With New Appointees in Place, Baldrige Judges and Overseers to Meet This Week

The Baldrige Program will host a joint meeting this week of the Judges’ Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the Board of Overseers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross recently appointed four new members to the panel for three-year terms beginning immediately. Secretary Ross also appointed Dr. John C. Timmerman, a member of the panel since 2015, to serve as chair for 2017. The four new judges are Eric Fletcher; Mary Kay Fyda-Mar; John R. Molenda, Jr.; and Dr. Kristin Stehouwer.

Fyda-Mar is retired since 2010 from the Boeing Company, which has seen two divisions earn Baldrige Awards (i.e., Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs in 1998 and Boeing Aerospace Support in 2003). Among other positions she held in the company, Fyda-Mar was director of business excellence for Boeing Air Force Systems. Fyda-Mar has served as a Baldrige examiner since 2007, advancing to an alumni role. She also has been a facilitator at annual examiner training and a member of the Training Scorebook Team.

Fletcher is senior vice president of strategy, marketing, and business development at Mary Washington Healthcare in Fredericksburg, Virginia. His decade of service as a Baldrige examiner includes two years as a senior examiner and four as an alumni examiner.

Molenda, Jr., is executive vice president of Del Norte Credit Union in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has been a Baldrige examiner since 2010, becoming a senior examiner in 2012 and an alumni examiner in 2016. His service has included being an examiner training facilitator and a member of two Baldrige Collaborative Assessment teams.

Stehouwer is executive vice president, chief operating officer, and chief academic officer of Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. She has been on the board of examiners since 2004, serving in senior and alumni roles in recent years. She also facilitated examiner training this spring.

Timmerman is chief scientist of customer experience and innovation at Gallup in Washington, D.C. He was employed at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company when the organization, now part of Marriott International, earned Baldrige Awards in both 1992 and 1999. He served as a Baldrige examiner from 2005 through 2008, including two years as a senior examiner.

The other seven Baldrige judges—who continue three-year terms on the 2017 panel—are Dr. Ken Davis; Tammy Dye; Dr. Greg Gibson; Major General John C. Harris, Jr.; Miriam M. Kmetzo; Dr. Laurence D. Ramunno; and Diane (“Dee”) Springer. (Note: Names with hyperlinks connect to individual interviews published via the Baldrige Program’s blog.)

The Board of Overseers will next meet in December. The Judges’ Panel will next meet at NIST, which houses the Baldrige Program, on August 23. At that meeting, they will review scoring data of 2017 Baldrige Award applicants to determine which organizations will proceed to the next phase of the annual award process, Site Visit Review. In November, the judges will reconvene to determine applicants to recommend to the NIST director and Commerce secretary to be named 2017 Baldrige Award recipients.

See the charters of the Judges’ Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the Board of Overseers; candidate recruitment and selection criteria; meeting documentation; and the full lists and photos of judges and overseers on the Baldrige Program website.