Winners Announced for the 2020 Women in Biometrics Awards

SILVER SPRING, Md., May 28, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Security Industry Association (SIA) and SecureIDNews have selected five distinguished biometrics and security leaders as the 2020 winners of the Women in Biometrics Awards – a globally recognized program co-founded by SIA and SecureIDNews and co-presented with sponsors IDEMIA, Biometric Update and the SIA Women in Security Forum. The honorees will be recognized during the 2020 SIA GovSummit, SIA's annual government security conference, which will be hosted as a free virtual event June 1-4. On June 3 at 1 p.m. EDT, attendees will enjoy a special keynote panel session honoring the award winners – The Women in Biometrics Awards Presents the Future of Biometrics in Government Security Applications.

The Women in Biometrics Awards honor the efforts of top female leaders helping drive the biometric identity and security industry. Nominees and past winners include those working for biometric companies, peripheral suppliers, system integrators, academia, government and security and IT departments at a variety of organizations in the United States and internationally.

The 2020 winners of the Women in Biometrics Awards are:

Jeni Best, Branch Chief, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Jeni Best has extensive program management experience running large-scale programs and working with external stakeholders, exemplified in her work on CBP's Biometric Exit Program as well as in developing and implementing Automated Passport Control and Mobile Passport Control. Leading the CBP charge in implementing biometrics at airport touchpoints, Best has operationalized CBP biometric exit solutions at 27 U.S. airports and 2 international locations. Best contributed to the development of CBP's exit roll-out strategy, which leverages stakeholder engagement and partnerships to achieve CBP's biometric mandate. For much of 2019, she served as the acting director of biometric air exit operations at CBP – often referred to as "biometric boarding." Best has over 20 years of experience with CBP and its predecessor agencies working on issues related to immigration, travel and tourism, business transformation initiatives and biometrics. She holds a bachelor's degree from Sam Houston State University and a master's degree in criminal justice from Boston University.

Anne May, Biometric Support Center Lead, Identity Operations Division, Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Anne May has 25 years of program management experience in the public sector, including 17 years of experience with biometric technologies. She began her government career with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), where she was the program manager for large-scale records management systems and also served as biometrics portfolio manager, overseeing budget and system business operations for the INS biometrics program. May has worked at US-VISIT since its inception in 2003, managing the implementation of multi-year, multi-agency projects and responsible for the deployment of specialized biometric hardware to over 550 border patrol and immigration enforcement field sites. After over a decade of service to the OBIM, Anne has excelled in her leadership and dedication filling multiple critical roles as an irreplaceable subject matter expert in the field of biometrics. Anne is the lead manager for the DHS 24/7 Biometric Support Center, an integral piece of the identity mission for worldwide U.S. government missions. She has also applied her expertise in support of building the next-generation DHS biometric system, Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology.

Mei Ngan, Computer Scientist, Image Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Mei Ngan is a scientist in the NIST Image Group, which develops standards, measurement methods and best practices for biometric technologies, promoting accuracy and interoperability and the gold standard for biometric testing and evaluation worldwide. She is an accomplished computer scientist who has produced creative and outstanding work in the fields of face morphing detection, tattoo recognition and face recognition evaluation providing the needed science and framework to underpin the successful measurement and assessment of technologies for operational viability. Ngan is the project lead for the NIST Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) MORPH program – an ongoing project focused on evaluation of automated face morphing detection capabilities – and has become an integral part of the FRVT activities at NIST. In 2014, she launched the Tattoo Recognition Technology Program, the first NIST program to provide a measurement and testing foundation to support the operational needs and applications for image-based tattoo recognition. Ngan has also led the NIST project supporting the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity Janus program, targeting the development of advanced face recognition algorithms for unconstrained images.

Lauren Reed, Senior Program Director for Biometric Forensics, IDEMIA National Security Solutions (NSS)
In her role at IDEMIA NSS, Lauren Reed leads the deployment of large-scale multimodal biometric systems to U.S. government foreign partners, enabling them to advance their crime and terrorism detection capabilities. She has been working in biometrics and forensics for more than 20 years; prior to joining IDEMIA NSS, she was the first woman to serve as director of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory at the Defense Forensic Science Center, which provides forensic and biometric laboratory services in seven scientific disciplines to the military criminal investigative agencies of U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) globally. Reed also previously served as the first chief of the Biometric Examination Services Branch for the Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where she was instrumental in standing up multi-modal biometric examination operations for the DOD's Automated Biometric Identification System with expansion of services to include face and iris in addition to fingerprints. In 2012, she received the FBI Director's Award for Exceptional Public Service for leading a latent print sharing initiative between the DOD, FBI and DHS resulting in more than 500 identifications associated with terrorist and national security cases. Reed holds a Bachelor of Science from Washington State University, a Master of Forensic Science from National University and an executive MBA degree from Kennesaw State University.

