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April 7–10, 2024
Gaylord National Harbor | #BaldrigeQuest
COME. LEARN. NETWORK. ENGAGE
Join us at the Quest for Excellence 2024! The conference will feature some new and exciting opportunities to learn role model best practices from nationally recognized thought leaders, Baldrige Award recipients, and representatives from other high-performing organizations.
Enjoy sessions focusing on organizational resilience and future emerging challenges and take home solutions to help your organization achieve breakthrough performance and results in all sectors in areas such as leadership; strategy; customers; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; workforce; and operations.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERs
Monday Opening Keynote
Shola Richards
Founder & CEO, Go Together Global & Best-Selling Author
Monday, April 8 | 8:30 am | #BaldrigeQuest
Shola Richards is a dynamic keynote speaker, the best-selling author of "Making Work Work", and "Go Together", an in-demand workplace civility expert, and a prolific writer with a passionate worldwide following. His articles and wildly-popular Monday morning "Go Together Movement" email series have impacted people in over 160 countries, and his work has been featured on the Today Show, CBS This Morning, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Complete Wellbeing India, and Business Insider Australia. Read More
Wednesday Closing Keynote
Robert O. Martichenko
Business Leader, Author, Speaker, Educator, Strategic Advisor, and Chair of TrailPaths Incorporated
Wednesday, April 10 | 8:30 am | #BaldrigeQuest
TrailPaths is a People Development and Technology Company whose purpose is to create Meaningful Employment Environments™. To achieve this goal, TrailPaths has developed organizational assessments, interactive learning modules and digital platforms to humanize organizational decision making, modernize leadership behaviors and advance team member participation in the workplace. Read More
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Opening Reception | Sunday, April 7
Join us on Sunday evening April 7 for the Opening Reception. Attendees have the opportunity to network with members of the Baldrige community such as Award recipients, Examiners, Judges, Overseers, Fellows, Foundation members, and Alliance program representatives!
Organizational Resilience and Long-Term Success Opening Session
Following the opening keynote, industry leaders will speak on the topic of organizational resilience and long-term success.
25 Concurrent Sessions
Monday and Tuesday will feature Baldrige Award recipients and other high-performing organizations speaking on relevant topics of interest, such as leadership and social responsibility, workforce issues, and customers and strategy.
Emerging Challenges Closing Session
Wednesday morning will feature a plenary session where speakers address future emerging challenges.
Baldrige Criteria Pre-Conference Workshop
Limited Seats Available | Reserve Early
Baldrige Criteria Pre-Conference Workshop is not a pre-requisite for attending the conference. Workshop attendees will receive one free copy of the 2023–2024 Baldrige Excellence Framework® (their choice of either the Business/Nonprofit, Education, or Health Care version) *Pre-Conference Workshop is an additional fee and does not include attendance at the conference.
Beginner and Intermediate Criteria Workshop
Presented by: Karen Kiel Rosser, Vice President, Chief Quality & Strategy Officer, Mary Greeley Medical Center
Participants will first learn the history and structure of the Baldrige Program, the benefits of self-assessment and feedback, the structure of the Criteria, how to focus improvement and communication efforts, how to use the Criteria and the Award recipient application summaries to enhance learning from the conference in this interactive session.
Then, participants will learn the benefits of conducting a self-assessment using the Organizational Profile, an approach for managing an initial organizational self-assessment, and the value of using the Criteria to more fully articulate an organization’s attributes, challenges, and needs including a focus on key results and priorities.
Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
- Baldrige Foundation Institute for Performance Excellence
- TATA Chemicals
Silver Sponsors
Event Sponsors
- Adventist Health- Health Care Co-Sponsor
- Alamo Colleges District - Education Co-Sponsor
- Charleston Area Medical Center - Health Care Co-Sponsor
Item Sponsors
- Stratex Solutions - Lanyards
- SouthCentral Foundation - Coffee Break
Sessions
Offering more than 25 management sessions to choose from, the Quest for Excellence® is the leading conference designed around performance excellence. All types of topics and formats are available to take a deeper dive into areas important to you and your organization, including opportunities to share your own best practices.
