The Leadership Excellence Awards, part of Executive Constantine’s Performance Excellence Awards, honor King County leaders who embody our Executive Branch values and who strive to reach our True North: Making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive. The Individual Contributor Award honors an employee who does not directly manage staff, but who makes significant and tangible leadership contributions.

The 2020 honoree for the Individual Contributor Award is Cecelia Hayes, a Senior Practitioner in Equity, Social Justice and Engagement for the Department of Executive Services.

Cecelia is committed to moving King County forward in its racially just, pro-equity work. Last year, she spearheaded a series of employee town halls that focused on “Race, Racism, and Change,” and she developed a tool to measure organizational progress in adopting behaviors that promote equity and social justice.

“She solves problems,” said Gary Kurihara, Chief Performance Officer. “Recognizing that ESJ is difficult for many staff to talk about, Cecelia treats this an opportunity to innovate and has developed a variety of programs designed to start the conversation about equity.”

Watch the video to see the award presentation and learn how Cecelia is helping cultivate a workforce that can speak openly about race and confront racist situations when they occur.

Executive’s Performance Excellence Awards series

The Leadership Excellence Awards are part of the Executive’s Performance Excellence Awards series, honoring employees and workgroups at King County for their exceptional contributions to performance, leadership, and innovation.

“As we build a best-run government at King County, these awards recognize individuals and teams who have gone above and beyond to look at how they can do things differently to better serve our customers and employees,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine.

Learn more about the King County Performance Excellence Awards.