SILVER SPRING, Md. – The Security Industry Association (SIA) and SecuritySpecifiers have announced the CONSULT Scholarship program for rising security consultants, designers and specifiers.
The CONSULT Scholarship program, presented by SIA and SecuritySpecifiers with the direct financial support of Hanwha Vision, Windy City Wire and more companies to be named, will offer three scholarships for recipients to attend CONSULT, the security industry event for technical security design consultants, set for Oct. 3-6 in Denver.
“I applaud SIA’s efforts in working with SecuritySpecifiers to recognize, develop and educate younger security designers and consultants,” says Ray Coulombe, founder and managing director of SecuritySpecifiers, in the joint announcement.
“By co-sponsoring this scholarship for the CONSULT Technical Security Symposium, several outstanding young professionals will have the opportunity to get a broader view of their profession and the industry in general,” he says.
“SIA has led the industry in recognizing young professionals, through programs like our RISE community and our AcceleRISE conference,” says Geoff Kohl, senior director of marketing at SIA. “We’re also strongly committed to attracting the next generation of talent to the entire security industry.
“We’re proud to expand this commitment to furthering the careers of young professionals with the SIA-SecuritySpecifiers Scholarship to CONSULT, which has long been established as the annual peer-to-peer gathering for technical security specifiers,” he says.
Why You Should Apply for the CONSULT Scholarship
SIA and SecuritySpecifiers created the CONSULT Scholarship as part of “their shared dedication to growing the next generation of security leaders; broader mission to attract, develop and retain a talented workforce that ensures the long-term success of our industry; and belief that attracting and retaining young talent in the areas of security system design and specifying is vital to delivering technology systems that keep people, businesses, assets and critical infrastructure safe,” according to the joint announcement.
The CONSULT Scholarship program will award three scholarships in 2025. The inaugural class of awardees will each receive a full ticket to CONSULT 2025 (valued at $800); access to all sessions, meals and events in the symposium program; a one-on-one mentorship-focused meeting with the architecture and engineering (A&E)/consulting program leaders from the scholarship program sponsors; dinner during the conference with one of the scholarship sponsors; and an invitation to participate in SIA RISE, a community designed to help emerging security industry leaders grow.
CONSULT has been developed specifically for technical security consultants. Attendees have the opportunity to stay current on critical issues, improve their design skills, write better specifications, expand their professional networks, earn education credits, network, learn and more.
To be eligible for the CONSULT Scholarship, an applicant must be age 35 or younger at the time of CONSULT 2025, must be engaged in security design or consulting full-time at a security consulting or A&E firm and must have worked in the security industry for at least 12 months. Preference will be given to applicants from SIA member firms. More eligibility information and application details can be found here.
Applications for the 2025 CONSULT Scholarship must be submitted by Tuesday, July 15.