Monday, April 8 Opening Keynote Speaker
Shola Richards
Founder & CEO, Go Together Global & Best-Selling Author
Unstoppable Resilience™: The Keys to Staying Strong During Any Challenge
Monday, April 8 | 8:30 am | #BaldrigeQuest
Shola Richards is a dynamic keynote speaker, the best-selling author of "Making Work Work", and "Go Together", an in-demand workplace civility expert, and a prolific writer with a passionate worldwide following. His articles and wildly-popular Monday morning "Go Together Movement" email series have impacted people in over 160 countries, and his work has been featured on the Today Show, CBS This Morning, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Complete Wellbeing India, and Business Insider Australia.
Wednesday, April 10 Closing Keynote Speaker
Robert O. Martichenko
Business Leader, Author, Speaker, Educator, Strategic Advisor, and Chair of TrailPaths Incorporated
Building Meaningful Employment Environments™
Wednesday, April 10 | 8:30 am | #BaldrigeQuest
TrailPaths is a People Development and Technology Company whose purpose is to create Meaningful Employment Environments™. To achieve this goal, TrailPaths has developed organizational assessments, interactive learning modules and digital platforms to humanize organizational decision making, modernize leadership behaviors and advance team member participation in the workplace.
Quest Sessions and Speakers
Sunday, Beginner and Intermediate Criteria Pre-Conference Workshop
Presented by: Karen Kiel Rosser, Vice President, Chief Quality & Strategy Officer, Mary Greeley Medical Center
Opening Plenary Session – Organizational Resilience
Mike Gerusky, Chief Innovation and Performance Officer, Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE)
Brian Dieter, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mary Greeley Medical Center
Vikrant Arora, Executive Chief Information Security Officer, First Health Advisory
Monday, Organizational Resilience Q&A Talk Show
Susan Stuart, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE)
Brian Dieter, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mary Greeley Medical Center
Vikrant Arora, Executive Chief Information Security Officer, First Health Advisory
Former Baldrige Award Recipients Participating in Quest Concurrent Sessions
Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), The Charter School of San Diego, City of Fort Collins, Donor Alliance, Elevations Credit Union, GBMC HealthCare, Inc., Integrated Project Management Company, Inc., Mid-America Transplant, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Southcentral Foundation, University of Wisconsin-Stout.
Other Organizations Participating in Quest Concurrent Sessions
Adventist HealthCare (Baldrige Category Best Practice 2021 Recipient)
Alliance for Performance Excellence
AmericaWorks (NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership Partner)
Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding (Association for Manufacturing Excellence Partner Speaker)
Baldrige Program/NIST (Job Quality Toolkit Session)
Communities of Excellence 2026
Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Association for Manufacturing Excellence Partner Speaker)
Linked XL (Association for Manufacturing Excellence Partner Speaker)
NIST Community Resilience Program
Closing Plenary Session – Future Emerging Challenges
Kelly DiMartino, City Manager, City of Fort Collins
John Chessare, President and Chief Executive Officer, GBMC HealthCare
Tony Scott, President and Chief Executive Officer, Intrusion, Inc.
Wednesday, Future Emerging Challenges Q&A Talk show
Future Emerging Challenges Session speakers will answer audience questions.
Kelly DiMartino, City Manager, City of Fort Collins
John Chessare, President and Chief Executive Officer, GBMC HealthCare
Tony Scott, President and Chief Executive Officer, Intrusion, Inc.
Conference Wrap-Up
Bob Fangmeyer, Baldrige Program Director
Hotel Information
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center
201 Waterfront Street, National Harbor, Maryland 20745 The Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center is located on the Potomac River, just steps from the renowned shopping and entertainment at National Harbor. The property is located at 201 Waterfront Street, National Harbor MD. It is just eight miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. While there are other hotels in the area, please help us make our room night commitment by staying in the conference hotel.
View Quest Hotel and Travel to book your hotel room.