King County Executive Ron Sims has been nominated to become the Deputy Secretary at the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

As the Deputy Secretary, Sims will be charged with managing HUD’s day-to-day operations, a nearly $39 billion annual operating budget and the agency’s 8,500 employees.

The nomination was made Monday, Feb. 2 by President Barack Obama.

“Ron’s track record as an innovative leader with an exciting vision for the future of our nation’s communities make him the perfect Deputy Secretary candidate as we tackle the nation’s housing crisis amidst the biggest economic downturn in decades,” said HUD Secretary, Shaun Donovan. “His experience at the helm of a large urban government provides a critical perspective and his collaborative approach to problem-solving has prepared him to effectively lead HUD’s operations as the agency charts a new aggressive course.”

Sims oversees the 13th most populous county in the nation, a metropolitan area with 1.8 million residents and 39 cities including the cities of Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond. King County accounts for 40 percent of the state’s jobs and is home to businesses and organizations such as Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon.com, Nordstrom’s, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The county government has a workforce of over 13,000 and an annual budget of $4.9 billion.