Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include a statement from CEDIA.

CEDIA has announced the seven candidates on the ballot for the 2018-2018 board of directors and is calling upon all global members to cast their vote. And, like it always is, it’s mostly men. Only one nominee, Heather L. Sidorowicz, is a woman. So, we NEED you to vote her on the board. Please do not vote for anyone else but her to ensure that she gets elected. Please!

The CEDIA board of directors, according to the organization, governs the association’s activities and is dedicated to furthering the CEDIA mission of building prosperity for its members and ensuring the growth of the industry through its programs and initiatives. The 2018-2019 board, including existing (all-male) and new directors (hopefully one female), will reflect one-third EMEA directors and the remaining directors representing members across the globe. The vacancies this election cycle will be filled by CEDIA home technology professional members outside the EMEA region.

After an in-depth evaluation process by the CEDIA Governance Committee, there are seven home technology professionals who have met the competencies required to be included on the ballot and are in contention for the three open elected positions. They are:

After an in-depth evaluation process by the CEDIA Governance Committee, there are seven home technology professionals who have met the competencies required to be included on the ballot and are in contention for the three open elected positions. They are:

Ken Erdmann
Erdmann Electric
Springville, UT, USA

Ric Johnson
Right at Home Technologies, Ltd.
Ada, Ohio, USA

Scott McAllister
Electronic Systems Architects
Gold River (Sacramento), CA, USA

Craig Gradus Samson
Look & Listen
Morningside, QLD, Australia

Matt D. Scott
OMEGA Audio Video
London, Ontario, Canada

Heather L. Sidorowicz
Southtown Audio Video
Hamburg, NY, USA

Ted Sprague
Lavish Theaters Corp.
Healdsburg, CA, USA

Key details on each candidate can be found here.

Voting opens today and will remain accessible until Oct. 16, 2017. Each member company may cast one ballot. As CEDIA has transitioned to a single board representing the global CEDIA membership, it is important to note that all member companies are eligible to vote, regardless of where they are located. Those listed as company administrators in the CEDIA database were sent the voting link, and if there is more than one ballot submitted by a company, the first ballot cast will be the one counted. Members who are visiting CEDIA 2017 in San Diego may vote in the CEDIA booth #3635.

Elected directors will be announced immediately after voting closes and will be seated on January 1, 2018.

In parallel to the election process, the CEDIA Governance Committee is reviewing applications and conducting interviews with the 28 potential appointed candidates. Appointed directors are chosen from among all member types (manufacturers, service providers, home technology professionals, etc.)

Dave Humphries, CEDIA Governance Committee chairperson, said, “From diversity outreach efforts by CEDIA and our members, we are happy to report that we’ve seen a big increase in the number of women nominees for the 2018-2019 election cycle — one on the ballot for an elected director position and six who will go through the interview process to be considered for an appointed position.” This was an initiative of rAVe. What is unfortunate is that although seven females were nominated, only one was deemed eligible by the nearly all-male CEDIA Governance Committee to put forth for a director nomination.

Updated September 6, 2017 to add: The following is a response from CEDIA that clarifies why the other six nominated females were not eligible to run for Board positions at this time: “The six females mentioned [in this article] were not deemed ineligible by the governance committee – they are simply not eligible to hold an elected seat as those are for home technology professionals as outlined in the CEDIA bylaws. The six remaining females [nominated] are from other CEDIA member types e.g., manufacturers, distributors, professional services companies, etc. Individuals from those company types are only eligible for appointed positions. So those individuals are still in contention to hold one of those appointed seats and are currently being interviewed by the Governance Committee.”

We appreciate the clarification and understand the complexity of serving on the CEDIA board and we certainly hope a few of them receive appointment as it is an appropriate time to have some gender balance in HomeAV technology.

There are two open appointed positions for the 2018-2019 term — one to be filled from the EMEA region and the other from the entire global membership. These two positions will be voted on by the newly seated board at the first board meeting in January 2018.

The board election process is governed and outlined by CEDIA’s bylaws.