New Cohort Selected for Prestigious Baldrige Executive Fellows Program

Eighteen executives have been selected to the prestigious Baldrige Executive Fellows Program, the only executive leadership fellowship that provides one-on-one access to leaders of Baldrige Award recipient organizations and the opportunity to learn role-model leadership strategies from these high-performing executives.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker has said of the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program, "I am committed to encouraging and enabling organizational success in every dimension of performance. I believe that the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program empowers executives to lead their organizations at new levels of excellence."

The Baldrige Executive Fellows will use the Baldrige Excellence Framework as the foundation as they study how world-class organizations and their senior leaders achieve strategic and operational excellence and stimulate innovation. Within a collegial environment, the Baldrige Executive Fellows will have a unique opportunity to compare the perspectives of executives across sectors, share candid advice on leadership challenges, and use the insights they gain to address a strategic challenge or opportunity within their own organizations.

The new cohort of Baldrige Executive Fellows will tour the sites of the following Baldrige Award recipients: Freese and Nichols, a multidiscipline consulting firm that offers services in engineering, architecture, environmental science, and construction services; Elevations Credit Union; and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. They will engage with CEOs of Baldrige Award-winning organizations and other executives, national leadership award winners, and Baldrige Executive Fellow alumni. In addition, the latest Baldrige Executive Fellows will participate in two Baldrige Quest for Excellence® conferences, as well as facility tours, behind-the-scenes tours, and interactive leadership roundtables.

Following is the 2016 cohort of Baldrige Executive Fellows:
 

• Jon Basden, Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• Cindy Bo, Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer, Nemours Children's Health System, Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
• Hollis Bradwell, Executive Vice President and Chief Enterprise Strategy and Innovation Officer, AARP
• Christine Carr, Vice President-General Manager, Griffith Foods Inc.
• David Deininger, Healthcare Facility Master Planning Consultant, 2dplanning
• Luckner Denord, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Jessie Trice Community Health Center
• Dennis Franks, CEO, Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center
• Maureen Frye, Director, The Center for Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality, Abington Jefferson Health
• Sophia McIntyre, Chief of Clinical Quality and Physician Leadership Development, Hudson River Healthcare, Inc.
• Joanne Miller, Vice President, Nursing and Patient Care Services, Chief Nursing Officer, Sibley Memorial Hospital/Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Timothy Mottet, Provost, Northwest Missouri State University
• James Rathmell, Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Health Care; Leroy D. Vandam & Benjamin G. Covino Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School
• Brent Reitz, President, Adventist Health Care Physical Health and Rehabilitation
• Susan Stuart, President and CEO, Center for Organ Recovery and Education
• Michael Suk, System Wide Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery, Geisinger Health System
• R. Kevin Turley, Vice President, Operations, Western Maryland Health System
• Rajan Wadhawan, Chief Medical Officer/Director of Neonatology, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Florida Hospital for Children
• Barbara Wadsworth, Senior Vice President of Patient Services/Chief Nursing Officer, Main Line Health

For two years in a row, the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program has been highlighted as the Baldrige Program was honored with a first-place award 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. In addition, the Baldrige Program has been named in the top seven across all categories, including universities, that were part of the recognition.

In conjunction with NIST and the private sector, the Baldrige Program manages the Baldrige Award, which was named after Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, and established by Congress in 1987. The Baldrige Award promotes innovation and excellence in organizational performance, recognizes the achievements and results of U.S. organizations, and publicizes successful performance strategies. The Baldrige Program currently offers the 2015–2016 Baldrige Excellence Framework: A Systems Approach to Improving Your Organization's Performance, which includes the regularly revised and world-emulated Criteria for Performance Excellence; Baldrige Excellence Builder, an entry-level version of the framework; and the Baldrige Collaborative Assessment and other assessment services and resources.

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

For information on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the Baldrige Award application process, visit https://www.nist.gov/baldrige, call (301) 975-2036, or send an e-mail to baldrige [at] nist.gov (baldrige[at]nist[dot]gov).