors and service providers, and further resources and publications are underway.

“I have always gravitated toward problem solving and helping people, so I transitioned to the end-user space to focus on wide-impact challenges and long-term implications within a single company, and growing a team that understands how to work across all aspects of the community has been a passion ever since,” Aguila said. “Giving back to the security industry and helping to improve collaboratively was the driver in working with SIA to form SPARC and the Apprenticeship Program. I am grateful for this award, but I am most grateful to be welcomed by the industry and to have the opportunity to help others feel welcomed and supported as well.”

Don Erickson, CEO, SIA, said, “Jonathan Aguila is an innovative leader in our industry whose vision and initiative have propelled SIA’s efforts to engage with security practitioners and end users. He has been a tremendous advocate for SIA and SPARC as a community platform for end users, and his insights have been crucial in identifying end users’ top concerns and trends within the practitioner community. We applaud Jonathan for his many impressive contributions with SIA, Meta and the industry overall and thank him for his support of SIA and commitment to driving our industry forward, and we look forward to recognizing him at SIA Celebrates & Honors.”

SIA’s Insightful Practitioner Award was created to honor security practitioners who demonstrate leadership and excellence in promoting the implementation of innovative security solutions through education, advocacy and teamwork with the security industry and other stakeholders.