King County’s E911 Program Manager Marlys Davis has received national recognition for her ground-breaking work using both advocacy and technology to enhance 911 service throughout King County and across Washington State.

Davis was honored with the NG911 Institute’s “Government Leader Award” at a ceremony held in Washington, D.C. recently.

The NG911 Institute is a not-for-profit organization that promotes awareness of Next Generation 911 (NG911) 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 911 program is adequately funded, prepared for the transition to NG911, and ready to best serve citizens,” said Angel Arocho, board chair of the NG911 Institute, in a press release

“Many of us in public service have known of Marlys’ contributions to making our 911 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 911 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 911 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 911 (E911) system, Davis moved over to 911, and became the program’s manager in 1993. Davis is currently working on NG911 technologies to provide access to the 911 system through the many different methods of communication in use today.

The E911 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 911. Find out more at www.kingcounty.gov/911.