SIA welcomes new chair, vice chair of 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 and emerging leaders in the security industry.

Dakota Bierly of Northland Controls, a former SIA RISE vice chair, has assumed the role of chair of the RISE Steering Committee, with Esteban Pastor of ZKTeco USA now serving as vice chair.

In these new roles, Bierly and Pastor will deliver educational content and networking opportunities to young professional employees and rising stars at SIA member companies, college students and recent graduates interested in the global security industry.

Bierly is the sales and marketing manager at Northland Controls. Prior to joining the security industry, she worked as a client services coordinator at the Washington Redskins before beginning a role with a military nonprofit, Luke’s Wings, where she ultimately ended her tenure as the executive director.

Bierly joined Northland Controls in 2020 as the content marketing specialist, and in her current role, she is responsible for supporting the entire sales cycle with a focus on the growth of Northland’s managed services offering. She has been honored as a SIA Women in Security Forum Power 100 honoree and is a graduate of the University of South Carolina. Outside of work, she has a passion for traveling the world and learning about new cultures.

“I am incredibly honored to be serving as this year’s SIA RISE chair. When I first joined RISE a little over three years ago, I had no idea the impact it would have on my career and I’m beyond excited to give back to a community that has given me so much,” said Bierly. “For young professionals or those new to our industry, I believe that there are three keys to success: knowledge, experience, and a meaningful network. As we look to the year ahead, I feel particularly passionate about creating opportunities for our members to develop these three pillars so that they can speak louder and shine brighter than ever before.”

Pastor, senior product manager at ZKTeco USA, plays a pivotal role in guiding cross-functional teams on a global scale. His responsibilities encompass the entire product development life cycle, from conceptualization to delivery, with a focus on strategically promoting cutting-edge access control hardware and software solutions.

Pastor began his journey as a technical support engineer, and over the past eight years, he has continued to expand his knowledge and garnered recognition within the industry, receiving accolades such as the SIA RISE Scholarship and the Denis Hébert Identity Management Scholarship and being named among the Security Systems News (SSN) 40 Under 40 Class of 2022. Active in knowledge sharing and industry dialogue, Pastor has participated in events and panels such as ISC East and West, GSX, Peak IDV Live, Intersec and more.

“I’m excited about continuing our community’s growth and working with amazing leaders,” noted Pastor. “I look forward to meeting new members and continuing to collaborate with the exceptional group of young professionals we have in RISE and especially our steering committee. I want to continue to help build the buzz and keep the positive momentum that’s been building up behind the program for the last few years and enhance visibility beyond the RISE community in our industry to demonstrate the value of active participation and encourage more engagement!”

“SIA’s RISE community is a thriving community of inspiring young security leaders and newcomers that provides a wide array of opportunities for engagement, learning, development, and connection in our industry. These important efforts would not be possible without the contributions of talented, committed volunteers like new RISE chair Dakota Bierly, vice chair Esteban Pastor and outgoing chair Jake Brown,” added SIA CEO Don Erickson. “We thank Jake for his support and leadership of RISE over the past year, are proud to welcome Dakota and Esteban into their new roles and look forward to working together to grow the impact and reach of RISE and its programs and advance the next-generation security workforce.”

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, recognition of new and emerging industry leaders through the 25 on the RISE Awards, and the annual AcceleRISE conference – an essential experience for 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.