Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award 

Board of Overseers Meeting 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Thursday, June 9, 2023, 10:00 AM–3:00 PM ET, Virtual 

Minutes 

Attendees 

Overseers: Gerry Agnes, Ray Floyd, Michael Garvey, Greg Gibson, Brian Lassiter, Theresa 

Meadows, Michelle Mejia, David Morales, Janet Souter. Absent: Angela Brandt, Matt Watson 

Judges: Cary Hill, Sophia McIntyre, Jennifer Niswonger, Allyson Young 

NIST: Jamie Ambrosi, Mojdeh Bahar, Dawn Bailey, Rebecca Bayless, Jacqueline DesChamps, 

Mary Eastman, Robert Fangmeyer, Barbara Fischer, Harry Hertz, Elif Karakas, Scott Kurtz, 

Darren Lowe, Christine Schaefer, LouAnn Scott, Robyn Verner, Kelly Welsh 

Guests: Al Faber, Stephanie Norling 

Baldrige Program Update: External Program Review, Proposed Path Forward, 

Robert Fangmeyer, Director Baldrige Performance Excellence Program 

In 2022, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), DOC, and Baldrige Performance 

Excellence Program (BPEP) leadership initiated an external review of the Baldrige Program. 

Rios Partners was hired for six months to examine how the program can best advance U.S. 

competitiveness and address the challenges most relevant in today’s environment, and how to increase 

impact and accessibility of the program and its offerings. Rios Partners engaged with all key BPEP 

stakeholder groups, including Baldrige users, non-users, and former-users; Baldrige Award applicants, 

recipients, and “drop-outs”; and examiners, judges, and overseers. Key findings came from document 

reviews, 250 surveys, 60+ interviews, and 15 focus groups. 

Executive Summary from Rios Partners 

• BPEP is unique in status as an award program committed to improving performance excellence 

and U.S. competitiveness through education offerings and partner organizations. There is no 

analogous government or private-sector initiative with a matching dual-pronged mission, and its 

position as a national program with a Presidential award provides a unique opportunity and 

platform for NIST and DOC to advance the nation’s strategic priorities. 

• Current customers are very engaged and committed, and there is a very dedicated, cross-sector 

network. 

• Awareness, perceived relevance, participation in, and accessibility of the award process, 

framework, and related offerings need to improve. 

• Baldrige Enterprise members (BPEP, the Alliance for Performance Excellence, the Foundation, 

and ASQ) have a shared purpose but may have their own priorities, strategies, and governance. 

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Recommendations 

Rios Partners’ offered 10 overarching recommendations organized into four key themes: 

1 | Return to Relevancy 

• Align BPEP strategy and value proposition with national priorities and focus on a narrow set of 

high-priority sectors. 

• Build greater connective tissue with NIST and DOC. 

2 | Transform the Award 

• In partnership with NIST/DOC, actively identify, recruit, and give the maximum number of 

awards to high performers in targeted sectors. 

• Streamline and simplify the award. 

• Partner with outside organizations in the award process (e.g., tie award to sector-specific 

designations). 

3 | Simplify and Enhance Accessibility 

• Simplify the terminology, structure, and content of the Framework and other offerings. 

• Invest in user-friendly technical upgrades (e.g., digitization, app development) 

4 | Strengthen Partnerships 

• Increase partnerships with business schools, sector-specific organizations, and peer programs 

across the U.S. government. 

• Continue to drive alignment and coordination across the Baldrige Enterprise. 

• Pilot strategic partnering opportunities with Enterprise members. 

Fangmeyer noted the alignment of the findings and recommendations to the Program’s recent strategic 

initiatives and the recommendations from the 2022 Judges and Overseers focus group, chartered to 

identify barriers to participation in the award process. Fangmeyer then shared the Program’s proposed 

four-phase plan to address the recommendations, dependent on NIST and Department of Commerce 

approval. 

Ethics Briefing 

Laura Trevisani from the U.S. Commerce Department gave an overview of ethics for federal advisory 

bodies. 

Communities of Excellence 2026 (COE 2026), Stephanie Norling, Executive Director, COE 2026 

COE2026’s core purpose: To ensure that every person in America has the opportunity to live their best 

life in communities that are thriving, as well as the envisioned future: Communities that adopt the 

Baldrige-based COE framework are recognized as the top-performing in the nation and are the catalysts 

for our country again. 

Strategic Goals: 

• COE 2026 is sought out by communities and organizations as the collective center of knowledge, 

expertise, instruction, and wisdom related to community performance excellence with the 

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capacity to spread to communities nationally and internationally, resulting in sustainable and 

significant improvement to key measures of community performance. 

• Organizations and leaders in all sectors adopt Baldrige-based tools and practices, including the 

COE framework, and collaborate across sectors to lead high-performing organizations and 

communities. 

Ongoing initiatives: 

• COE 2026 is developing training programs and strategic partnerships for scale-up strategies. 

• Revisions to the Communities of Excellence Framework are under way and will include a DEIA 

taskforce review. 

• COE has also been creating tools for data collection and reporting, including a Community 

Performance Excellence Measurement System with a common scorecard, cascading metrics, 

common definitions, and data literacy training 

• The 2023 Assessment Program is underway with 14 applications (4 Level 1, 4 Level 2, and 6 Level 

3 [top level]). 

Norling also reported that participating communities represent over 11 million people there has been 

international interest from the Japan Productivity Center, Saudi Arabia, and Sterling International. 

Report from the Alliance for Performance Excellence (Alliance), Brian Lassiter, Alliance for Performance 

Excellence 

The Alliance has new purpose, mission, and vision statements: 

• Purpose: To inspire individuals, organizations, and communities across the U.S. and the world to 

learn, implement, and achieve performance excellence. 

• Mission: To strengthen members through training, mentoring, collaboration, and sharing of 

resources, best practices, and service offerings. 

• Vision: to be the premier resource for a thriving Baldrige community. 

The Alliance represents: 

• 29 Baldrige-based programs serving all 50 states and U.S. territories 

• 603 Applications received (54 full 50-page applications) 

• 794 Examiners trained 

• 329 Recipients (24 top-level) 

• 11 Conferences hosted with 3134 attendees 

• 26 paid staff and 530 volunteers in addition to examiners 

Lassiter also reported that the 2023 Baldrige Fall Conference will be October 16-17 in Milwaukee. 

Keynote speakers include Horst Schulze, Dan Heath, and Brian Williams. Streaming worldwide is new 

aspect for this conference and watch parties will be hosted by certain states. 

Report from the Baldrige Foundation (Foundation), Al Faber, Baldrige Foundation 

The Foundation continues its advocacy efforts with the House and Senate, securing annual 

appropriations for BPEP and bringing community in as a new award sector. 

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The Foundation has achieved the 2022 Platinum Seal of Transparency Rating on Candid, the world’s 

largest source Seal of Transparency of information on non-profit organizations. This rating places the 

Foundation in the top 0.1% of charities nationally in terms of transparency. 

The Foundation’s efforts to spread awareness include presentations at conferences, quarterly webinars, 

CEO Roundtables, and biweekly podcasts, as is the Foundation’s Institute for Performance Excellence. 

The Chronicle of Leadership and Management is now registered at the Library of Congress. 

The Foundation’s Leadership awards continue to grow. Recent additions include sector-based, cyber 

security, and community awards. 2022 saw diverse recipients from every demographic. 

Next Board of Overseers Meetings 

• 12/6/23 Virtual 

• 6/13/24 In person 

• 12/5/24 Virtual 

New Business/Public Comment 

None 

Gerry Agnes, Chair 

Date 

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