Coming from a law enforcement family, Georggina “Gigi” Smith has been involved with public safety her entire life. She first stepped into a dispatch center at the young age of 18 to help out, and it became her destiny. Gigi has been active in public safety communications for more than 25 years. Starting as a calltaker and then working her way through the ranks of dispatcher, trainer and supervisor, she is now the police operations manager for Salt Lake Valley Communications Center in West Valley City, Utah. Gigi has worked for various sizes and types of public safety agencies throughout her career, including South Jordan and West Jordan Police Departments, the University of Utah Police Department, Seattle Police Department and the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office. During these years, she had the opportunity to work as a calltaker and dispatcher in the communications venues of the 1990 Goodwill Games and 2002 Olympics. During her 25-year public safety tenure, Gigi has been an advocate for communications as a profession. Gigi served as a committee member for the inception of the state of Utah’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Dispatch Certification Program in 1992 and, again, most recently in 2011 as Utah APCO’s representative to update the original curriculum. Along with promoting communications as a career, she has spent numerous hours working to educate the public on the use of 9-1-1. In doing so, she was awarded the Community Involvement Award by PSDAU in 2002, Utah APCO’s Distinguished Service Award in 2003 and Dispatcher of the Year by the Utah Sheriff’s Association in 2003. She has served on Utah APCO’s Board of Officers as a committee member, vice president, president, immediate past president and Executive Council representative. As an APCO International member, she has served on numerous committees as both member and chair. Those committees include the 2001 Annual Conference Training Committee, Management, Awards, 9-1-1 Emerging Technology and Editorial Advisory Committee’s. She has served as a Group Leader for APCO’s Governance Committee, as well as one of the first two Western Region Board of Directors, and was a speaker at the first annual Women’s Conference. Gigi and her husband are the proud parents of two children. Her desire to keep them and all children safe has led Gigi to also serve as a member of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s 9-1-1 Executive Committee. Gigi spends time with telecommunicators from agencies all over the nation to help promote NCMEC’s Partner Program and the safety of all children. A great day is when she has had the opportunity to meet someone new who is also passionate about their career in public safety telecommunications.