The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) has announced its 2024 award winners.

The following recipients were honored at the 2024 CSIA Conference, held April 15-19 in Dallas, Texas:

2024 Charlie Bergman “Remember Me” Award

Karen Griffin, PE

Vice President, Hargrove Controls & Automation

Chair of the Board, CSIA

The Charlie Bergman Award recognizes a member for upholding the principles of sharing, leadership and promoting the profession.

“Karen represents the spirit and objectives of the CSIA Charlie Bergman Remember Me Award,” says Autoware CEO Luigi De Bernardini. “Her exceptional service, leadership, mentorship and contributions to our strategic and organizational success make her an exemplary candidate for this honor. I strongly advocate for her selection and am confident that her recognition would be a fitting tribute to her invaluable contributions to CSIA.”

2024 Integrator Member of the Year Award

DMC, Inc

The Integrator Member of the Year Award recognizes an integrator member who has participated significantly in the advancement of the association and profession.

“DMC is often seen as a company that many CSIA members would like to emulate,” says Don Roberts, principal at Exotek. “They have demonstrated that, by embracing the CSIA Best Practices, they can grow their company at an outstanding pace and have maintained the CSIA Certification since their first audit in 2009. Their team members consistently contribute back to the association by participating in multiple committees, peer groups, and on the board.”

2024 Partner Member of the Year Award

Exotek, LLC

The Partner Member of the Year Award honors a partner member that has participated significantly in the advancement of the association and the profession. 

Asked why he thought his firm was recognized, Jack Barber, senior business consultant at Exotek said that “while best known in the CSIA community as auditors, Exotek’s contributions also include participating on several committees including Benchmarking, Best Practices, Digital Transformation and the Partner committee.”

“CSIA’s mission is harmonic with our purpose to partners with our community to build better integration companies,” Barber adds. “In addition to cultivate best practices through our consultative audits, workshops, and presentations, we can help members create, execute, and evolve their business strategies. And, we foster networking by facilitating more than a dozen peer groups including CEO and COO, Sales & Marketing, Project, Engineering and Operations Management, Finance, HR, OE/Quality, OT and IT.”

2024 Emerging Leader Award

John Sullivan, P.E., DMC Inc.

The Emerging Leader Award honors members who are new to the industry but have displayed traits of a future leader, innovative approaches and commitment to the industry.

“John Sullivan is the chair of CSIA’s Emerging Leaders Steering Committee and Special Interest Group, and has been a driving force behind the success and growth of both initiatives in recent years,” says Greg Young, co-president at Automation NTH. “John played an instrumental role in crafting the charter of the Emerging Leaders Committee, and his insights into the challenges and opportunities for new leaders in the system integration industry helped set a clear vision for the group and enabled it to get off the ground and gain momentum.”

“Under John's steady leadership, the steering committee has exceeded its initial goals,” Young adds. “He has been a key figure in organizing and leading webinars, conference sessions and creating a dedicated track for emerging leaders at this year's CSIA conference. His ability to balance these responsibilities, despite a demanding career, demonstrates exceptional leadership and commitment to CSIA. John’s efforts have significantly contributed to drawing in a new generation of leaders from member companies, thereby keeping CSIA vibrant and relevant and ensuring the association stays connected with the evolving needs of the industry.”

2024 Social Responsibility Award

Autoware S.r.l.

When the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Autoware CEO Luigi de Bernardini felt that something could be done to help the population living in war zones. He involved his employees and started an initiative to help Ukrainian workers. He started the 1H4U initiative through which employees could donate one hour of labor (extra time) and the company gave a matching monetary donation to the Association of Industrial Automation of Ukraine (APPAU) or other humanitarian initiatives benefitting Ukraine.

De Bernardini engineered then the initiative #1H4U (1 hour for You) and @Professionals4Ukraine to give other companies an opportunity to help Ukrainians in need.

To reach as many people as possible he shared the initiative on LinkedIn, the Autoware website, with CSIA members and through press releases, and these initiatives went viral, resulting in significant contributions to APPAU.

At the ceremony, CSIA’s Chief Executive Officer Jose Rivera also delivered a surprise award to Mark Voigtmann of Faegre Drinker for his contributions to CSIA over the past 20 years.

“In addition to his role as legal counsel for CSIA and the work he has done for so many members through the CSIA Legal Program, Mark has always been ready to help the association in other ways,” Rivera says. “For instance, he served as emcee for one of the most popular sessions of the CSIA Executive Conference – Lessons Learned From the Hot Stove – year after year. And the crowd loved him.”  

In one performance, Voigtmann played a dual role by not only performing his emcee duties, but simultaneously impersonating a no-show panelist. “He brought the house down,” Rivera recalls.

“He will be sorely missed not only for his legal advice but also for his deep commitment to the industry, the association and its members,” Rivera adds. “On behalf of the CSIA board and members, we are deeply grateful for Mark and all he has done for CSIA throughout the years. And of course, we wish him the best of luck in his new chapter.”

CFE Media’s System Integrator of the Year Awards

Also recognized at the 2024 CSIA Awards Dinner were CFE Media’s System Integrator of the Year winners Interstates (Large Integrator), Polytron (Mid-Sized Integrator) and APCO, Inc. (Small Integrator).