The Electronic Security Association (ESA) hosted its 2012 Leadership Summit Jan. 9-12 at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Irving, Texas.IRVING, Texas — The Electronic Security Association (ESA) emphasized dual themes of growth and change at its 2012 Leadership Summit, held here Jan. 9- 12 at the Omni Mandalay Hotel.
The event's mix of educational sessions, membership meetings and networking opportunities underscored the association's continued emergence as a growing, responsive force in the electronic security and fire/life-safety industry.
The annual event continued its co-hosted format combining the Leadership Summit with the Electronic Security Integrators Forum (ESI Forum). For the second year, the event featured a hosted guest option that gave decision makers from qualified ESA member companies, as well as ESA leadership, insight into technology and business strategy in addition to quality contact time with key vendors and businesses.
The event's first day started with an open house at ESA's new headquarters in Irving, which drew more than 50 attendees. Guests included local municipal government officials and members of the business community.
"We were pleased to give everyone a closer look at our new office, and also to preview our plans for the alarm industry gallery," says Dom D'Ascoli, ESA president. "We have security industry photos and memorabilia that have been collected through the years that will be on display in the gallery. The open house gave everyone a chance to see the artistic depictions of the concept, and they were impressed with the designers' vision for how the gallery will look when it's completed."
Committee meetings, the Board of Directors meeting and the Young Security Professionals (YSP) meeting were also featured during the summit. Educational seminars emphasized such topics as maximizing employee effectiveness, improving media communications and the impact of alarm management committees in several states.
A major highlight was the Diamond Awards Dinner, which was co-hosted by Kirk MacDowell, residential business leader from Interlogix. The awards showed remarkable geographic diversity, honoring Chartered Chapters in Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Leadership Award winners included:
- Chapter of the Year — Arizona Alarm Association (AzAA)
- Chapter Executive Director of the Year — Kevin Lehan, Illinois Electronic Security Association (IESA)
- Chapter President of the Year — Chet Donati, Illinois Electronic Security Association (IESA)
- Newsletter of the Year — Contact Virginia, produced by ESA of Virginia
- Website of the Year — Wisconsin Electronic Security Association (WESA)
- ESA/NTS Training Coordinator of the Year — Linda Ferguson, Utah Alarm Association
- NTS Instructor of the Year Award (in Honor of Paul F. Baran) — Shelton Mangum, Alabama Alarm Association
Best Practices awards were presented during the ESI Forum's roundtable session. The awards honor companies implementing business processes that have made a difference for the company or have set an example for the industry. The winners: Financial, Legal and Human Capital Management, Mijac Alarm; New Technology Implementation, Inner Security Systems Inc.; Profit-Generating Strategies, Pro-Tech Systems; Production Management in the category of Design and Installation, Pinnacle Security; and Sales and Marketing Management, ASG Security.
"This year's event was a successful continuation of themes that have taken shape over the past year, and even before last year's conference," D'Ascoli said. "We have redeveloped our Web sites, moved to new headquarters, brought our National Training School [NTS] in-house, and now we're going full-speed with the Member Services Department and National Apprenticeship Program. We're always looking for ways to add value for our members, and this year's Leadership Summit once again exceeded our expectations."