The Physical Security Interoperability Alliance (PSIA) elected Mike Mathes, executive vice president of Convergint Technologies, as its chairman; and Jason Ouellette, product general manager – access control for Johnson Controls, as its vice chairman. The PSIA membership develops specifications for enabling standards-based sharing of digital data and intelligence throughout the physical security and enterprise ecosystems.

“Mike and Jason bring us strong technology, commercial and industry leadership skills,” said David Bunzel, executive director, the PSIA. “They will be powerful evangelists for how standards-based physical security systems can help the industry create new opportunities for systems integration and data sharing while solving cost and complexity challenges.”

As PSIA chairman, Mathes will work closely with the PSIA board to identify industry needs for new and enhanced PSIA specifications. “Mike has been a strong advocate for open standards and his relations with leaders in the industry will be very valuable as PLAI, the PSIA’s identity management initiative, gains momentum,” Bunzel added.

He will be responsible for expanding the member base and will help companies determine migration strategies needed to specify and/or adopt and implement PSIA specifications. “With an expanded membership base, we’ll see further adoption of open standards, which will drive down the cost of system integration for the end user,” Mathes said. 

Ouellette’s role as PSIA vice chairman will include defining the technical aspects of PLAI necessary to make this an effective commercial standard. This will include enhancing and promoting a robust set of test tools to assure industry compliance and interoperability for PLAI.

“The PSIA specifications make it easier for integrators to offer high quality solutions with less integration time and lower total cost of ownership,” Ouellette said. “PSIA open standards can solve real enterprise problems for customers in way that is not possible through standard integrations. I am looking forward to working with Mike, David and the rest of board to help the industry understand our use cases and encourage rapid adoption of PSIA specifications, in particular through the development of PLIA adaptors by manufactures.” 

At Convergint, Mathes leads the Advanced Solutions Group. He obtained his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at University of Manitoba.

At Johnson Controls, Ouellette is responsible for the global access control businesses, specific to program management, product management and engineering functions.

Peter Boriskin, vice president product management at ASSA ABLOY Americas, will continue as the PSIA’s treasurer.