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New Appointments Finalized for Baldrige Judges' Panel and Overseers Board

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross recently appointed four new members to the Judges’ Panel and two new members to the Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, with all to serve for three-year terms effective immediately. Secretary Ross also reappointed Kristin Stehouwer, a member of the Judges’ Panel since 2017, to serve for a second year in 2019 as its chair. The newly appointed judges are Amy Katschman, Christopher Laxton, Brigitta Mueller, and Patricia (“Pattie”) Skriba. The new overseers are Gerry Agnes and Theresa Meadows. In addition, Lloyd Barker and John Jasinski were reappointed to the overseers board for second terms, which will end in February 2022. 

The Judges’ Panel will next meet on November 4-8 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which houses the Baldrige Program, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. During their November meeting, the judges will determine which of the 12 Baldrige Award applicants that received site visits in late September and early October to recommend to the NIST director and Commerce secretary to be named 2019 Baldrige Award recipients.

Among new appointees to the Baldrige Judges’ Panel, Katschman is a production excellence leader for Cargill in Wichita, Kansas. Cargill is the parent organization of two Baldrige Award-winning manufacturing units, Cargill Corn Milling North America and Sunny Fresh Foods, Inc. (now Cargill Kitchen Solutions). As a Baldrige examiner since 2008, Katschman has led several evaluation teams during the annual Baldrige Award process. She twice served as a team leader for site visits, the final phase of the evaluation process. She also has served as a volunteer facilitator during the Baldrige Program’s annual training of Baldrige examiners.  

Laxton is executive director of AMDA–The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine in Columbia, Maryland. Since becoming a Baldrige examiner in 2008, Laxton has led multiple team evaluations during the Baldrige Award process and participated in eight site visits, as well as serving as a scorebook editor and a training facilitator for the Baldrige Program. He also has long managed a LinkedIn group of Baldrige examiners that now counts more than 1,600 members.

Mueller is a medical doctor who has held positions as a health care executive and professor of pediatrics. She first joined the Baldrige Program’s board of examiners in 2011. Her leadership roles as a senior and alumni examiner in recent years include leading evaluation teams during the Consensus Review and Site Visit Review phases of the Baldrige Award process and facilitating examiner training. 

Skriba is vice president of business excellence of Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Illinois. The hospital earned the Baldrige Award in 2010. Skriba has been a Baldrige examiner since 2007 and a frequent speaker on Baldrige framework-related practices. Skriba also has been active in supporting the Baldrige Executive Fellows and the Illinois Performance Excellence (ILPEx) program, serving as chief judge for the Baldrige-based award program.

Reappointed as chair of the Judges’ Panel, Kristin Stehouwer is executive vice president, chief operating officer, and chief academic officer of Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. She first joined the Baldrige Program’s board of examiners in 2004, leading teams evaluating applicants during the annual Baldrige Award process as well as facilitating examiner training.

The other seven Baldrige judges—who continue three-year terms on the 2019 panel—are Allison CarterGlenn Crotty; Eric FletcherKevin McManus; John Molenda, Jr.; Bruce Requa; and JoAnn Sternke. (Note: Names with hyperlinks connect to individual interviews published via the Baldrige Program’s blog (Blogrige.)

Newly appointed to the Baldrige Program’s Board of Overseers, Gary Agnes is president and chief executive officer of Elevations Credit Union, a 2014 Baldrige Award recipient in Boulder, Colorado. Agnes has been a frequent presenter for the Baldrige Executive Fellows. Also a new overseer in 2019, Theresa Meadows is senior vice president and chief information officer for Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, Texas. Serving new three-year terms, Lloyd Barker is senior vice president of engineering and quality for StandardAero in New York, New York, and John Jasinski is president of Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. 

Deborah Bowen, the board’s chair for a second year, is president and CEO of the American College of Healthcare Executives in Chicago, Illinois. The 2019 Board of Overseers also includes Bennie Fowler, Patricia Greco, Randon Jerris, Reatha Clark King, John J. (“Jack”) Lynch III, Elizabeth Menzer, and Robert Pence

The Board of Overseers will next meet on December 10. See the charters of the Judges’ Panel 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.

Released September 9, 2019