Introducing the 2010 Baldrige Fellows!

Posted by Bob Fangmeyer

"The Baldrige Fellows Program is the only executive leadership fellowship that provides one-on-one access to Baldrige Award recipients and the opportunity to learn role model management strategies from these high-performing executives. Your participation in this program will benefit you personally, your organization, and your organization’s key stakeholders—employees, customers, suppliers, and the larger community. Now is a perfect time for executives with vision and foresight to understand and apply the Baldrige concepts as a means to improving their organization and its sustainability". 

The above excerpt from the congratulations letter sent to the first ever class of the Baldrige Fellows by Gary Locke, Secretary of Commerce makes it clear why we are so excited about this new program.

The Baldrige Fellows is a senior executive development program centered on forming relationships with and learning from Baldrige Award Recipient organizations and their senior executives. The activities of the Baldrige Fellows Program are designed to accelerate the executive development of participants through exploration and application of the Baldrige framework, the Criteria for Performance Excellence, and the impact of systems thinking on organizations. To help translate lessons into actions for their organizations, Baldrige Fellows are paired with mentors who are senior executives from a Baldrige affiliated organization. They also have numerous opportunities to network with and learn from each other.

The first Baldrige Fellows are: Wayne Foraker, senior director office of institutional assessment, University of Phoenix, Phoenix, Az.; William Griffin, vice president marketing, North America, AGCO Corp., Duluth, Ga.; Donald Haag, vice president Mid-West area, Packaging Corporation of America, Lake Forest, Ill.; Robert Hagans, chief financial officer, American Association for Retired Persons, Washington, D.C.; Ziad Haydar, vice president for clinical excellence and physician integration, Ascension Health, St. Louis, Mo.; John McCarville, senior vice president global supply chain and information technology, Griffith Laboratories, Alsip, Ill.; Margaret McGoldrick, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington, Pa.; James Metcalf, president and chief operating officer, USG Corp., Chicago, Ill; Brad Mitchell, president, global logistics and distribution, UPS, Atlanta, Ga.; Monty Pooley, president North America retail, Sara Lee Corp., Downers Grove, Ill.; John Smith, global product director for propylene oxide/propylene glycol (PO/PG), Dow Chemical Co.; Troy Villarreal, chief executive officer, The Medical Center of Plano, HCA Corp., Plano, Tx; Russell Williams, director of quality, Baldor Electric Co., Greenville, S.C.; and Michael Woronka, chief executive officer, Action Ambulance Service, Wilmington, Mass.

The next class of Baldrige Fellows will begin in April 2012. For more information on the Baldrige Fellows Program, you may contact me at robert.fangmeyer@nist.gov or visit our website.