Baldrige Executives Explore Best Practices, Leadership Challenges as They Complete Yearlong Fellowship

Fourteen senior leaders from a variety of U.S. organizations recently joined more than 135 other executives as graduates of the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program®. Using as their roadmap the Baldrige Excellence Framework®, the Baldrige Fellows explored how world-class organizations from many sectors—Baldrige Award recipients—and their senior leaders have achieved performance excellence and stimulated extraordinary innovations.

The cohort began its year-long leadership development program in April 2022 at the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program’s 33rd Quest for Excellence® Conference. Baldrige Fellows compared and contrasted leadership strategies from across sectors, and they sought solutions and best practices that helped them emerge with a broader perspective on role-model leadership characteristics; strategic planning; workforce and customer support and engagement; innovation; integration of processes, plans, resources, and goals; and knowledge/data management/measurement of key performance indicators—all to achieve an organization’s desired results.

Interactive sessions on visionary leadership, operational intelligence, and leading for engagement included visits to Baldrige Award recipient organizations Mid-America Transplant in St. Louis, MO, with leadership participation from Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC; Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital in Sugar Land, TX, with leadership participation from Freese and Nichols Inc.; and The Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in Arlington, VA, with leadership participation from AARP. Baldrige Fellows heard directly from executives from Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, CRGA Design, Elevations Credit Union, GBMC HealthCare, and the University of Houston.

In addition, between sessions, the 2022 Baldrige Fellows continued to work on their individual capstone projects, which each addressed a strategic need within their organizations. During each session, they reported on progress and sought input and advice from Baldrige Award recipient leaders, Baldrige Executive Fellows faculty members, and one another. At the end of the program, capstone presentations showcased each Baldrige Fellow’s progress and next steps to benefit their organizations. Presentations included projects on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in relation to health equity, standardization of processes and systems, the customer experience, infrastructure and strategic planning, hospital operation room staffing, safety improvements, and implementation of a virtual intensive care unit, among other topics.

Throughout the program, the Baldrige 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.

Following is the 2022 cohort of Baldrige Executive Fellows*:

• Callie Andrews, Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Wellstar Kennestone & Windy Hill Hospitals
• Brian Copello, Executive Officer, Communications Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• John Deledda, Chief Medical Officer, Henry Ford Hospital
• John Gannon, Physician System Director, Surgical and  Procedural Services, Urologist, Bozeman Health
• Jennifer Giusti, Vice President, Clinical Outcomes, WellStar Health System
• John Kueven, President, Northeast Georgia Medical Center                                          
• Lance Millburg, System Administrator, Quality and Performance Improvement, Memorial Health
• Pravina Raghavan, Director, Manufacturing Extension Partnership, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Trey Roeder, Chief of Staff, Sport Clips
• Deirdre Salanger, Vice President, Operations, Henry Ford Hospital
• John Six, Vice President of Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, Washington Health System
• Shane Sommers, Vice President of Professional Services, Hendricks Regional Health
• Glenn Strausser, Director, Infrastructure and Facilities, Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (FM&T), Inc.
• Doris Tetz Carpenter, Human Performance Executive, Talent Strategy, Adventist Health

The 2022 Baldrige Fellows join the ranks of other executives* who completed the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program.

Since its inception in 2010, the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program® has been recognized for being among the best U.S. and global continuing-education programs for leadership development. Learn more information on the Baldrige Fellows and how to apply.

In conjunction with NIST and the private sector, the Baldrige Program manages the Baldrige Award, which was established by Congress in 1987. The Baldrige Program promotes innovation and excellence in organizational performance, recognizes the achievements and results of U.S. organizations, and publicizes successful performance strategies. The Baldrige Program also offers the 2023–2024 Baldrige Excellence Framework®: Proven leadership and management practices for high performance, which includes the regularly revised and world-emulated Criteria for Performance Excellence®. For information, visit https://www.nist.gov/baldrige.

The Baldrige Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, supports the long-term financial growth and viability of the Baldrige Program and organizational performance excellence in the United States and throughout the world. To learn more and support the Foundation’s efforts, visit https://baldrigefoundation.org.

*Titles and organizations were current at the time of graduation.