King County’s E9-1-1 Program Manager Marlys Davis has received national recognition for her ground-breaking work using both advocacy and technology to enhance 9-1-1 service throughout King County and across Washington State.

Davis was honored with the NG9-1-1 Institute’s “Government Leader Award” at a ceremony held in Washington, D.C. recently. The NG9-1-1 Institute is a not-for-profit organization that promotes awareness of Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) and emergency communications issues.

“Ms. Davis is a strong, dynamic, passionate leader, and has made a national impact through her advocacy and diligent work to ensure the state’s 9-1-1 program is adequately funded, prepared for the transition to NG9-1-1, and ready to best serve citizens,” said Angel Arocho, board chair of the NG9-1-1 Institute.

“Many of us in public service have known of Marlys’ contributions to making our 9-1-1 program the very best in the nation,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “It’s great to see a jury of her peers single her out for this well-deserved, national recognition.”

The Government Leader Award recognizes exemplary efforts in developing and implementing public policy to advance the capabilities of 9-1-1 emergency communications. Davis was chosen from a long list of nominees from federal, state, and local agencies.

Davis’ first position after college was with King County Emergency Medical Services, where she taught 9-1-1 call receivers to provide telephone CPR instructions and assisted in research to improve cardiac arrest survival.

In 1985, when King County implemented the countywide Enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) system, Davis moved over to 9-1-1, and became the program’s manager in 1993.

Davis is currently working on NG9-1-1 technologies to provide access to the 9-1-1 system through the many different methods of communication in use today.

The E9-1-1 office recently launched the state’s first “Smart911” program, which allows anyone to create a personal safety profile that can be seen by emergency call takers when they call 9-1-1.

Find out more at www.kingcounty.gov/911.