The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) announced its 2023 award winners, recognizing 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 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.
2023 Rising Star Award—Sean Phillips, Hargrove Controls & Automation
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).
