Keeping the public service at the core of her work, Chrissie Coon made a tough decision to leave law enforcement to join Mutualink Inc. as the Chief Customer Experience Officer. Her passion is about problem-solving with the community and building and strengthening relationships through trust and transparency while advancing the adoption of technology that improves public safety capabilities in a meaningful way for every community. With Mutualink, Chrissie can continue to lead significant change for how the communities and public safety agencies protect and serve citizens.
Chrissie mentions that helping agencies change how they do things and adopt newcutting-edge technologies to support their mission is challenging but rewarding work. She shares, “Over the years, I’ve learned how to work alongside, partner with, and align industry, academia, and every level of government. Working alongside such incredible people and partners has really taught me so much about what it takes to lead in an environment of strong leaders, while also continuing to manage and learn about the rapidly changing technology in the public safety environment.”
Chrissie spent 15 years as a police officer with North Las Vegas Police Department before transitioning into the federal government. She spent five years with the FirstNet Authority within the Department of Commerce, supporting first responders and public safety agencies around the country.
Making the Mark
Chrissie had the unique opportunity to experience the public safety, technology, and public safety technology industry from multiple perspectives. First as a Police Officer, then as a senior leader in the government, and now as an executive in the private sector serving government customers. It has helped her see and understand each area’s challenges when finding the right solutions. It’s also shown Chrissie how important it is for them to all work together.
“I’ve had the pleasure of helping to bridge the gap that exists between state and local public safety, industry, and federal government, and bring together leaders from all of those areas, including academia, so that the right connections can be made to come up with the right solutions. Being able to act as a translator between each of those areas has helped the industry better understand the needs of public safety and how their technology will be used and has given a voice to public safety within the industry. This has allowed me to bring solutions or challenges to light that might have otherwise been overlooked and create partnerships that would have otherwise not existed,” explains Chrissie.
These efforts have created a tremendous impact across all sectors and have been immensely valuable for everyone involved. Chrissie is proud of the profound effects of her work across the public safety, technology, and government technology arenas.
Building Safer, Smarter Communities
Mutualink supports the mission of first responders and public safety agencies to better serve their communities and those agencies and communities around them by bringing advanced communications technology that improves and integrates responses to critical incidents and emergencies. It helps them save seconds so that they can save lives.
Chrissie expresses that Mutualink works across state, local and federal government, integrating with new leading-edge technology initiatives including 5G, smart cities, and IoT to be that foundation that provides the bedrock for seamless information sharing and data interoperability. Mutualink’s vision is to create an environment where public safety and community services can coordinate across local, county, or state borders to provide the resources a community needs to deliver the best possible response to every situation.
For the People
Chrissie is incredibly proud of Mutualink’s team and its work. With their collective experience that is second-to-none, they understand the first-responder community because a majority of the people came directly from that. “It’s been a critical component to our success and is key to what drives us in making sure that our commitment to our clients and the communities they serve is first and foremost in everything that we do,” notes Chrissie.
With that in mind, Mutualink can innovate, push the technology boundaries, and continue to set the bar higher and higher as we look for new and expanded ways to serve those who serve the communities.
Connecting with Technology
Chrissie constantly sees the evolution of technology. Every day, new technology is being created and adopted. Mututalink always looks at those new technologies and understands how they can be leveraged to provide its customers with a better capability or experience. Beyond that, we invest heavily in technology innovation and development to support the next wave of advancements for things like 5G, smart cities, Artificial Intelligence, and Smart Automation using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Not only does that give us insight into how these technologies can best be integrated into our existing capabilities, but how we can look ahead and influence technology trends that benefit everyone- not just public safety.
Changing the Norm
Chrissie states that the most significant challenges to overcome in public safety are the sheer number of entities, agencies, and communities using disparate technology systems, coupled with the use of legacy communications and data technology. It creates a considerable challenge in unifying communications and data interoperability across agencies and communities.
“I believe that by creating that fabric of interoperability, we can start to bring agencies and communities together, create that communications and data sharing framework that can be used to bridge the technology gaps, and pave the way for modernization. Not just technology modernization, but modernization in how agencies and communities are serving their citizens, as well as the skills communities and citizens will gain when engaging with the latest technologies, serving the broader community as a whole,” clarifies Chrissie.
Always Prepared
Chrissie mentions that looking ahead to the horizon of public safety technology, 5G and Smart City technologies that use intelligent sensor and IoT technologies to bring better situational awareness to a situation are poised to bring a paradigm shift. And how public safety and communities interact, and how agencies and communities are notified of, respond to, and react to critical incidents.
Mutualink, Inc. is poised to meet these evolving technology needs. Communications interoperability and data sharing are at the core of what it does. So as communities, cities, and even citizens evolve to start adopting these new technologies, Mutualink, Inc. will be right there with them to make sure they get the most out of these new technologies. It can use them to get the insight they need to respond safer and coordinate faster, making every second count, and ultimately saving lives.
Over the Horizon
With evolving technology, Chrissie sees herself continuing to pave the way for creating and adopting new and innovative technologies that will impact people’s lives. Mutualink will continue to partner with and help organizations with new and innovative solutions, bringing those capabilities to those who benefit most from them. “I believe that the influence of my work will continue to be felt across the industry and within government and academia for a long time to come,” tells Chrissie.
As Mutualink, Inc. continues to grow, Chrissie’s goal is to make Mutualink Inc. the solution for public safety communications, making sure that it is agile with the needs of the technology environment. Also ensuring that it is shaping the next technology evolution.
Mututalink will be stepping into and developing broader solutions that expand, encompass, and support the technology footprint of entire communities, cities, states, and countries.
Bequeathing Brilliance
Chrissie informs aspiring entrepreneurs that having a good idea isn’t enough. It’s a good start. She says, “If you believe in your idea, be prepared to put the work in to bring it to life. Learn as much as you can about every aspect of your business, your customers, your end-users, and your partners. As you build your business, create a culture that cares for your people. They will be your best asset and biggest champions.”
“Along the way, look to the people around you to learn from and mentor. The time people share with you is the most valuable gift you will ever be given, and don’t be afraid to give time to others. Above all else, never stop learning,” Chrissie concludes.
