Executives Solve Leadership Challenges with the Baldrige Framework

The Baldrige Program is proud to announce the completion of the year-long Baldrige Executive Fellows Program by 14 senior leaders exploring all aspects of leadership through the lens of the Baldrige Excellence Framework, the world's gold standard for performance excellence.

During five interactive sessions on-site at Baldrige Award-recipient organizations and the Quest for Excellence® Conference, the Fellows explored how world-class organizations and their senior leaders achieve performance excellence and stimulate innovation. The Fellows compared and contrasted leadership strategies from across sectors and sought solutions and best practices that helped them emerge with a broader perspective on strategic planning; innovation; integration of processes, plans, resources, and goals; and measurement of the right things – all to achieve results.

The Fellows began their journey speaking with Baldrige-Award winning CEOs: E. David Spong, retired president, Boeing Aerospace Support and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems; Rulon Stacey, formerly president and chief executive officer, Poudre Valley Health System; and Sister Mary Jean Ryan, chair of the board, SSM Health Care. The Fellows also dined with Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ernest L. Arbuckle professor at the Harvard Business School, and chair and director, Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative, and the senior leaders of the 2013 Baldrige Award recipients, as well as Fellows alumni.

The meaning of visionary leadership was the spring board for visits to Baldrige Award recipients Cargill Corn Milling and Cargill Kitchen Solutions. During plant tours, panel discussions, and one-on-one dialogue, the Fellows explored corporate leadership and strategy in the manufacturing facilities, meeting with all levels of leaders, from shift supervisors to R&D managers and regulatory compliance directors, to the presidents and business unit leaders.

At Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, the Fellows toured the Baldrige Award-winning hospital and discussed operational intelligence with the president and CEO and his staff members whose specialties included patient safety, quality, and operations improvement. Innovation was also part of the leadership discussion with the superintendent of Baldrige Award recipient Pewaukee Public Schools.

At the Ritz-Carlton, the Fellows discussed how to lead for employee and customer engagement with the global operations officer, as well as senior leaders from the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center and the Ritz-Carlton-Pentagon City. Joined by senior leaders from Baldrige Award-recipient K&N Management, the Fellows experienced a back-of-the-house tour of The Ritz Mystique, a proprietary educational platform that the Ritz uses to track data and ensure customer satisfaction.

At the end of the program, the Fellows presented their capstone projects that addressed a strategic challenge or opportunity facing their own organizations. Capstones frequently deal with proprietary efforts of Fellows' organizations; some example areas have focused on the improvement of supply chains, balanced scorecards, customer strategy, the roll-out of a new product or technology, best practice databases, and operational excellence.

Throughout the program, the Fellows developed a peer network of executives to tap into now and into the future as a way to continue to build the knowledge and capabilities necessary for ongoing organizational success. They also built relationships with "executive-in-residence" Bob Barnett, retired president and CEO of Baldrige Award recipient Motorola Commercial, Government & Industrial Solutions Sector; retired Baldrige director Harry Hertz; Baldrige director Robert Fangmeyer; and program manager Patricia Hilton, all of whom traveled with the Fellows and shared their leadership insights.

Following is the 2014 cohort of Baldrige Executive Fellows:

• Marty Basso, Regional Vice President, Finance/Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer, Sibley Memorial Hospital and Suburban Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Brian Condit, Vice President/Chief Medical Officer, Mountain States Health Alliance
• Brian Griffith, President, Griffith Laboratories　Asia Pacific and Latin America
• Susan Gunderson, Chief Executive Officer, LifeSource
• Julie M. Kapp, Associate Professor, University of Missouri School of Medicine
• Sharon C. Kiely, Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, Stamford Health System
• Steven J. Kravet, President, Johns Hopkins Community Physicians
• L. Elizabeth Mullikin, Regional Service Line Executive—Neuroscience, Sutter Health East Bay Region
• Peter W.T. Pisters, President and CEO, University Health Network
• Steve Schloss, Chief People Officer, United States Golf Association (USGA)
• Caroline LeGarde Shafa, Vice President, Clinical Operations, Sibley Memorial Hospital
• Patricia D. Shannon, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, AARP Foundation
• Brett A. Simon, Director, Josie Robertson Surgery Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Steffani H. Webb, Vice Chancellor for Administration, University of Kansas Medical Center

These Fellows join the ranks of other executives* who took part in the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program:

• Jean Alexander, Chief Operating Officer, AARP Services
• De Lyle Bloomquist, President, Global Chemical Business, Tata Chemicals North America
• Deborah Bowen, President/Chief Executive Officer, American College of Healthcare Executives
• David Brucks, Executive Director, Functional Excellence, Seagate Technology LLC
• Timothy Cavanagh, Principal Consultant, LeanForma LLC (formerly Chief Innovation Officer and Director of Process Innovation, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital)
• Richard (Chip) Davis, President, Sibley Memorial Hospital
• Alison L. Ferren, Chief Information Officer, Abington Memorial Hospital
• Wayne Foraker, Continuous Process Improvement Manager, Scottsdale Lincoln Health Network (formerly Senior Director Institutional Assessment, University of Phoenix)
• Jay Fox, President, Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie
• William Griffin, Vice President Marketing, North America, AGCO Corporation
• Donald Haag, Vice President, Mid-West Area, Packaging Corporation of America
• Rob Hagans, Chief Financial Officer, AARP
• John Harris, Jr., Major General, Army National Guard
• Ziad Haydar, Vice President for Clinical Excellence and Physician Integration, Ascension Health
• Nathan Howard, President and Chief Executive Officer, Gift of Life Donor Program
• Jo Ann Jenkins, Chief Operating Officer, AARP
• Randon Jerris, Senior Managing Director, Public Services, USGA
• Kathleen Kearney, Vice President, Business Project and Process Leadership, John Deere Financial
• John McCarville, Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain and IT, Griffith Labs Worldwide
• Margaret McGoldrick, Executive Vice President and Administrator, Abington Memorial Hospital
• James Metcalf, President and Chief Operating Officer, USG
• Brad Mitchell, President, Global Logistics and Distribution, UPS
• Douglas Patten, Chief Medical Officer, Georgia Hospital Association
• Peter Pronovost, Senior Vice President, Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Monty Pooley, President North America Retail, Sara Lee Corp.
• Meghan O. Patton, Vice President Human Resources/Chief Human Resource Officer, Abington Memorial Hospital
• Rhonda Rubinstein, Vice President, Total Customer Experience and Quality, Enterprise Group, Hewlett Packard
• John Smith, Global Product Director, Dow Chemical
• John Varley, Vice President, Quality and Mission Success for Missiles and Fire Control, Lockheed Martin
• Morgan Whitacre, Senior Vice President, Head of Originations, PHH Mortgage Division, PHH Corporation
• Michael Woronka, Chief Executive Officer, ActionEMS

In April 2015, a fourth cohort of executives embarked on their year-long fellowship.

For the second year in a row, the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program was highlighted as part of a first place award for the Baldrige Program in the government and military category of the Leadership 500 Excellence Awards, an annual recognition of the world's best leadership development programs and initiatives.

For more information on the Baldrige Fellows and how to apply, go to http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/fellows/index.cfm.

*Organizations and titles listed were current at the time of the fellowship.