The 2024 Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) Conference took place on April 16th – 19th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dallas, Texas. This year, attendees – which included integrator business owners, marketing leaders, integrator partners, and more – were immersed in the world of bettering the industry of system integration. The theme was “leading into the future.” 

CEO Jose Rivera was a master of anticipation when it came to next year’s location. On that last day, the announcement was made: the 2025 CSIA conference will take place in San Diego, California.

Congratulations to this year’s winners at the CSIA awards:

2024 Charlie Bergman “Remember Me” Award – Karen Griffin, PE, Hargrove Controls & Automation

2024 Integrator Member of the Year Award – DMC Engineering 

2024 Partner Member of the Year Award – Exotek

2024 Emerging Leader Award – John Sullivan, DMC Engineering

2024 Social Responsibility Award – Autoware S.r.l. unipersonale

Thoughts from the Attending Rivergate Marketing Team

Christine McQuilkin

I have been attending the CSIA Conference since 2018 (San Francisco!) and each year the event feels more and more like a family reunion. I am always excited to catch up with current and former clients, as well as the close-knit MarCom peeps. (MarCom is morphing into the Marketing Special Interest Group, please join us there!)  

When I first started attending the “CSIA Executive Conference,” it mainly consisted of senior management. I love that the conference has expanded its focus to include programming for emerging leaders. These younger attendees bring infectious energy and great ideas to the organization!

We were honored to have been a co-creator of the first-ever CSIA Marketing Workshop, and were thrilled that attendees reported it as a great success! In the past, marketing was often an afterthought for system integrators and I love that it is part of the mainstream programming at the annual conference.

I look forward to continuing the many conversations we began at the 2024 event.

Lauren Maranda

This year’s CSIA Conference was a great success! I measure that by the number of conversations I had with new faces, and the information I was able to exchange with other marketing professionals within the industrial automation sphere. I enjoyed seeing several familiar faces, and strengthening some relationships with other professionals we either currently work with, or have worked with in the past. 

Being the “emcee” for the first ever marketing seminar was a great learning experience. Over the years I have been in front of a crowd in a variety of different capacities, but this was the first time I was in front of this type of an audience at this kind of event. It was a great opportunity, and I definitely learned a few things that I’ll be looking forward to trying at future speaking events! 

Grace Clark 

As always, it’s wonderful to see familiar faces and meet new ones at the CSIA conference. It was a packed week with great speakers and sessions. Marketing to engineers is a unique niche for Rivergate Marketing, and this conference allows us to spread the word on the importance of marketing and share insights and tools to help the industry.

At this year’s conference, I had the opportunity to present at the conference’s first-ever marketing workshop. Content marketing is something I’m very passionate about, and getting to share how to create technical content was fun. It was exciting to see how many participants were interested in learning more. It’s clear to me that the industry is growing, and with this growth more companies are interested in investing in marketing. 

I’m definitely looking forward to San Diego next year. As the only ‘West Coast’ Rivergate Marketing person, I’m excited to welcome the team to the West! 

Georgia Whalen

We look forward to the CSIA Conference every year. As Christine mentioned earlier, it feels like a family reunion, and we always enjoy networking and socializing with our clients and colleagues! Beyond reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, the highlights of the conference for me were:

• The conference’s first Marketing Workshop was a sellout!!! It is refreshing to see how the CSIA membership has come a long way in recognizing and embracing the value of marketing. The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive! Hats off to Lisa Richter, CSIA Director of Industry Outreach and Growth, and all the presenters who put many hours of work into making this workshop a success. Shout out to my Rivergate teammates Christine and Grace for their informative presentations and Lauren for her energetic work as the event’s emcee! 
• Author Mike Michalowicz gave an engaging and informative keynote presentation, Profit First, which offered great insights and actionable steps to help entrepreneurs run successful, profitable businesses. Whether you are a business owner or head of your household finances, Mike offered actionable steps for achieving financial stability. 
• Rock and roll drummer Sandy Gennaro’s keynote, Beating the Odds in Business and Life. Wow! I was not sure how a group of engineers was going to feel about this keynote in the first few minutes but rest assured, Sandy delivered a motivational keynote through great storytelling sharing the many life lessons that have inspired the acronym he believes is foundational to rockstar success in business and life – ‘BEATS’ 

Belief (God Energy)

Enthusiasm (visualization of what you want)

Attitude (positive thoughts)

Tenacity (passion)

Service (serve and have empathy for others)

Sandy ended his presentation with a rocking drum performance – a mashup of the greatest hits he was part of and then let CSIA CEO Jose Rivera take a turn at the drums. Who knew Jose would have a natural knack for drumming?

• The Marketing Committee meet-up was another conference favorite for me. We established this tradition back in 2019. This year, it was at the Rodeo Bar, well attended, and great fun!
• Finally, at the awards banquet, the prestigious Charlie Bergman Award going to Karen Griffin, PE, Vice President for Hargrove Controls & Automation and Chair of the Board for the CSIA was another conference highlight for me. This award recognizes individuals who have actively participated in association activities, published articles in industry publications and served in leadership roles of the association. Through the years, I have been impressed with how Karen generously gives her time and leadership talent to not only the association but to those she works with and the community she lives in. I remember Karen once told me that when she is asked to help or take on a specific challenge instead of subscribing to the popular ‘learn to say no’ philosophy, she subscribes to ‘find a way to say yes.’ Karen truly believes in serving the greater good and as the “Remember Me” winner, she absolutely exemplifies the philosophy of sharing that Charlie upheld.

With the 2024 CSIA Conference behind us, we look forward to the 2025 conference in sunny San Diego!