APCO 2017 concluded with the Connect & Celebrate Reception and Dinner, during which Nathan McClure was presented with the Jack Daniel Award, Jay English was presented with the Presidential Award and the 2017-2018 regional representatives and APCO Executive Committee were sworn in—the first all-female executive committee APCO has elected.

In her farewell speech, outgoing President Cheryl J. Greathouse thanked APCO members for all their work on P43 and the reclassification efforts; she said she was looking forward to the future of APCO having a strong voice on FirstNet and NG9-1-1. Greathouse also expressed her pride in the RPL and CPE leadership programs and congratulated this year’s graduates; she thanked the members of the four workforces for their work in the past year; and she said how happy she was about APCO’s record number of members.

In her first speech as president of APCO, Martha K. Carter spoke of rising to the challenges NG9-1-1 and broadband will bring by “working together and remembering who we serve—the citizens.” She emphasized the importance of telecommunicators and their opinions as young professionals and future leaders of public safety communications.

After dinner with music by Michael Andrew and the Swingerhead Band, the evening concluded with entertainment by Dewayne Hill, “America’s funniest comedic magician.”