In 1985, Ronald Cordell "Ron" Sims (1948-) became the first African American elected to county government in Washington state, winning a seat on the King County Council. He served on the council for three terms and in 1996 was appointed to fill King County Executive Gary Locke's position when he became Washington State Governor; he was re-elected in 1997, 2001 and 2005. During his time in King County government, Sims unsuccessfully ran for higher office, first for the U.S. Senate in 1994, and in 2004 for governor. In 2009 he was appointed Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama. He retired briefly in 2011 and as of 2019 serves as Chair for Washington State's Health Benefit Exchange Board.

This portrait of Sims was taken in his office in 1989.

Caption information source: http://www.ronsims.com; "Ronald Cordell Sims (1948-)" by Dwayne Mack, BlackPast.org.
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.