 Hello everyone. Aloha and welcome to Security Matters. My name is Jake Brown and with me today I have Cia's own Don Erickson as well as Cia Rice Chair and Vice Chair and former scholarship winners Aaron Mann and Kelsey Carnell. Welcome to the show everyone. Today we're going to be discussing all things Cia Rice Scholarship. So before we get into our discussion I'm going to be providing a little context about the scholarship for those viewers who are not familiar with the initiative. So this year we are the deadline for the scholarship is October 8th and we are giving out at least five scholarships worth $3,000 each in which the winners can use the funds towards things like continuing education in the industry, industry certifications, industry trainings, different Cia programs, different Cia offerings and for the second year in a row they can use the funds to pay back student loans which was a biggie for us to be able to continue because we felt like things like certifications and industry trainings are absolutely essential in the security industry but we wanted to kind of reverse engineer it last year and obviously continue it into this year and say how could we possibly relieve a burden off of a YP shoulders and relieve a stress and help them move more efficiently in their career ultimately helping their you know career development and personal development as well. So I want to start with Don Erikson. Don you have been present since the birth of this scholarship essentially your role with Cia and your connection to Cia Rice. Tell us why the scholarship was formed and you know listen there are great programs in the industry but what made Cia Rice and Cia come together to form this scholarship? I appreciate that Jake and thanks for hosting today. First of all I can't possibly talk about Rice without thanking Erin and Kelsey for their involvement and Katie Griotti on our team. I mean it's a Rice is more than a committee it's a community it's more than a community it's a movement right and so we're proud to be a part of this and Cia back in 2015 established Rice it's grown phenomenally through the work of Erin and Kelsey and Katie among many others and yourself Jake so really appreciate the opportunity to talk about the program. Now about the scholarship program itself look our goal in setting this up was to help employees of our member companies particularly young professionals as we all know we've talked about it for many many years the industry is graying people are getting closer to retirement we have superstars that are coming through the ranks and we think as the industry association we have to empower them we have to help them and if we could save them money through programs such as the scholarship program where they can repay student loan debt we've all been through it right I was too that's a big relief so for us it was really simple it's empowering young professionals and I think for companies our members and we deal manufacturers integrators all the time comes down to two things right it comes down to corporate social responsibility which appeals to young professionals and it comes to comes down to diversifying the workforce and if I were managing a company today in a workforce for a for-profit I'd want to send a message to our young professionals that we want to create a culture of philanthropy within our workforce and that those are all the reasons that we decide to create the scholarship program thank you for that and I mean it's it's amazing I joined the CRIs community in February of 2020 and out of the many programs that that we offer as a CRIs community this one there's just so much excitement like I mean I'm on the scholarship subcommittee um and this past scholarship run we got 46 applications and for me to see everyone all my you know co-committee members all of their just crazy excitement around the fact that we got 46 applicants it was amazing and and you know we got eight applicants in 2018 and 19 and 2019 then to go to 46 that's an incredible jump so at the time when we got 46 applicants we were so happy we were excited you know this thing is growing by leaps and bounds which it is but a few months after after the scholarship run was completely finished we came back and we said all right we got 46 applicants and we were only able to give out five scholarships so to us it was kind of like all right there were a lot more than five applicants who you know could have been considered for the scholarship and and could have won so what what were our options were we going to lower the the amount in this industry with certifications and and different trainings um that that you know you are now required to get um for certain positions $3,000 is the optimal amount so we wanted to kind of structure a program a sponsorship program where companies will sponsor a scholarship a $3,000 sponsorship um and that's their way and and that's our way to a increase scholarships b these companies can now contribute to the future of this industry which is what we are as CRIs incredibly passionate about and with me today I have the CRIs chair and vice chair who are also former scholarship winners in Aaron Mann and Kelsey Carnell these are the fearless leaders and rock stars of CRIs we thank you both for all that you do and all of your hard work but today I want to talk to you guys as former scholarship winners so we'll start with Aaron then we'll kick it to Kelsey I have a couple questions back to back to back that I think you'll be able to answer so we'll start with Aaron what were your motivations for applying to the scholarship what did you use the funds for and looking back right now how did that benefit your career like if looking back right this second talk about some of the ways that that scholarship money benefited your career sure so really fortunate to be on the show with you today and to talk about this the scholarship is probably one of my favorite initiatives that RISE offers as a program mostly because it was the way that I kind of entered the RISE community so back in 2018 I had just been given a new role and at the time I was with Legion and my role was a customer experience focused role so I moved out of marketing into customer experience and my team's focus was really working on external partners and the way that their software ecosystems could integrate with our Schlage and other Allegiant product hardware and so this was a