Appointments Finalized for Overseers and Chair of Baldrige Program’s Advisory Board

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross recently reappointed Rulon Stacey to another one-year term as chair of the Baldrige Program’s Board of Overseers. He also appointed two new members and reappointed two others to the advisory board, with all four to serve three-year terms that will end in February 2020.

The two new overseers are Patricia Fagan Greco and Rand Jerris. Reatha King and Robert Pence, overseers since 2014, have been reappointed to new terms, effective immediately.

Dr. Greco is superintendent of schools for the School District of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Her district has been featured as a Carnegie Foundation Case Study for Quality Schools.

Dr. Jerris is senior managing director of public services for the United States Golf Association. The capstone project he completed as a Baldrige Executive Fellow used the Baldrige Excellence Framework to develop a scorecard for his organization to better measure its performance in alignment with its strategic plan.

Dr. King is the emeritus board chair for the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) based in Minnesota. Prior to a distinguished career in higher education, philanthropy, and corporate governance, she served as a research chemist at the National Bureau of Standards; the Washington, D.C.-based bureau was the precursor to the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, which houses the Baldrige Program today.

Pence, first appointed as an overseer in 2014, is president and CEO of Freese and Nichols, Inc. Pence led the Texas-based multiservice engineering, architecture, and environmental science firm to receive the Baldrige Award in 2010. The small business became the first engineering and architecture company to earn a Baldrige Award.

Dr. Stacey, chair of the Baldrige Program’s overseers board since 2013, also led an organization to receive a Baldrige Award in his distinguished career. He was president and CEO of Poudre Valley Health System (now part of University of Colorado Health) when the organization received a Baldrige Award in 2008; he then led University of Colorado Health as president. Since March 2016, Stacey has been a managing director for Navigant Consulting, Inc.

The Board of Overseers meets twice a year, in June and December. It is authorized as an advisory board in Public Law 100-107, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987. As described in its charter (PDF), the board reviews the work of the private sector contractor(s), which assists the NIST director in managing the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and makes recommendations for the improvement of the award process as it deems necessary.

Candidates are recruited for consideration for selection through a notice in the Federal Register and a posting of a summary description of the Board of Overseers on BPEP’s website. Individuals are selected for their ability to contribute to the goals and objectives of the Board of Overseers based on the published criteria.

See the full list and photos of current members of the Board of Overseers.