The Security Industry Association, through a board of directors election, heralded in a new chapter in its history recently when it installed Wendy Diddell as president of the SIA board for the 2007 - 2009 term. The election took place at SIA’s annual meeting, September 12, during ISC East in New York. Diddell is executive vice president of corporate development at Richardson Electronics.

She was sworn in at a SIA member luncheon meeting at the Jacob Javits convention center by SIA nominating committee chairperson Sandra Jones, in the presence of outgoing president William Gorski and many of the SIA member company representatives, including SDM magazine’s publisher and editor. It was appropriate for Sandra Jones to conduct the ceremony, as Jones is a SIA past president and the only woman to hold that post besides Diddell.)

“Wendy brings a wealth of experience, energy, passion, and creativity to this position, and she knows how to get things done,” said SIA executive director and CEO Richard Chace. “She will be an extremely effective advocate for our organization.”

As president, Diddell will provide vision and guidance to SIA’s industry outreach, strategic planning, member services and international business relations. She is particularly interested in reinvigorating SIA’s volunteer leadership and member involvement to ensure the association is meeting the needs of its members and the industry, and in creating venues to orchestrate the convergence of IT and security.

Additional new officers elected at the meeting were:

• Vice President Frank DeFina of Panasonic System Solutions Company of America,
  
  
• Treasurer Rob Hile of Adesta LLC, and
  
  
• Secretary Gordon Hope of Honeywell.

Debra Spitler of HID Global will serve a second term as board vice president.

Eight directors were added to SIA’s Board including Brett Bontrager (Stanley); Bill Bozeman (PSA); Dr. Alan Calegari (Dedicated Micros); Antonio Cintra (UTC); Bob Mckee (Pelco); Fredrik Nilsson (Axis); John Stroia (Diebold); and Bill Stuntz (Cisco Systems, Inc.).

The following new committee chairs were appointed to serve two-year terms:

• Gary Klinefelter, vice president of Technology for Fargo Electronics Inc., is the new chair of SIA Standards.
  
  
• Scott Chillemi, Learning Center Manager of Hirsch Electronics Corp., is the new chair of SIA Education.
  
  
• Jim Gingo, president of TransTech Systems Inc., is the new chair of SIA Research and Technology.

The Security Industry Association (SIA) is a nonprofit international trade association representing electronic and physical security product manufacturers, integrators, specifiers, and service providers. Learn more at www.siaonline.org.