Baltimore, MD – Luminary ACE is pleased to announce Managing Principal Engineer Dean Ford’s abstract, Unleashing the Power of Convergence in IT – OT – ET – ST, has been accepted for the SWAN 2023 Conference in Glasgow, Scotland from May 9-11, 2023.
The presentation will challenge the way IT – OT – ET – ST departments work together and the role technology plays in solving problems. This discussion will provide a different vision of the future, where these four groups are partners, leveraging each other’s skills and capabilities to make everyone’s job more effective and efficient. The convergence of these groups drives costs out of the business, increases reliability, and improves the cybersecurity posture of the business.
SWAN is the leading, global voice for the smart water sector. A membership-based non-profit, they bring together water utilities, solution providers, and proactive industry experts to advance the adoption of “smart,” data-driven solutions for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater networks worldwide.
SWAN’s mission is in alignment with Ford’s vision for the future of water. This is a high honor, as the SWAN abstract review process is very rigorous with each abstract being reviewed blindly multiple times by different members of the SWAN Senior Utility Advisory Group.
About Dean Ford: Dean’s entire 25+ year career has involved automation systems engineering and consulting. Initially stumbling into the profession via a CoOp opportunity at Anheuser-Busch in 1994, he fell in love with automation. The ability to see how things are made and learn the science and process behind it really energize him.
He currently serves as the Managing Principal Engineer at Luminary Automation, Cybersecurity, and Engineering, LLC, a firm he co-founded in 2021. He develops and leads a dedicated and passionate staff of automation professionals. He is a licensed Control Systems Engineer in 24 states and a Certified Automation Professional® (CAP).
Dean is a Senior Member of the International Society of Automation (ISA) and participates in many industry standards committees. He is an active member of many industry groups including AWWA, WEF, SWAN. He is passionate about educating the public and policymakers about the critical role. automation plays in the future.
Dean’s current mission is to build a diverse and revolutionary automation, cybersecurity, and engineering firm that treats people as assets and enables them to succeed. He educates Utilities and Manufacturing clients to take advantage of their investments in technology and evolve their thinking to Automation being a long-term investment. Applying lessons and experience from private industry to the public sector, Dean brings a unique perspective to Utility Operations and automation users.
He holds an Electrical Engineering BS Degree from Missouri University of Science and Technology and an Executive MBA from the University of Maryland RH Smith School of Business. He is a passionate and lifelong learner, always looking to learn something new and apply it to the real world.