The Security Industry Association (SIA) hosted SIA Honors Night: Celebrating Performance, Partnerships and People in the Security Industry in conjunction with ISC East on November 19. The evening event began with a cocktail hour during which guests mingled and networked at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, and then moved onto a seated 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 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 to 2011. Hope commented on his experiences with SIA, “When you have good people with a common goal, anything can happen, and we made good things happen together.”

Hope also shared personal stories about his childhood and the lessons passed on to 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 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, adding 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 was Evelyn Meserve, former executive director of the International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety.

The evening’s master of ceremonies was comedian Paul Mecurio, known for his work on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.

 After the awards, the crowd enjoyed coffee, cordials and dessert and many attendees could be heard speaking animatedly about the night’s success.