The Security Industry Association (SIA) hosted SIA Honors Night: Celebrating Performance, Partnerships and People in the Security Industry in conjunction with ISC East on Wednesday night. The evening event began with a cocktail hour where guests mingled and networked at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, and then moved onto a sit down dinner and awards presentation. 

Gordon Hope, general manager for AlarmNet at Honeywell, received the George R. Lippert Memorial Award for his outstanding contributions to SIA and the security industry. 

Jay Hauhn presented the award to his dear friend and colleague, and praised Hope’s participation in the industry. Hope, whose family was among the attendees, gave a special thanks to his wife of 31 years, Nancy. 

Hope, who celebrates 25 years with Honeywell this year, currently manages AlarmNet communications. An active SIA member, he served as chairman of the association from 2009–2011. Hope commented on his experiences with SIA and praised the executive team he served with at that time. “When you have good people with a common goal, anything can happen, and we made good things happen together.” 

Hope also shared personal and moving stories about his childhood and the lessons passed onto him by his late father. “Learning timely life lessons from people who care…priceless,” he shared with the crowd, which rose to its feet to give a standing ovation to Hope.

SIA also honored two of its members, Mike Howard and Tom Cellucci, for their contributions to increasing collaboration between SIA and vertical market organizations with the Jay Hauhn Excellence in Partnerships Award.  Howard, chief security officer of Microsoft, has spent considerable time and energy over the past two years forging a collaborative relationship between SIA and the International Security Management Association (ISMA), one of the most prestigious end-user organizations in the world. 

Howard praised the association and its members, as well as the security industry as a whole.  “I am humbled and honored by this award,” said Howard, who talked about the importance of partnership, and the importance of the work the security industry does overall, whether an end user, a dealer, integrator, or manufacturer. “All of us here, we are doing the same thing, we are trying to keep people safe, and keep people alive,” Howard shared, who added that being a part of SIA has made him a better CSO.

Celluci, also stressed the importance of partnerships in the industry, and acknowledged his late father, his mother, and family member, the late Paul Celluci, who was a former governor of Massachusetts, all of whom he credited with giving valuable lessons about how hard work, determination and partnership can bring forth great things.

Cellucci, founder, chairman and CEO of Cellucci Associates, dedicated time to building a relationship between SIA and the County Executives of America as well as collaboration between SIA and the U.S Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate.

SIA was unable to present in person the SIA Insightful Practitioner Award, which is given to a security practitioner who demonstrates leadership and excellence in promoting the implementation of innovative security solutions through education, advocacy and teamwork. The recipient, Evelyn Meserve, former executive director of the International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety (IAHSS), was unable to attend the ceremony.

The evening’s master of ceremonies was comedian Paul Mecurio, known for his work on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart. He also performed in his own Comedy Central Special, starred in his own series on HBO, and appeared on dozens of television programs. The Emmy and Peabody Award-winner worked the crowd, mingling and joking with attendees throughout the evening.

Towards the end of the evening, Mark McCourt, BNP Media; Steve Lasky, SouthCom,  Steve Nesbitt, EH Pub., and Tim Purpura, United Publications Inc., were recognized for their media outlets’ roles in the security industry, and to thank the crowd for supporting the media. 

After the awards, the crowd enjoyed coffee, cordials and dessert as the evening came to close, and many attendees could be heard speaking animatedly and happily about the night’s success.