I have been involved with the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) for approximately seven years and am honored to be named president. The CSAA has a proud history of representing its membership on a wide range of issues that impact the monitoring industry. I look forward to leading the association as new and unique opportunities are presented to it.     

As president, I will first and foremost focus on driving membership value. Companies only have so much money to spend on association memberships, so continually growing the value of belonging to CSAA is crucial to maintaining membership. To do this, I plan to establish a working group of industry veterans within CSAA that will work together to create solutions that have a positive impact on members’ businesses. 

The Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP) program is in my opinion, the most important undertaking in CSAA’s history. Currently, if a monitoring center needs to dispatch first responders to a situation, the request is done verbally via a phone call to a Public Service Answering Point (PSAP), commonly known as a 911 center. That’s an archaic, time-sensitive process given the IT-centric nature of 21st Century communications. ASAP enables monitoring center automation platforms to send dispatch requests via a secure data exchange with PSAPs, enhancing efficiency and reducing the possibility of error. I will be a resource to committee chairs Pam Petrow and Ed Bonifas as they bring this program out of the pilot phase to wide industry implementation.

In addition to ASAP, I’m hoping to bring the Partnership for Priority Video Alarm Response (PPVAR) into the CSAA fold. This was a hot topic at the association’s recent annual meeting and the CSAA board voted to open a dialogue with PPVAR to that end. Key to this will be determining how we leverage the Security Industry Alarm Coalition’s excellent record of working with law enforcement on alarm management issues. I have known PPVAR chairman Don Young for many years, going back to our days together at ADT. We have an excellent working relationship and I have a high level of confidence that Don and I will achieve this goal.

Overall, my hopes with becoming president of CSAA is to take advantage of my existing relationships with other associations, take advantage of our unique membership profiles, and work together on issues that impact us all. As the former chairman, I put cooperation between the associations at the top of my agenda. The relationships between SIA, ESA, CSAA and ASIS strengthened during my tenure there. I hope to continue that momentum as I take the helm at the CSAA.

Apply for the 2014 CSAA Excellence Awards

Every year the CSAA Central Station Excellence Awards recognize any FM Global, Intertek/ETL or UL-listed central station (CSAA members and non-members) and outstanding personnel who perform in the highest professional manner, thereby making a significant contribution to the betterment of the alarm industry and the alarm profession while demonstrating exceptional service to their customers and community.

To apply for the CSAA Excellence Awards, go to www.csaaintl.org/csaa-excellence-awards/applicants to download a CSAA Excellence Awards application spreadsheet. Send the application and supporting materials to: Director of Marketing and Communications, CSAA, 8150 Leesburg Pike, Suite 700, Vienna, VA 22182. NOTE: Applications will NOT be accepted via email.

 The CSAA Central Station Excellence Awards Program is sponsored by SDM Magazine. Read the full profiles of past winners at www.sdmmag.com/CSAACentralStationExcellenceAwards.