For the second year in a row, a Guilford Metro 911 employee has been NC Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) Telecommunicator of the Year.

Chris Champagne was honored with the recognition at the NC Public-Safety Communications Conference in Winston-Salem last week.

Champagne has been with Guilford Metro 911 since July 2016.  Guilford Metro 911 Director Melanie Neal said, “Chris is the epitome of a team player for Guilford Metro 911.  In this field, he stands out for his commitment to his team and profession. He also recently joined the Greensboro Police Department Peer Support Team.  His dedication is an asset to our community.”

In 2018, Greg Cobb of Guilford Metro 911 was named NC Telecommunicator of the Year.

Neal will talk at length about what a great team she has, but being the director of a department that has won the top telecommunicator in the state award two years in a row says a lot about her and the leadership she provides for the department.

Guilford Metro 911 is a group of people most of us never see, but when someone dials 911, they are there to coordinate the response to whatever kind of emergency the caller is experiencing, whether it is fire, Emergency Medical Services or law enforcement, or all three.

Guilford Metro 911, a combined service for Greensboro and Guilford County, was conceived in the 1990s, but it wasn’t until 2007 that the two systems completely consolidated under one roof.