Annet Steenbergen, Co-Founder, Aruba Happy Flow Project
Annet Steenbergen is a visionary Dutch national who is well respected in the U.S. and internationally as the co-founder/initiator of the Aruba Happy Flow project for the government of Aruba, the first seamless airport implementation of its kind in the world, a single-token initiative that creates a seamless flow of passenger facilitation from curb to gate through the reuse of biometrics and advanced cooperation between the public and the private sector. Steenbergen took stakeholder cooperation to a new level between the governments of Aruba and the Netherlands, KLM Airlines, the Aruba Airport Authority and the biometric vendor to provide biometric-based security while substantially enhancing the passenger experience and creating room for expansion of Happy Flow to other airlines and countries. She has more than 20 years of international experience working in the field of border control, border management and public-private cooperation at airports, previously holding roles with the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service at Schipol Airport and at headquarters in the policy department for border management. Besides her work for the government of Aruba, Steenbergen is a consultant on passenger facilitation innovation with a strong focus on seamless travel solutions, where biometrics are used as a baseline for facilitation, security and GDPR-compliant privacy, or "privacy by design." She holds a master's degree from Leiden University and has also studied at University College London, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of the Witwatersrand.

"Each year, the Women in Biometrics Awards recognize the best and brightest talent helping to advance biometrics technologies, which are essential to securing identities today, and the achievements of these female industry leaders are improving processes like air travel, enhancing cutting-edge fields like facial recognition and working to keep people safe," said SIA CEO Don Erickson. "SIA applauds the 2020 honorees for their impressive dedication, innovation and leadership in this critical technology market and looks forward to honoring this outstanding group during SIA GovSummit."

"Once again, the 2020 class of Women in Biometrics Award winners astound me with their contributions to the security industry and society in general," said Chris Corum, editor and publisher, SecureIDNews. "Their collective work keeps international borders secure, fights terrorism, aids law enforcement and makes our daily lives safer and more convenient."

SIA GovSummit – the annual government security conference hosted by SIA – brings together government security leaders and private industry technologists for top-quality information sharing and education on security topics affecting federal, state and even local agencies. Attendees will hear keynote presentations from Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.); Brian Harrell, assistant director for infrastructure security at DHS' Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA); Daryle Hernandez, chief of the Interagency Security Committee within DHS CISA; and Kathleen McGuiness, auditor of accounts for the State of Delaware. Additionally, GovSummit 2020 will feature specialized sessions on cutting-edge topics such as emerging applications of facial recognition technology, trends in federal procurement of security products and services, drones and counter-UAS technology, fever detection and camera technology in pandemic recovery and using robotics in security operations. Learn more and register to attend virtually for free here.

About SIA
SIA is the leading trade association for global security solution providers, with over 1,000 innovative member companies representing thousands of security leaders and experts who shape the future of the security industry. SIA protects and advances its members' interests by advocating pro-industry policies and legislation at the federal and state levels, creating open industry standards that enable integration, advancing industry professionalism through education and training, opening global market opportunities and collaborating with other like-minded organizations. As the premier sponsor of ISC Events expos and conferences, SIA ensures its members have access to top-level buyers and influencers, as well as unparalleled learning and network opportunities. SIA also enhances the position of its members in the security marketplace through SIA GovSummit, which brings together private industry with government decision makers, and Securing New Ground, the security industry's top executive conference for peer-to-peer networking.

SIA's Women in Security Forum offers programs, networking and professional growth events and thought leadership opportunities to promote and advance the involvement of women in the security industry. Any employee of a SIA member company – regardless of gender – is eligible to join the forum.

About SecureIDNews
SecureIDNews is an industry-leading source for enterprise and government identity, credentialing and security markets published by AVISIAN. More than 30,000 subscribers and hundreds of thousands of web visitors get their ID technology news from AVISIAN's suite of identity and security publications.

About IDEMIA
IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity, provides a trusted environment enabling citizens and consumers alike to perform their daily critical activities (such as pay, connect and travel), in the physical as well as digital space. Securing our identity has become mission critical in the world we live in today. By standing for Augmented Identity, an identity that ensures privacy and trust and guarantees secure, authenticated and verifiable transactions, we reinvent the way we think, produce, use and protect one of our greatest assets – our identity – whether for individuals or for objects, whenever and wherever security matters. We provide Augmented Identity for international clients from the financial, telecom, identity, public security and IoT sectors. With 13,000 employees around the world, IDEMIA serves clients in 180 countries.

About Biometric Update
BiometricUpdate.com is the leading news property that publishes shareable breaking news, analysis, and research about the global biometrics market. Our global audience of 900k+ readers includes governments, law enforcement agencies, financial institutions and many other vertical industries along with OEMs, service providers, system integrators, enterprise and industry professionals.

SOURCE Security Industry Association