NSCA today announced former NSCA president Michael Hester, Drunk Unkles founding member Steve Emspak and NSCA Education Foundation golf tournament organizer Nate Ross as its 2020 award honorees.
Hester earned the Per Haugen Lifetime Achievement Award, Emspak will snag the NSCA Founders Award and Ross is the Volunteer of the Year for 2020. All three honorees will collect their awards at the 22nd annual NSCA Business & Leadership Conference Feb. 26-28 in Irving, Texas.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Michael Hester
Hester, a former NSCA president who also served on the NSCA board of directors, started out in music. As a teenager, he worked a soundboard for a local Houston band that was prominent enough to tour with major acts of the day, including The Who and Janis Joplin.
He found himself traveling with and surrounded by the likes of Joplin and Keith Moon. That experience, Hester says, hooked him on audio technology.
After high school, Hester entered the U.S. Army where he excelled in a leadership program. He then studied communications at the University of Houston. After graduation, Hester worked for healthcare and school communication and life safety solutions provider Rauland-Borg (now Rauland, a Division of AMETEK, Inc.) for years before launching AV and life safety integration firm Beacon Communications in 1998.
“Mike Hester is a great leader and even better person,” says NSCA executive director Chuck Wilson, in the association announcement. “He built a business using the principles, ethics, and core values consistent with the criteria this award is based upon.”
The Per Haugen Lifetime Achievement Award is designed to recognize individuals who exemplify characteristics of former NSCA president Per Haugen. These include volunteer efforts, leadership, generosity, ethics, core values, integrity, strength of professional relationships, and strategic vision for both their company and the integration industry.
“I am very honored to be appreciated and recognized by NSCA,” Hester said in the association announcement. “These are the very people I have admired and worked so hard to emulate. That is why this is so extraordinary for me.”
Founders Award: Steve Emspak
It’s difficult to overstate the contributions of Emspak—a partner at global consulting firm Shen Milsom & Wilke, LLC and an NSCA Education Foundation board of directors member—to the NSCA Education Foundation.
A driving force behind the Drunk Unkles band, he has led fundraising efforts for the Foundation for the past 15 years. The band, in aggregate, has raised more than $1 million through its charity performances.
“Steve Emspak has worked tirelessly for many years as a fundraiser and board member for the NSCA Education Foundation,” Wilson said in the NSCA announcement. “He truly values the mission, and his contributions will leave a lasting mark on the industry.”
“I’m honored and humbled to receive this award,” Emspak said in the announcement. “Finding NSCA, an organization that truly cares about their constituents, has been an incredible discovery.
“Over my many years in the industry, finding a place within that organization where I felt I could make a difference has been an extremely rewarding and gratifying experience,” he said.
Volunteer of the Year: Nate Ross
Ross, a full-time digital marketing manager and part-time golf pro, has championed six golf tournaments on behalf of the NSCA Education Foundation, specifically for the Ignite initiative, and brought in $100,000.
The NSCA Ignite workforce development initiative connects students, educators and employers to meet the demand for a new generation of leaders in the thriving communications technology industry. This initiative would not be possible without volunteers such as Ross.
“Nate Ross loves golf and he loves serving the organization,” Wilson said in the NSCA announcement. “His contributions have helped the Foundation immensely. He embodies the true spirit of volunteering.”
