SIA names Scott Gross as 2024 SIA Insightful Practitioner Award honoree

SILVER SPRING, Md.—The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named Scott M. Gross, facility security officer at Con Edison, as the 2024 recipient of the SIA Insightful Practitioner Award, an honor recognizing excellence in promoting the implementation of innovative security solutions.

SIA will present Gross with the award on Nov. 20 during the 2024 SIA Honors Night celebration.

Gross has over four decades of experience in security and fire protection. In his role at Con Edison, he has played a critical role in improving security practices for one of the nation’s most extensive and complicated utility companies. All this, coupled with his long experience in deploying the latest state-of-the-art security technologies and proactive stance toward emerging threats, has made him an industry trailblazer.

Since joining Con Edison in 2004, Gross has played an invaluable role in mitigating the growing menace of drone activity over critical infrastructure, integrating airspace security solutions to monitor and respond to drone incursions and ensuring comprehensive surveillance and real-time threat assessment. His innovation and strategic vision have made Con Edison much more capable of protecting its operations from potential disruptions.

Gross has been proactive in advocating for legislative changes to enhance the authority of critical infrastructure operators in mitigating drone threats, contributing to broader security strategies at the state and national levels. Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, he has ensured that Con Edison’s security systems autonomously and accurately detect, track, identify and differentiate drones.

In addition to his leadership at Con Edison, Gross is an active member of various industry organizations and advisory boards, using his knowledge and vision to help shape the future of security practices. He holds SIA’s Certified Security Project Manager (CSPM) credential.

“I am honored to receive the Insightful Practitioner Award. The Security Industry Association gives me the platform to work with and coordinate with other integrators, consultants and end users to better understand the threats on an international as well as a domestic level against the critical infrastructure,” said Gross. “Together we can work to create a multilayered approach to securing and monitoring all the critical infrastructure systems of this great country.”

Gross is a prominent security thought leader and has participated in a number of SIA events, conferences and initiatives. His many contributions to SIA and the industry include serving on the SIA Utilities Advisory Board, which develops recommendations and guidance for the physical security and cybersecurity of utilities infrastructure, offers formal responses to security rules and guidance proposed by regulatory agencies, shares knowledge with related industries and develops content for SIA events and publications; sharing his expertise as a speaker at ISC East and ISC West; actively participating in a variety of SIA projects and activities related to critical infrastructure security; and supporting SIA’s efforts related to counter-drone solutions.

“SIA is proud to announce Scott Gross as the 2024 recipient of the SIA Insightful Practitioner Award. Scott is an inspiring industry luminary whose zeal for innovation and drive for legislative change have made a great impact on the security landscape, both locally and nationally, and whose deep knowledge and commitment to critical infrastructure protection have made him a sought-after thought leader in our industry,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson. “We commend Scott for his impressive accomplishments and valuable contributions to our industry and look forward to recognizing him with this special award at SIA Honors Night. We appreciate the trust he has placed in SIA as an effective platform for security practitioner-security supplier collaboration and information sharing.”

SIA’s Insightful Practitioner Award was created to honor security practitioners who demonstrate leadership and excellence in promoting the implementation of innovative security solutions through education, advocacy and teamwork with the security industry and other stakeholders.