Young Professional Spotlight: Trae Maeder, Lee County Port Authority (Fla.)

The APCO Young Professionals Committee is proud to announce Trae Maeder as this quarter's Young Professional Spotlight! Hailing from Florida, Trae has worked in several different roles of 9-1-1 dispatching and contributed his knowledge to multiple committees and organizations over his nine years of service.

From a very young age, Trae has wanted to be involved in public safety, even dressing up as police and firemen for Halloween! Trae got his start in high school by joining his local sheriff's office explorer program where he was able to not only perform ride-alongs with the deputies, but also shadow the dispatch center. From there, Trae got hired at 20 years old as the Regional Duty Officer with the Florida Highway Patrol in Southwest Florida (and later as a State Law Enforcement Dispatcher and Training Officer), leaving behind his restaurant and chocolate factory jobs. Even though he thought he would dispatch for a few years and eventually move to working the road, Trae couldn't be happier with his career choice as he has a passion for helping people and appreciates the lifelong connections and unique stories this profession offers. Trae truly enjoys that each day, you never know what you're going to experience, what new problems you'll get to work through, and what lives you're able to impact. He loves the team environment in his center and their ability to have fun, but still be able to get the job done together. He also values networking and loves that he's been able to make incredible connections and lifelong friends that are across the industry. He feels fortunate to have the opportunity to interact with leaders of public safety.

Trae's list of volunteer work includes serving as a board member for APCO's Florida Chapter, a team member and contributing editor for "Humanizing the Headset," participating as a guest on the podcast "Let's Talk Dispatch," serving on APCO's RPL Facilitator Team, and two-time presenter at APCO 2024 for others to make a difference beyond the center at both the state and national levels. Trae holds his RPL and ENP, is an APCO certified training officer, agency instructor, and enjoys participating in continuing education whenever possible. He also has recently gotten involved in instructional design projects and instruction at both in-person and virtual conferences. He also previously did an internship with the Denise Amber Lee Foundation in the Training & Development department.

Nominate a young professional that deserves recognition.