PSA’s ISC East 2025 Recap
ISC East 2025 was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City from Nov. 18-20. Check out how the PSA Network spent its week from PSA's ISC education track to the ISC East Reception for PSA owners and members.
PSA'S ISC EDUCATION RECAP
PSA was thrilled to host eight education sessions at ISC East, featuring members of the PSA executive team, PSA committees and PSA Network industry experts. The sessions covered a broad range of topics from recurring revenue and transformational leadership to campus and school safety and increasing departmental productivity with AI. Review the highlights below!
Tuesday, Nov. 18
Campus Security by Design: Rethinking Safety for Schools & Universities
Mike Garcia, Kevin Wren, Elli Reges, Mary O’Sullivan
Mary O’Sullivan, PSA manager of learning & development, Kevin Wren, The Cook and Boardman Group school safety advocate, Mike Garcia, HID global national manager (K-12 safe schools) and Elli Reges, SIA director of learning & development, shared their insights on how human-centered, trauma-informed design is reshaping campus safety. The session delivered practical examples that showed how thoughtful design decisions can enhance student experience and safety across K-12 and higher education.
Converged but Not Confused: Securing IT/OT Systems in the Age of Cyber Physical Threats
Mary O’Sullivan, Wayne Dorris, Antoinette King, Jim Cooper
PSA’s Mary O’Sullivan joined Pavion Director of Technology & Innovation Jim Cooper, Credo Cyber Consulting President & Founder Antoinette King and Axis Communications Cybersecurity Program Manager Wayne Dorris to discuss how the blurring line between IT and OT security creates both challenges and opportunities. The panelists explored models like shared policy creation, joint governance and operational alignment that help break down silos, leaving attendees with practical tactics for adopting convergence in their own spaces.
Recurring Revenue Reboot: Making the Shift from Projects to Programs
Matt Barnette, Trevor Stewart, Christina Snogles, Robert Lydic
Matt Barnette, Trevor Stewart, Christina Snogles, Robert Lydic
PSA President & CEO Matt Barnette, Wavelynx President Robert Lydic, Security Control Integrators President & CEO Trevor Stewart and Chimera Integrations Controller Christina Snogles focused on the shift from one-off projects to subscription-based services and managed offerings in their panel. They highlighted how recurring revenue can create stability and growth in the security industry.
Candice Aragon, Alaina Meyer, Brooke Erickson
Transformational Leadership: Inspiring Change & Driving Impact
In their session, PSA Chief Experience Officer Candice Aragon, PSA Senior Director of Learning & Marketing Brooke Erickson and scDataCom President & Owner Alaina Meyer broke down the four pillars of transformational leadership and showed how they shape effective, long-lasting change. The session included interactive exercises that allowed attendees to assess their own leadership style, clarify their leadership vision and practice influencing others in challenging situations. The session also highlighted how authenticity helps leaders navigate complex decisions, build trust and guide their teams through transformation.
Wednesday, Nov. 19
AI in Action: Department-by-Department Use Cases for Real Productivity Gains
PSA’s Brooke Erickson, Pavion Director of Technology & Innovation Jim Cooper, Plugout Director of Data Center Practice David Fortune and Solutions360 CEO Nate Gardner explored how AI is reshaping every department and emphasized that real productivity comes from applying AI with clear purpose. The panelists shared practical examples of AI in action, discussing what works, what doesn’t and how they are preparing their teams as AI continues to advance.
Nate Gardner, Brooke Erickson, David Fortune, Jim Cooper
Brooke Erickson, David Fortune, Nate Gardner, Jim Cooper
Beyond the Backlog: Forecasting, Staffing & Scaling for Operational Success
PSA’s Matt Barnette, Candice Aragon, SAGE Integration COO John Nemerofsky and System Surveyor Founder & CEO Chris Hugman showed attendees that backlogs aren’t inevitable and highlighted how high-performing integration firms use forecasting tools, capacity planning and cross-training to scale. Attendees learned how to spot bottlenecks, align staffing with demand and build sustainable workflows that support growth and operational success.
John Nemerofsky, Chris Hugman, Candice Aragon, Matt Barnette
Matt Barnette, John Nemerofsky, Chris Hugman, Candice Aragon
Sarah Webel, Lori Hudnall, Mary O’Sullivan
Advocate or Advisor? Mentorship vs. Sponsorship in Action
PSA’s Mary O’Sullivan, SAGE Integration Human Resources Generalist Sarah Webel and SAGE Integration VP of Human Resources Lori Hudnall hosted an interactive workshop that explored the differences between two career accelerators: mentorship and sponsorship. With an emphasis toward how to effectively build talent pipelines, manage development programs and navigate career advancement, attendees left with insights into how mentorship and sponsorship structures work and network-building strategies that produce tangible results with both advocates and advisors.
Security Automation for Cyber-Hardened Facilities
Brittany Board, Gary Hoffner, Min Kyriannis, Stephen Oliva
PSA Director of Technology Partners Brittany Board, PSLA VP Gary Hoffner, Altronix OEM Partner Development & Western US Sales Manager Stephen Oliva and AMYNA Systems Inc. CEO Min Kyriannis explored how automation is becoming essential for strengthening cyber-physical security by streamlining access control, reducing manual workloads and improving compliance. Attendees learned how to overcome common implementation hurdles, align tools with their organizational goals and advance their facility cyber-hardening efforts.
PSA ISC EAST RECEPTION
Tuesday, Nov. 18
The annual PSA ISC East Reception allows us to bring our network together at one of the largest industry events. Thank you to our P3 partners, BCD, HID, Velasea, Windy City Wire and Zenitel, for hosting this year’s event, and thank you to everyone who joined us for dedicated networking time to kick off ISC East 2025!
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
SIA Honors Night Benefitting FAST
Wednesday, Nov. 19
PSA attended SIA Honors Night to celebrate outstanding security industry leaders, connect with fellow SIA members and support the Foundation for Advancing Security Talent’s (FAST) mission to grow and strengthen the industry’s workforce. Congratulations to all the awardees!