brand new role for me and I was surrounded by you know business leaders engineers technical folk and I was working a lot with software developers from partners but also within our own organization and so I really felt like I needed to do something to be able to empathize with all those different roles that I was working with so I found some courses online that were kind of an intro to software product development management and really wanted to take them just because I felt like it would give me the ability and the insight to put myself in all of those different stakeholders shoes to understand what we needed to do at our organization to make it easier to partner but then also translate some of the needs of some of these software developers into you know these are the tactical things we need to execute on as a team so the RISE scholarship really was my first introduction into RISE as a community of young professionals in the industry and I applied for the funds hoping to fund my eventual application to these courses which I was awarded the scholarship and did get to go to those courses which drastically kind of changed the way that I viewed not only my career but the impact that I could have in a role like customer experience which is a role that's becoming much more prominent in the industry as design theory comes in and we're really focused on the human elements of security within broader tech ecosystems and so I won it in 2018 and then kind of became addicted to RISE and everything that the group has to offer and at the first Accelerize conference I actually got the little certificate that I had won the scholarship and that's actually where I met Kelsey so RISE has given me a whole lot but it's also given me a lot of friends in the industry and Kelsey is one of them and it's all because of the RISE scholarship. That's great and it's amazing how you were thinking both short term and then you were kind of able to loop back in and kind of you know evaluate the long term as well I think that's something every young professional in the security industry can do and in turn they should really apply for the scholarship so Kelsey tell us you know about I personally know why you applied and what you've you know done with the funds but tell us all tell the viewers what were your motivations were for applying to the scholarship what did you end up using the funds for and looking back right now how did this benefit your career? Yeah thank you Jake and awesome story Erin and Don thank you so much it's a pleasure to share the virtual stage with you guys as Erin said I love this crew and RISE is a great community to be involved in so I applied for the scholarship I actually was forwarded the scholarship information from my manager at the time so I would encourage any managers or team leads or people in leadership roles that are watching to take a chance and maybe forward it for the scholarship to some of your employees because you're investing in your employees as much as the industry and SIA isn't investing in the future of the industry so that's why I found out about it to be honest with you I wasn't really sure I didn't really know what RISE was at that time and in 2018 or 2017 I guess to 2018 I applied as well I too got involved with RISE because of the scholarship so Erin and I have oddly similar story and we've become very close friends so I think it's super cool because I think I used my funds at the time I was a sales development rep at AXIS and I was trying to think about my career trajectory where I wanted to go I always wanted to be in like an outside sales role which I am currently but from then till now I did need some education some management education I wanted to be a manager of some sort so while as a sales development rep I used the funds to finish my master's degree in business administration and I used some of it to get my SEPTED certification which is crime prevention through environmental design if anybody has not heard of it it really into this day it helps me because it's super valuable in evaluating and assessing site plans and situations that I'm walking every single day now so currently as a regional sales manager I'm walking sites trying to work with integrators and partners and then customers on camera layouts and what technology to use where and honestly if it wasn't for that class and SIA RISE and the scholarship program giving me some funds and allowing me to take that class to further education I I wouldn't be where I am today honestly so I think to fold the the scholarship is a great opportunity because of the funds you can use them for any I think it's a really diverse scholarship because you can use it for master's degree you can use it to finish a graduate degree a a bachelor's degree right you can use it for that kind of stuff or you can get your CSPM or you can get your PSP or any industry certifications or any leadership training so really the sky's the limit and I think that's the coolest part and what intrigued me most about applying for the scholarship I love what you said there the sky's the limit we see you know past winners using it on things like MBAs and CSPMs and and different courses and I want to kind of loop this back in with with our sponsorship program you know as a company if you choose to sponsor a scholarship um you never know I mean obviously you are like I said contributing to the future of this industry um directly right away once once that applicant wins the scholarship boom you know whatever they choose to use the funds on that's their decision but it's obviously going to benefit them just like it benefited Erin and Kelsey and and all the other past winners um you never know that yp could easily be in your c-suite one day or even just be an employee of yours in a couple of years so I have one more question for the whole crew we'll start with Don we'll go to Erin then we'll go to Kelsey and this is for applicants so if you had to tell an applicant or or give an applicant a call to action someone who may be on the fence about applying not too familiar with the program or just in general they may not feel like they're going to be considered what would you tell them to kind of get over that hump and and ultimately apply well Jake first of all if they've listened to Erin and Kelsey they couldn't be helped but be inspired right I mean so great testimonials for the scholarship program that should