ESA Welcomes New Members to Board of Directors
Directors on the ESA Board work collectively as a team to provide good governance of ESA affairs and to set direction for the association.
Melissa Brinkman, Jeremy Bates and Jason Lutz
DALLAS — Members of the Electronic Security Association (ESA) recently voted for several open positions on its Board of Directors.
These positions were vacated by outgoing board members: Dee Ann Harn, CEO of RFI Enterprises in California; Steve Firestone, owner of Firestone Strategies in South Carolina; and James Lee, owner of Alarmguard Security in North Carolina.
“I have had the honor of working closely with these professionals, who helped steer the association through some major transitions,” says ESA Chairman Jamie Vos. “They helped to restructure the association and guide us through the acquisition of ESX — and through the pandemic. Their impact on ESA will be felt for years to come.”
The purpose of a director on the ESA Board is to work collectively as a team to provide good governance of ESA affairs and to set direction to optimize the growth and performance of the organization. Each board member has a responsibility for ensuring strategies and policies that are developed, discussed and implemented will enable the organization to achieve its mission and vision, and to monitor the organization’s implementation of those strategies and policies.
In accordance with the recently amended and adopted ESA Bylaws, two integrators and one associate member director positions were open for two-year terms. The newly elected board members are:
Melissa Brinkman, CEO, Custom Alarm of Rochester, Minn.
Since starting in the family business in 1998, Brinkman has held several positions within Custom Alarm from marketing to sales manager, business development director and customer services manager. She was COO before Leigh J. Johnson, founder and CEO at the time, announced his retirement and her promotion to CEO in 2014.
Brinkman currently serves on the boards of directors for SPARK, Rochester Area Economic Development Inc. (RAEDI), Lourdes Foundation Inc. (LFI) and Think Bank. She also serves as an advisor with some security industry manufacturers.
Jeremy Bates, President, Bates Security / Sonitrol of Lexington of Lexington, Ky.
The Bates’ company has a total of four offices. The company is serving primarily a commercial customer base but maintains a strong residential business as well. The Bates family and their team have grown the company over the last several years and have earned several industry and local awards, including being a two-time recipient of the SSI’s SAMMY Awards Installer of the Year for Small to Mid-Size Companies. The company is also a former recipient of Lexington’s Small Business of the Year.
Jeremy Bates recently completed his term as the Kentucky ESA President and has recently served as the Sonitrol National Dealer Association’s President and currently serves on the board of Lexington’s YMCA organization.
Jason Lutz, Distribution Sales Leader, Resideo Technologies of Austin, Texas
Lutz’ security industry career began over 25 years ago as a sales rep for a national company in Houston. Through a twist of fate, he moved to his current home of Middle, Tenn., where he spent the next decade in security company ownership. During that time, Lutz was a member of ESA (formally NBFAA) and TNESA (formally TBFAA) and received multiple levels of NTS Certification.
In 2002 he joined the ranks of manufacturing as a district manager for the Midwest region of Resideo (formally Ademco/Honeywell) and since that time has moved up to his current role as the distribution sales leader.
The installation of the new directors will be held at the first scheduled ESA Board meeting in July.
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