Chief Cliff Jones, CFO, was honored by receiving the Ray Picard Award during the Center for Public Safety Excellence’s 14th annual awards ceremony held during Fire-Rescue International in Chicago, Illinois. This award is aptly named after its first recipient and one of the founding fathers of fire and emergency service accreditation, Chief Ray Picard, who retired as fire chief of Huntington Beach, California. Recipients are selected annually from a pool of nominations. The Award recognizes individual superior leadership and outstanding contribution to CFAI and to fire and emergency service accreditation.
Chief Jones exemplifies the character, competency, and leadership exhibited by Ray Picard. Here is a highlight of his many accomplishments within the fire service:
- 39 years fire service experience and served 22 of those years as fire chief in Tucson, AZ.
- He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Bachelors in Political Science.
- He is a tireless supporter of the accreditation process. His department was the alpha-test site for the National Fire Service Accreditation Project and became the first of 5 beta test departments to become accredited in 1997 through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
- He served as Commissioner on the Commission on Fire Accreditation International and Chair for 2000-2003. He then served 9 years as a Director on the Center for Public Safety Excellence Board of Directors and in 2012 stepped in as the interim CFAI Program Manager.
- He has been a Chief Fire Officer Designee since 2003, career fire chief of the year and received the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association Lifetime Achievement award.
- He instructed at Arizona State University for Fire Service Program Management and Accreditation for the Fire Service.
- He’s authored technical articles for Fire Chief Magazine and is a regular speaker at local, national and international fire service conferences.
Chief Jones is recognized as a listener and supporter who encourage others to grow and develop. He epitomizes what the Ray Picard Award stands for, committed to providing the leadership to institutionalize continuous improvement in your organization.
