MARYSVILLE – Lacey Harper won The Herald Business Journal’s Emerging Leader award at the Marysville Opera House Thursday.

Harper was a liaison in both the Oso Slide and Marysville-Pilchuck shooting tragedies.

Harper was one of a dozen nominees for the award. Harper is the external affairs manager for the county executive’s office, where she’s a liaison between county, state, federal and tribal governments. The nominees are judged on many factors, including character, community involvement and engagement, selflessness, initiative and tenacity, and vision. They are also rated on ability to inspire a community, going above and beyond as a leader, and more.

Eight of the Top 12 are women. Eleven of the 12 were honored onstage before the winner was announced.

Emcee Amy Drewel said many leaders in the county are reaching retirement age, so the award began three years ago to honor young leaders. This year, 50 people were nominated. The top 12 were picked by 10 judges. Those 12 gave presentations to the panel. The top four were then selected, and finally the winner.

Harper also serves on the YMCA Board of Trustee. She has worked with Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County, Dawson Place and Cocoon House.

She was a legislative assistant to then-state Rep. John McCoy of Tulalip. And while in Gov. Jay Inslee’s office she helped craft policies for how to better support communities in crisis, with lessons learned from the Oso tragedy. Just months after the slide, she was sent back to the area to help again in the aftermath of the shootings at M-P.

The other nominees:

•Nate Nehring, Snohomish Council councilman

•Roslyn Sterling, assistant attorney general

•Louis Harris, DSHS

•Marjorie James, Tulalip historical education coordinator

•Jasmine Diedrich, owner of 13 espresso stands

•Alessandra Durham, a county executive senior analyst

•Nicole Amor, a manager with Economic Alliance

•Megan Wolfe, executive director for Girls on the Run

•Lark Kesterke, a United Way director

•Tony Thammavongsa, Campbell’s quality assurance lead

•Tyler Rourke, a project manager.