The final honoree of the 2020 King County Leadership Excellence Awards, receiving the Fred Jarrett Award, is John Diaz, Director of the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (DAJD). The Fred Jarrett Award honors a department or division leader who is outstanding in their work and embodies the Executive Branch values, striving to reach our True North: Making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive.

In the short time he has been with King County, John has shown he is open to new ideas, and ready to take on tough challenges and transformative work. When the pandemic broke out, he quickly implemented changes to limit the spread of the virus among his staff and those entrusted to their care and helped keep COVID-19 rates in detention facilities among the lowest in the nation.

“John has worked to build a stronger workplace culture at DAJD, one built on mutual respect, being open to change, a willingness to acknowledge problems and gaps, and yes, transparency and accountability,” said Executive Constantine. “There is still much work to do. There’s a long way to go, but under John’s leadership we are making measurable gains along the path to transforming our corrections work.”

“Congratulations John. You are a wonderful leader, an important partner, and a worthy recipient of the Fred Jarrett Leadership Excellence Award.”

Watch the video to learn how John is working to transform corrections work at King County by improving processes, building a workplace culture based on mutual respect, leading with racial justice, and promoting transparency and accountability.

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.