SIA appoints new chair and vice chair to lead SIA RISE community

SILVER SPRING, Md.—The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named a new chair and vice chair to lead SIA RISE, a community that fosters the careers of young professionals in the security industry.

Jake Brown – business development/operations at Secure Access & Digital Systems – will serve as chair of the RISE Steering Committee, with Dakota Bierly – sales and marketing manager at Northland Controls – serving as vice chair.

In these new roles, effective as of Jan. 1, Brown and Bierly will help RISE deliver educational content and networking opportunities to young professional employees of SIA member companies, college students and recent graduates interested in the global security industry.

Brown graduated from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree majoring in finance and minoring in information technology. Outside of Secure Access and in addition to SIA RISE, Brown is the secretary of the Marty Lyons Foundation Young Professional Committee, volunteering and assisting in the organization of events with the end goal of raising money for terminally ill children to grant their wishes.

“I feel very grateful that in my time thus far on the SIA RISE Steering Committee I have been able to work with, and more importantly learn from, leaders such as Matt Feenan, Erin Mann, Kelsey Carnell and, of course, SIA’s own Katie Greatti and Don Erickson. I have big shoes to fill after seeing how successful and efficient the past chairs have been in this position,” Brown said. “Words truly cannot describe my excitement to work hands on with the rest of the steering committee to further our combined goal of fostering the professional and personal development of young professionals in the security industry. Our actions will be doing the talking!”

After graduating from the University of South Carolina, Bierly carved out her unexpected path to security, one lefthand turn at a time. Bierly started her career working in client services with the team now known as the Washington Commanders before supporting wounded service members and their families as the director of development at a military nonprofit, Luke’s Wings. Thanks to her longtime friend, she ended up in physical security and has not looked back since.

Upon joining Northland, Bierly served as the content marketing specialist, responsible for creating compelling content and top-notch collateral for the company, something that helped her grasp the details of our industry early on. In her current role, she manages a variety of sales and marketing efforts, with a focus on the growth of Northland’s managed services department. Outside of work, she has a passion for traveling the world and learning about new cultures.

“As someone who was new to the security industry just two years ago, I felt instantly at home with SIA RISE. The members of this group welcomed me with open arms (in ugly Christmas sweaters, if I remember correctly) and gave me an opportunity to grow both personally and professionally early on in my security career,” Bierly noted. “I’m so excited and honored to serve as the next vice chair of this committee and to foster that same sense of belonging for the next generation of security leaders. We are surely stronger when we work together, and I can’t wait to dive in and grow the presence and impact of young professionals throughout every aspect of our industry.”

“SIA RISE is a vibrant, growing community of young security industry professionals and those new to the industry that helps security’s rising stars access high-quality education and training, make valuable connections and take their careers to the next level. RISE’s essential offerings and programs would not be possible without the support of dedicated volunteers like Jake Brown and Dakota Bierly and our outgoing RISE chair, Kelsey Carnell, and vice chair, Erin Mann,” added SIA CEO Don Erickson. “We thank Kelsey and Erin for their valuable contributions to RISE over the last two years, congratulate Jake and Dakota on their new roles as committee leaders and look forward to working with them to grow and enhance the RISE community and its offerings and drive future industry growth.”

SIA RISE is a community that fosters the careers of young professionals in the security industry. SIA RISE’s offerings include an annual scholarship to further young talent’s education and career goals, fun in-person and virtual networking events for young professionals, the Talent Inclusion Mentorship Education (TIME) program for early and mid-career professionals, career growth webinars and trade show education tracks and the annual AcceleRISE conference – an essential experienced designed to ignite new thinking, strengthen leadership and sharpen business acumen in young security talent.

The SIA RISE community is open to all employees at SIA member companies who are young professionals under 40 or have been in the security industry for less than two years; learn more and sign up to join.