Man receiving award from another man at prestigious conference in New York City

Last year, Jon Uren was named vice president and chief operations officer for Cypress Integration Solutions, a Lapeer manufacturer.

Earlier this month, the Lapeer graduate was honored as an emerging industry leader at an executive event in New York.

Uren, 31, was among 25 leading security industry individuals recognized at the event. Known as ”25 on the RISE,” the annual award program recognizes outstanding achievements among industry members who are 40 or younger, or who are new to the industry.

"I'm grateful for the mentorship and the skills I've developed from our local robotics team,” said Uren, who was in high school when he became involved in Lapeer Robotics Team 1684, the Chimeras.

The robotics team was coached by Cypress founder Tony Diodato at the time. Diodato became a mentor to Uren, a 2009 graduate of Lapeer East High School.

“The team really prepared me for not only the necessary skills to start a path in this career right after high school,” said Uren, “but also the connections and options to do so.”

Within the Lapeer community, Uren is known for his leadership skills demonstrated over years of mentoring the Chimeras team which he belonged to as a student. Uren is also known as Lapeer’s youngest Rotary member and recently became a licensed amateur radio operator after joining the Lapeer County Amateur Radio Association, which now meets at Cypress.

Since taking on the role of VP and COO at Cypress, Uren has analyzed each role in the company, completed business courses at Harvard University, has become more active within the security industry, and created internal Cypress policies and opportunities to encourage the company’s talented staff.

Recently, he established a policy providing paid time off to Cypress staff who mentor during robotics competitions, up to 112 annual hours per mentor. This encourages staff members to use their vacation time for a much-needed breather from both work and volunteer roles. In addition, Jon strives to be a positive influence on the company’s other young professionals, bringing in expert guidance on buying homes, for example. He also engages employees’ ideas on everything ranging from products to customer experience to company events.

Uren and wife Kayla, along with their three-year-old son Cayde, reside in Oxford.

PHOTO: At left, Sr. VP Martin Huddart of HID Global presents a '25 on the RISE' award to Cypress VP Jon Uren of Lapeer. The leadership award was presented this month at an executive security industry event in New York.