Security Industry Association Names 2025 SIA Women in Security Forum Scholarship Winners

The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named eight recipients for the 2025 SIA Women in Security Forum (WISF) Scholarship, a program developed by the SIA Women in Security Forum to further educational opportunities and promote advancement for the widest spectrum of people possible in the security industry.

This scholarship program, which is open to employees of SIA member companies and SIA student members, awards $7,500 to each honoree for use toward continuing education and professional development courses, conferences or webinars, SIA program offerings, repayment of student loan debt, and/or other education or academic pursuits.

The 2025 winners for the SIA Women in Security Forum Scholarship are:

• Bianca Banuelos, Operations Assistant, Safe and Sound Security

• Sushma Nayak, Associate Mechanical Engineer, Allegion

• Haley Nelson, Senior Communications Strategist, Allegion

• Beth Phillips, Technical Account Manager, Genetec

• Yazmina Rawji, Relationship Manager, dormakaba

• Yarisa Walsh, Senior Security Training Assistant, United Nations

• Nikki Williams, North American Regional Marketing Manager, Integrated Control Technology

• Erin Wilson, Manager, Influencer Education, dormakaba

“Congratulations to the 2025 SIA Women in Security Scholarship recipients. As a proud 2022 awardee, I understand how impactful this program is in empowering women to reach their educational and professional goals in the security industry. This year’s applicants truly represent the women making great strides in our field,” said Tia Eskandari, Vice Chair of the SIA Women in Security Forum Steering Committee, Co-Chair of the WISF AmplifiHER Subcommittee, and Senior Director of National Field Service at Allied Universal Technology Services. “Thank you to the AmplifiHER subcommittee members who worked so hard on this year’s fundraising campaign—we appreciate all of you! A heartfelt thank you to the sponsors and scholarship committee members whose ongoing support makes this opportunity possible. Your investment in women’s advancement is changing lives and transforming our industry.”

“SIA and the Women in Security Forum are both a rich and robust space for career growth and elevation in the industry. Throughout this scholarship selection process, we witnessed countless women in the industry making business-impacting moves and shining a light on why this program is so vital. Their stories—full of courage, innovation, and barrier-breaking—remind us why uplifting and edifying professional and personal development is essential,” said Tanya Turner, Co-Chair of the WISF AmplifiHER Subcommittee and Director of Human Resources at Salto. “As this program continues to gain momentum, we hope more businesses will invest in it, recognizing the value of rewarding women who strive to do more and be more. Thank you to all the participants who showcased their amazing talents, the committee members, and the sponsors who deeply believed in the program enough to support it.”

To learn more about the SIA Women in Security Forum Scholarship and 2025 awardees, visit the scholarship page.

For the first time in 2025, SIA will award the top-scoring scholarship applicant each year with the Sandy Jones Award, a special scholarship distinction named for industry veteran and longtime SIA member Sandra (Sandy) Jones. This year, the inaugural recipient of this award is Yazmina Rawji.

Sandy Jones is a 30+-year security industry veteran, insider, deal maker, author, and visionary. Fifteen years after founding one of the industry’s first wholesale distribution companies, she started the consulting firm Sandra Jones and Company, where she and her industry affiliates provide a complete range of customized financial and profit development services for investors, manufacturers, service providers, and system integrators. Jones was the creator of SIA’s New Products and Solutions Awards and a co-founder and producer of the Securing New Ground conference and served as two-term president of SIA, and she is one of only six industry leaders to have been awarded an honorary SIA membership.