It’s an exciting time for Kory Oman, a dispatcher for Clackamas County 9-1-1-in Oregon City, Ore. At APCO 2014, Oman will receive the 2014 Telecommunicator of the Year award.

“I’m completely humbled and honored, “ Oman said. “For me, the award speaks to the people I work with. This is a profession—a commitment. It’s not just a paycheck or a time slot.”

Oman began his career as a dispatcher in Eau Claire, Wis. Since his high school days, he always wanted to be a cop and, thus, he became an Explorer. He volunteered in the reception and records department of the local police department, and became well acquainted with the people there. When a part-time dispatcher position became available, he was hired the day after his high school graduation.

“I was so enthused to actually be paid by the police department,” Oman said.

His first coach in the dispatching sector was a former military air traffic controller who taught him the meaning of a “split ear”—he had to be able to multi-task and have different mental processes to do many things at once.

“He and I had so much fun,” Oman said. “I just fell in love with dispatching. I got good at it. It was fast paced. I got to be involved in everything, call after call after call.”

In 1996, Oman became a reserve office for the Pullman Police Department in eastern Pullman, Wash. He received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in business administration in law and public policy, and minored in Spanish.

For Oman, everything was happening at once. He was a reserve officer, attended college and worked nights as a dispatcher.

When Pullman Police Department consolidated into Whitman County Communications (WITCOM), Oman had the opportunity to become part of WITCOM early on and felt he was there to make a contribution.

“I’ve always kind of been one to make things better,” he said.

Oman received a distinguished service award from WITCOM before his departure in 1998. He realized he could make a career of dispatching and subsequently headed to San Jose where he became a fire dispatcher and spent four years there.

“That was such a great time,” Oman said.

He was part of the incident dispatch team, and specialized in aircraft rescue firefighting. He served as a liaison between the airport and fire department, and developed procedures to help educate the staff concerning their tasks.

At the time, Oman was in the process of obtaining his pilot’s license, so he had an understanding of how airports work and what needed to be in place for the fire department. He assisted in developing a radio procedure class for new fire captains.

During his tenure at the San Jose Fire Department, Oman received two awards: Dispatcher of the year (2000) and support services employee of the year (2000).

In 2000, Oman decided to take a break from dispatch work to head back to school. Having grown up in a church culture in which his father and brother were both pastors, Oman decided to study for a Master’s of Divinity at the Golden Gate Seminary in San Francisco. While in the seminary, he had his first child, and finished his degree at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn. Subsequently, he became an Associate pastor of a church in Eau Claire.

“I loved the seminary—the academics, the philosophy—for my own personal life,” he said.

However, Oman did not enjoy the paid church ministry, and he soon learned that he genuinely missed dispatching.

“It took me all this time to finally make the choice that, yes, this is the profession, the career, I want to do,” Oman said. “One of the lessons I learned was that the grass is not greener on the other side.”

For Oman, dispatching was a passion.

“It’s kind of become its own standalone profession. For me, dispatching is the connective tissue between the public and the emergency service and the community services. We are the glue that holds all the public safety system together. We connect them in their lifeline. I enjoy finding ways to make that tissue connected better,” he said.

Oman was born in Belleview, Wash. He’s been married for 14 years and has four children—three boys and a girl—along with a pet cat, Eva. He has a brother and a sister, and his parents live in Tokyo, Japan. He has a good mixture of friends both in an out of the public safety arena.

Throughout his dispatching career, Oman has made many contributions. He upgraded the Computer Aided Dispatch system at WITCOM, worked a number of big incidents including a mall shooting and contributed to the overall leadership of the agencies in which he worked. The APCO honor of “Telecommunicator of the Year,” which will be bestowed upon him in New Orleans, is obviously well deserved, and one he earned as a result of his passionate dedication to the field.