Blog

Sarah Webel
Human Resources Generalist
Sage Integration

The PSA TEC Fellowship Program offers an all-expenses-paid opportunity for next-generation leaders from PSA owner and member companies to attend TEC. This year, five fellows attended TEC 2025 in Denver, Colorado.  

Welcome, everyone!

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy days to read a bit about my adventures at PSA TEC this year! Before I dive into my experiences as a PSA TEC Fellow, I want to give a small glimpse into who I am and how my experiences with PSA as an organization had already set the stage for a successful PSA TEC Fellow experience.

Here we go!

My name is Sarah, and I’m a Human Resources Generalist. I started my #journeyintosecurity on Monday, July 29, 2024, with Sage Integration – a whopping 8 months ago — crazy, right?  When I reminisce on my first day, it’s mostly a blur of paperwork, new names and new faces, but I still remember one of the first influential pieces of advice that my new boss gave me — shoutout Lori Hudnall! She was so excited to tell me about PSA and the amazing resources they had for a newbie like me. Fast forward 24 hours, and on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, James Gallagher and I had our first ever email exchange — shoutout James Gallagher! I was able to get on the PSA NextGen and People Committees faster than you can say 30-day-check-in! These committees have given me the opportunity to build relationships with my fellow (pun intended) young professionals, learn from some of the greatest minds in the industry and learn about best practices when integrating my human resources skills into the security industry. For me, attending PSA TEC built on the foundation that the committees had already laid, making the experience even more meaningful.

We’ll fast forward to Sunday, March 9 – the first day of TEC! Upon arriving at TEC, I was greeted by the amazing PSA team and received some of the warmest welcomes ever! I felt a lot cooler being able to walk around the convention with my new PSA swag. Once I settled in, I was able to attend the TEC First Timers Session which set the tone for the remainder of the conference. This session was particularly helpful in allowing me to connect with other first-time attendees and orienting me to the conference. It created an immediate sense of camaraderie among all of us first timers, providing a space where we could share experiences, offer support and lean on each other throughout the event. It's easy to feel overwhelmed with so many new faces, but having a group of fellow first-timers to turn to made it so much easier to navigate!

As the conference gained momentum, I had the absolute privilege of attending Mitigating Risk in Projects: Operations and Sales Interdependence, presented by Ben Davidson, Joel Barfield, Nathan Israel and Zach Brackett. This session highlighted the importance of collaboration between departments, something that’s crucial to understand as an HR professional. It was incredibly insightful to hear about the varying goals and perspectives from operations and sales and how these departments work together to manage risk in projects. This cross-departmental collaboration is something I can reflect on as I work to support all teams within my organization. I look forward to applying these insights to foster stronger interdepartmental relationships at Sage.

Day three brought even more valuable learning opportunities. I attended a session hosted by the Women's Committee on Building Trust and Empathy in the Workplace through Honest Conversations. This session was very timely, as I had just finished reading Radical Candor. The session was a natural extension of the book's core principles, and it felt like a seamless connection between the content I had absorbed and real-world applications. One of the most powerful takeaways from both the session and the book was the quote, "Radical Candor is about caring personally while challenging directly." Having recently learned about the importance of balancing

care with direct feedback, it was exciting to see these concepts discussed in depth and to reflect on how I can incorporate them into my own leadership style and HR practices.

With TEC coming to a close on Wednesday, March 12, I was excited to be able to end on a high note by attending The Power of One – Aligning People with Purpose. This session was centered around Jon Gordon’s The Energy Bus which I had the opportunity to go through a few years ago. What a great reminder this session was to get the right people on the bus and in the right seats!

As an HR professional, my exposure to the technical side of the industry can sometimes be limited. However, the Industry Unplugged sessions hosted by Lee Odess were a fantastic opportunity to hear from leaders in the field and gain insights into the technical side of the industry. These sessions helped bridge the gap between HR and the broader operational aspects of our work, and I walked away with a better understanding of how different departments intersect.

Overall, PSA TEC 2025 was a transformative experience. I left the event not only with new knowledge and insights but also with a stronger sense of connection to the industry. For those considering PSA TEC in the future — whether you're new to the industry or a seasoned professional — I can’t recommend it enough! I’m grateful for the opportunity to attend and look forward to applying what I’ve learned in my career at Sage Integration.