U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker has appointed Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Chancellor Julie Furst-Bowe to the Board of Overseers for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Board members serve three-year terms without compensation.
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. Congress established the Baldrige Program in 1987 to recognize U.S. companies for their achievements in quality and business performance and to raise awareness about the importance of quality and performance excellence in gaining a competitive edge.
To receive the Baldrige Award, an organization must have a role-model organizational management system that ensures continuous improvement in the delivery of products and/or services, demonstrates efficient and effective operations, and provides a way of engaging and responding to customers and other stakeholders.
“It is truly an honor to serve on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award board,” Furst-Bowe said. “I look forward to working with this talented group of highly respected leaders whose goal is to not only reward, but also improve organizational excellence in a highly competitive worldwide economy.”
The board meets annually to review the work of the private sector contractor, which assists the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in administering the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award. The board makes suggestions for the improvement of the award process, as they deem necessary. The board reports the results of the award activities to the NIST director each year.
The board consists of approximately 11 members selected on a clear, standardized basis in accordance with applicable Department of Commerce guidelines, for their preeminence in the field of organizational performance excellence. There is balanced representation from U.S. service, manufacturing, nonprofit, education and health care industries. The board includes members who are familiar with the quality improvement operations and issues relating to competition among manufacturing companies, service companies, small businesses, health care providers and educational institutions.
Including Furst-Bowe, the board members are:
Rulon F. Stacey(Chair), President and CEO, Fairview Health Services
Bryan Bushick, Founder and Principal, Falcon Health Solutions, LLC
Robert R. Hagans, Jr., Executive Vice President, AARP
Warren Harris, President and Chief Operating Officer, Tata Technologies
Gail L. Hendrickson, Executive Vice President, Alliance to Save Energy
Terry Holliday, Commissioner of Education, Kentucky Department of Education
Reatha Clark King, Corporate Director and Chairman of the Board, National Association of Corporate Directors
Brian Lassiter, President, Performance Excellence Network
Robert F. Pence, President and CEO, Freese and Nichols, Inc.
Liza Nickerson Seltzer, Executive Vice President, Applied Clinical Intelligence LLC
Paul Westbrook, Vice President, INOVA Health Systems
The Baldrige Program is the nation’s public-private partnership dedicated to performance excellence. Its mission is to improve the competitiveness and performance of U.S. organizations for the benefit of all U.S. residents. The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program is a customer-focused federal change agent that develops and disseminates evaluation criteria, manages the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, promotes performance excellence and provides global leadership in the learning and sharing of successful strategies and performance practices, principles and methodologies
Photo: SIUE Chancellor Julie Furst-Bowe.