Chief Carmen Best
Global Security Executive, Leadership & Crisis Management Expert, Former Seattle Police Chief
- Global security expert with enterprise-level leadership experience from Microsoft
- Change-driving leader who has implemented sweeping safety measures to protect people and infrastructure
- Engages audiences with real-world strategies for crisis response, risk management, and ethical leadership
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About Chief Carmen Best
Download ProfileCarmen Best is a dynamic keynote speaker whose leadership in global security and risk operations has earned her recognition across both the private and public sectors. She has graced the stages of numerous prestigious events, delivering powerful messages that resonate deeply. Her experiences and insights have shaped her into a thought leader who not only shares knowledge but also imparts lifelong lessons that remain eternally relevant.
Audiences value Carmen’s clarity, authority, and ability to connect strategic risk management with real-world challenges. Her talks give organizations frameworks for navigating complex threats, strengthening security posture, public safety and building cultures of accountability and foresight.
Currently an associate consultant with 21 CP Solutions, Carmen most recently served as Director of Global Security Risk Operations at Microsoft, where she led global efforts to detect, assess, and respond to physical security threats affecting high-value assets, people, and infrastructure. Her work encompassed travel risk management, crisis response, and global event security, supported by a team using advanced intelligence to preempt emerging threats. Prior to Microsoft, she served as Chief of Police in Seattle, where she managed a department of 2,000 and initiated nationally recognized efforts in community engagement and public safety innovation.
She has received numerous honors for her contributions to leadership, public service, and public safety including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the National Law Enforcement Ethics Award, and the “Woman of the Year” award from the National Police Defense Foundation. Carmen is the author of the Amazon best-seller Black in Blue, a paid contributor to NBC News affiliates, and serves on boards such as the United Negro College Fund, YWCA, and a prominent member of the International Women’s Forum. Her perspective is shaped by years of high-stakes leadership—and a deep commitment to building safer, smarter, and more inclusive institutions.
Video Gallery
Chief Carmen Best on Holistic Policing for the Future
Chief Carmen Best on Holistic Policing for the Future
Speech Topics
Download TopicsIn a rapidly advancing technological era, effective change management is essential for survival and success. Carmen Best explores how embracing innovation demands vision-driven leadership, continuous learning, and a human-centered approach. With stories from her journey in law enforcement and corporate leadership, she illustrates how transparency, accountability, and adaptive training can turn resistance into resilience. The speech highlights how organizations must empower their people to evolve alongside emerging technologies or risk becoming obsolete. Attendees will walk away with actionable strategies to lead transformation with courage, clarity, and compassion.
For nearly 30 years, Chief Best was a champion and leader of reforms, guiding the Seattle police department through times of uncertainty and crisis. When she first took her role as Chief of Police in 2018, she immediately got to work diversifying the force and regularly meeting with community leaders, and by 2019 achieved a decreased major crime rate. Chief Best demonstrated her leadership principles through the end of her tenure in 2020, resigning when the City Council’s decisions did not align with her values. At Best’s retirement, Seattle Mayor Jenny Dunkin said, “We had the chief that not only believes in the importance of reimagining policing, she was the person, and probably still will be the person, that helps lead the way for our nation.” In this presentation, Best shares her experience leading the force through these challenging and often polarizing times, as well as her proven strategies for effective, values-based leadership, including fostering an engaging environment of community, collaboration, trust, and diverse perspectives.
Former Seattle police chief Carmen Best spent 28 years transforming the Seattle police force from an institution where minorities and women historically struggled to succeed to a force more representative of the city’s diversity. The story of her ascension to the position of police chief in a predominantly White law enforcement culture and how she set out to create change is an inspiring masterclass with principles that people in all industries can apply as they seek to elevate diversity and inclusion in their organizations. In this talk, Chief Best draws from her lessons learned being black in blue to teach the core qualities and mindset needed to persevere and become a force for changing elements of workplace culture and leadership that are detrimental to an organization’s success.
Related Links
Black in Blue: Lessons on Leadership, Breaking Barriers, and Racial Reconciliation
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