Control System Integrators Association
Announces 2023 Award Winners
CHICAGO (May 30, 2023) - The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) is pleased to announce its 2023 award winners for the substantial contributions they make to the organization and to the system integration industry at large. The following recipients were recently honored at CSIA’s 2023 Executive Conference, held May 15-19, 2023, in New Orleans, Louisiana:
2023 Charlie Bergman “Remember Me” Award — Andrew Downs, SAGE Group
The Charlie Bergman Award recognizes a member for upholding the principles of sharing, leadership and promoting the profession.
“Andrew has supported CSIA for over 20 years with consistent participation, sharing of knowledge, board contributions via staff, and more. Andrew upholds everything Charlie stood for,” said Bob Zeigenfuse of Avanceon.
2023 Integrator Member of the Year Award — EKB Groep B.V.
The Integrator Member of the Year Award recognizes an integrator member who has participated significantly in the advancement of the association and profession.
Over the past year, EKB Groep has been a key contributor to the cybersecurity section of the new revision of CSIA’s Best Practices & Benchmarks Manual. The team at EKB has helped to shape this section by bringing their own expertise in addition to other SMEs. Ultimately, the section was improved greatly by the work of EKB.
2023 Partner Member of the Year Award – Rivergate Marketing
The Partner Member of the Year Award honors a Partner Member that has participated significantly in the advancement of the association and the profession.
Since 2016, Rivergate Marketing has been actively engaged on CSIA’s Marketing Committee, developing a robust understanding of the SI industry and its challenges and opportunities. They have also consistently delivered highly rated presentations and facilitated panels at CSIA’s Executive Conferences and virtual events, and many members have benefitted from hiring their services for their companies.
The Rising Star Award honors members who are new to the industry but have displayed traits of a future leader, innovative approaches, and commitment to the industry.
Sean worked in residential construction through college prior to beginning his career in Control Systems Engineering in 2014 when he began as a co-op with Hargrove Controls & Automation. With his aptitude as a life-long learner and problem-solver, he quickly moved up to an engineering lead position and began leading jobs within two years of graduating college. Since then, he has moved into a Technical Lead position and now serves as a Project Manager (PM).
Throughout these roles, Sean has led several successful projects in the Specialty Chemical and Pulp and Paper industries. He is currently the PM on a project for the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center. The Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center is a not-for-profit, mission-based, science center that promotes science learning through a variety of inquiry-based educational and entertaining activities. Working with the volunteer organization harGIVES, he has committed personal time and stayed on budget to locate and purchase hardware to upgrade several systems for a few of the Exploreum’s exhibit simulations.
“Recognizing these members for their contributions and leadership is one of the best parts of my job, quite honestly,” said Jose Rivera, CEO of CSIA. “I am so grateful for all that they do for the industry and the CSIA community. Congratulations to all.”
Also recognized at the 2023 CSIA Awards Dinner were CFE Media’s System Integrator of the Year winners EOSYS (Large Integrator), Northwind Technical Services (Mid-Sized Integrator), and George T. Hall (Small Integrator).
Photos are available upon request.
Control System Integrators Association Announces
2022 Award Winners
CHICAGO (July 13, 2022) - The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) is pleased to announce its 2022 award winners for the substantial contributions they make to the organization. The following recipients were honored at the CSIA Annual Executive Conference, held June 27 – 30, 2022, in Denver, Colorado:
2022 Charlie Bergman “Remember Me” Award – Adrian Fahey, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, SAGE Group, Tonsley, SA, Australia
The esteemed Charlie Bergman Award honors people who have participated in association activities, published articles in industry publications, and served in leadership roles. By giving their time and leadership talent to the association, the “Remember Me” winner exemplifies the philosophy of sharing that Charlie upheld.
2022 Integrator Member of the Year Award – CSIA-Certified Member Vertech, Phoenix, Arizona
The Integrator Member of the Year Award recognizes an integrator member who has participated significantly in the advancement of the association and profession.
2022 Partner Member of the Year Award – Schneider Electric, Knightdale, North Carolina
The Partner Member of the Year Award honors a Partner Member that has participated significantly in the advancement of the association and the profession.