be enough so hopefully we're going to get a lot of viewership but in all seriousness it's a very seamless process there are not a lot of requirements if you're a student member of CEO or an employee of a member company you have a few questions to answer reference check an essay but it's pretty basic for for the amount of money you're receiving in return so I think it's pretty straightforward thank you Don and Erin I think um you know for me one of the one of the coolest experiences of being part of RISE has been being on the other side of the scholarship and seeing how many innovative ways the young professionals of the industry are looking to expand their horizons and get furthering education or go to really cool conferences or or repay their student loans and I think that you know something that's really unique about the security industry is how many opportunities that that you know groups and associations like SCIA provide for their members and I think what sets young professionals in the security industry apart is that their passion comes through when they take advantage of opportunities like this so you know we've seen a lot of people apply for the scholarship in traditional means for masters programs or you know repayment of student loans or doctorate programs or going to conferences and in the last couple of years we've also seen some really cool iterations on different courses that people want to take like mechanical engineers taking disruptive design theory courses and as we're seeing the industry really transform because security is becoming a feature of some bigger you know tech ecosystems and solutions and being deployed in really innovative ways we're seeing the passion of young professionals and the idea that they can think about their jobs in a different way even if they're traditional roles really transform and that's been really really neat so I would say if you're a young professional and you're thinking about your role either in a traditional way or you're thinking of you know how can I how can I expand the headspace that I'm thinking about my role and I'm really interested in going to XY and Z like Don said it's a it's a really seamless process it's so enjoyable for this steering committee to see these applications and to hear about the passion behind the young professionals and to talk to some of the reference checks and say you know tell me about this person and hear how wonderfully these reference checks talk about the applicants it's the most enjoyable experience so if you are looking just to have a little bit of a leg up or take advantage of an opportunity that's coming your way this is one of the easiest opportunities to take advantage of and it's one that will continue kind of benefiting you tenfold year after year so apply it's easy we love the process and there's nothing that rise loves to do more than help people get a leg up in the industry and with their careers so if you're even a little bit on the fence just just go for it because you won't regret it I love that and you know it really is an easy application process and if I was an applicant like I would I would love to fill out this application I mean who doesn't like talking about themselves it's basic psychology Kelsey what are your closing remarks here and kind of echoing off Don and Erin yeah I would just say for one my favorite line you never know unless you try right so if you don't try you're never going to win right so basic principles there but I would say just do it and my other feedback or my other piece of advice is this is a great opportunity as mentioned that it's you can diversify your background and your work because the scholarship you can use it to something maybe you wanted to try I'm not an electrical engineer but maybe I'm interested in something like that or maybe it's down in my future career so I would just say if you be genuine and be authentic in your answers because it's really really to Erin's point it's really fun reading them and your passion shines through for sure it everybody's point everybody said it's not it doesn't take much time you're right it's short and sweet but we did add some fun questions it's not just questions about the industry it's questions about you because we want to get to know you how are you going to use the funds and really how passionate you are about staying in the industry furthering the industry and continuing to help other yps so I say just do it just a couple of closing comments here as we wrap up again to talk to the prospective donors for a second so the manufacturers the integrators who are being asked to support the scholarship program can emphasize enough the importance of brand awareness trying to reach the next generation workforce right so even if you're not sponsoring your own employee currently Jake to your point they could end up on your workforce one day right so you want to show your commitment as a company to diversity and to the young professional community number one secondly you know we want corporate donations for this program and we've been gratified by the number of donations that have come in well let's point out if you're an individual you could also contribute so I will tell you that although my kids my three kids are three years or four years away from entering college and the workforce they were so inspired by this that I made a donation personally to the scholarship program this morning and I'm happy to do that and I hope other individuals will do it going forward so the call or action here is I'm hoping that other executives within our member companies will will contribute either individually or through corporate donations to the program on behalf of the CRI's entire community thank you for that donation I love all that you said in regards to the donations in general when it comes to individuals and and companies thank you all for joining me today on security matters thank you to Andrew Lanning for making this possible every month when CRI's kind of takes over the show and more importantly you know Don, Erin, Kelsey, Katie I know you're watching thank you for all your hard work with this specific initiative the impact that it has on the young professional community is is is massive and I am beyond excited to continue working with you all over the next couple years on this so thank you all for coming down to security matters and we'll see you next time great thanks Jake