The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named Guy M. Grace, Jr., as the 2018 recipient of the SIA Insightful Practitioner Award, an honor recognizing excellence in promoting the implementation of innovative security solutions. Grace, who chairs the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) Steering Committee, serves as director of security and emergency planning for Littleton Public Schools (LPS) in the Denver suburb of Littleton, Colorado. The award will be presented to Grace during SIA Honors Night on Wednesday, Nov. 14, in New York City.

Grace began providing district services to LPS in 1990 and was soon promoted to patrolman, then lead officer and security facilitator before assuming his current role. He has created and assisted with developing many security-related projects, protocols and practices used today in school safety for both LPS and other school districts.

“I am humbled to receive this recognition from SIA, which is made possible in large part by my PASS colleagues and others in the security industry,” said Grace. “I’m honored to be part of an industry that works to protect the most vulnerable in our communities, including our children and loved ones in schools. The security challenges schools and other end users face are even more complex than they were when I started in school safety 30 years ago, and I am grateful for a security industry that is helping us with these challenges.”

Grace is a recipient of many national and security industry awards, a regular speaker at school safety trade conferences and a frequent security commentator for various trade magazines and media outlets. In addition to chairing PASS’ Steering Committee, he has partnered with SIA on press releases and blog posts on school security and spoke at ISC West 2017 about how LPS have created a comprehensive physical security information management system across 28 buildings for more than 15,000 students and staff.

“Our nation’s public schools are critical to shaping young minds and developing the next generation of leaders, and protecting students, faculty and staff in these schools requires the involvement of a variety of stakeholders,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson. “SIA applauds Guy for his extensive work on school security – both within and beyond his district – and his collaboration with other security industry and association partners on this important issue, and we look forward to presenting him with the Insightful Practitioner Award at SIA Honors Night.”

PASS – co-founded by SIA and the National Systems Contractors Association – has produced school security guidelines for K-12 schools, which are customized based on local risk levels and available resources and budgets. The guidelines are available at no cost on the PASS website, and SIA encourages education professionals, law enforcement and the security industry to take advantage of these free resources. Learn about SIA’s additional school security resources and efforts.

SIA’s Insightful Practitioner Award is presented annually to a security practitioner who demonstrates leadership and excellence in promoting the implementation of innovative security solutions through education, advocacy and teamwork with the security industry and other stakeholders.