2022 Rising Star Award – Marie Fiala, Chief Executive Officer, Lucid Automation & Security LLC, Novato, California
The Rising Star Award honors members who are new to the industry but have displayed traits of a future leader, innovative approaches, and commitment to the industry.
2022 Social Responsibility Award – GreyLogix Brasil, Mafra, Santa Catarina
The Social Responsibility Award honors a member who has excelled in sustainability and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Congratulations to the 2022 winners.
About CSIA: Founded in 1994, the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) is a not-for-profit, global trade association that seeks to advance the industry of control system integration. Control system integrators use their engineering, technical and business skills to help manufacturers and others automate their industrial equipment and systems. CSIA helps members improve their business skills, provides a forum to share industry expertise and promotes the benefits of hiring a certified control system integrator. CSIA has more than 500 member companies in 35 countries. CSIA also hosts the Industrial Automation Exchange to connect manufacturers and others with the system integrators and industry suppliers who can meet their automation needs.
CSIA unites behind the Association of Industrial Automation of Ukraine
One Hour for Ukraine complements humanitarian efforts
Chicago – In solidarity with Ukrainian industrial automation peers, the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) Board of Directors unanimously voted on April 19, 2022, to award complimentary memberships for the years 2022 and 2023 to members of the Association of Industrial Automation of Ukraine.
“Our goal is to provide the space for Ukrainian members to network with other CSIA members and explore possible outsourcing opportunities,” explains CSIA CEO Jose Rivera. “The war in Ukraine has disrupted regular local peacetime work opportunities. This contrasts with the explosive business growth benefiting SIs of many other geographies currently. Outsourcing can also help other SIs alleviate the serious talent shortages they are experiencing,”
Rebuilding Manufacturing Industries
Beside outsourcing, CSIA and its members hope that new relationships support Ukrainian SIs in their efforts to contribute to the rebuild of their manufacturing industries.
“It is worth mentioning that several Ukrainian SIs and engineering companies have experience working with Western companies and delivering projects beyond their borders,” notes Rivera. “A few of them have offices in Germany, the United States and United Arab Emirates. Language does not create a barrier.”
Alexandre Yurchak, CEO of the Association of Industrial Automation of Ukraine, has been leading the collaboration from the Ukrainian side as part of his efforts to help his members during a wartime economy.
“It is a big honor and a great opportunity for our community to have such a relationship with CSIA,” says Alexandre Yurchak. “Our best engineering companies and system integrators are ready to work with their counterparts around the world. And we really need this work as never before.
“What we appreciate even more,” he continues, “is the friendly and fast response of CSIA to our situation. It shows a new kind professional solidarity that drives our community to be together and to hold the line on the economic front.”
One Hour for Ukraine
CSIA is also encouraging its members to provide humanitarian support to Ukraine. One Hour for Ukraine (1H4U) is an original approach piloted by Autoware, a CSIA certified SI based in Italy.
Autoware encourages its employees to engage by donating work hours. Their contribution gets matched (2x) by Autoware and, on a periodic basis, the company donates to the bank account of the Association of Industrial Automation of Ukraine.
The intention is for other companies to replicate this model with the Ukrainian cause of its choice.
“All of us were touched by what happened in Ukraine,” says Luigi De Bernardini, CEO of Autoware and past Chair of the CSIA Board of Directors. “We Europeans probably were more sensitive, since it happened so close to us, and we were powerless.
“Everyone has their own reasons for actions in support of Ukrainian people. Where I believe we have a lot of room to improve is in leveraging the power of our professional associations and acting as professionals supporting colleagues,” he continues.
“This is why we decided to donate time and effort and not just money,” he concludes. “If our colleagues in any part of the world are in trouble, we can help as professionals. This is something that I don’t see happening many times, and I thought this was a good opportunity to start. If we put our efforts together, we can do a lot. From professionals to professionals!”
About CSIA: Founded in 1994, the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) is a not-for-profit, global trade association that seeks to advance the industry of control system integration. Control system integrators use their engineering, technical and business skills to help manufacturers and others automate their industrial equipment and systems. CSIA helps members improve their business skills, provides a forum to share industry expertise and promotes the benefits of hiring a certified control system integrator. CSIA has more than 500 member companies in 35 countries. CSIA also hosts the Industrial Automation Exchange to connect manufacturers and others with the system integrators and industry suppliers who can meet their automation needs.