MARYLAND PERFORMANCE
EXCELLENCE AWARDS
2007 CONFERENCE & AWARDS CEREMONY
March 12, 2007

• Conference Highlights
• Keynote Presentations
• Agenda
• Registration Information

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

• Learn first-hand about performance excellence successes in industry, education and health care from Baldrige National Quality Award recipients during morning keynote addresses and afternoon breakout sessions

  • Branch-Smith Printing, Fort Worth, Texas.  Innovating Excellence: The Branch-Smith Journey.  Presented by David Branch, President (2002 Award Recipient)

  • Baptist Hospital, Pensacola, Florida.  Baptist Hospital—The Baldrige Journey.  Presented by Lynda Barrett, Director of Planning (2003 Award Recipient)

  • Community Consolidated School District 15, Palatine, Illinois.  Charting the Course to Performance Excellence.  Presented by Mary Zarr, Executive Director for Curriculum, Special Services & School Improvement (2003 Award Recipient)

• Join Senator Barbara Mikulski, Senator Ben Cardin (invited) and UM President Dan Mote in celebrating performance excellence in Maryland with presentation of the 2006 Maryland Performance Excellence Awards
  
  
• Learn about the Maryland Performance Excellence Awards, the Criteria for Performance Excellence and using it to improve your organization, and how to become involved as an award applicant or member of the Board of Examiners
  
  
• Network with Maryland leaders in manufacturing, service, education, health care, small business, and public sectors—learn how they are working to make Maryland a better place to work and live!

KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS

INNOVATING EXCELLENCE: 
THE BRANCH-SMITH JOURNEY
David Branch, President, Branch-Smith Printing Ltd., Fort Worth, Texas

A fourth-generation family-owned business, Branch-Smith Printing. Ltd. was named a Baldrige National Quality Award recipient in 2002 and received the Texas Award for Performance Excellence in 1999.  Founded in 1910, the company has 110 employees and focuses on its mission of providing “expert solutions for publishers” by specializing in trade and corporate publications, catalogs, magazines, books and other bound products.  As a small printer in a highly competitive market, Branch-Smith identified its market niche and works to provide expert service through outstanding customer care, a commitment to quality and improved business results, and extensive use of technology.  With a focus on employee satisfaction, they increased employee productivity by 33 percent over a 5-year period and reduced annual staff turnover from 43% to 7% percent in just 7 years.

David Branch will provide an overview of the organization’s performance excellence system, INNOVATING EXCELLENCE™ and explain how it is deployed throughout the leadership system.  The model, consisting of strategic planning, leadership accountability, management review, and quality information addresses the need to create value, develop results, drive agility and access knowledge.  He will share information about the company’s performance excellence journey as they progressed from reacting to problems to an integrated approach to build, share and apply knowledge in a manner consistent with its core values and those of the Malcolm Baldrige Award.

David currently serves as Chairman of the Panel of Judges for the Baldrige National Quality Awards Program and is Chairman of the Board for the Quality Texas Foundation.  He is Past Chairman of the Board for the National Association for Printing Leadership and was the first to earn the designation of Certified Graphics Arts Executive in 1990. 

BAPTIST HOSPITAL—THE BALDRIGE JOURNEY
Lynda Barrett, Director of Planning, Baptist Health Care, Pensacola, Florida

Founded in 1951 as a community-owned health care facility, Baptist Hospital has evolved into the largest, most comprehensive health care system in the Florida Panhandle.  Known today as Baptist Health Care, they were recognized in 2003 with the Baldrige National Quality Award and have been honored with a VHA Leadership Award and named to Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America”. 

Their performance excellence journey began in the mid 90s when low satisfaction marks from patients, staff and doctors were becoming a trend.  With a vision of becoming the best health system in America, Baptist’s leaders decided to rebuild the organization by engaging staff and listening to customers. A culture of service excellence was born, obsessed with customer service and revitalizing the work force—a culture based on openness, empowerment, belonging, accountability, reward and ownership.  Baptist moved from the 28th percentile in 1996 to a sustained level of 99th-percentile patient satisfaction.  Learn how BHC achieves operational and service excellence by using the framework and core values of the Baldrige National Quality Program. 

Lynda Barrett is co-lead of the Baptist Hospital’s Baldrige Steering Committee and the Category 7 Team Leader.  She was the co-author and editor for Baptist Hospital’s Baldrige applications from 1999 to 2003 and organized site visit preparations from 2000 to 2003.  Lynda is a frequent speaker about Baptist’s Baldrige journey and says:  “The Baldrige framework is a powerful tool for organizations to reach unprecedented levels of excellence.  It is hard work, especially since most people still have to fill other roles while they are working to implement the Baldrige criteria, but it is well worth it.”

CHARTING THE COURSE TO PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE
Mary Zarr, Executive Director for Curriculum, Special Services and School Improvement, Community Consolidated School District 15, Palatine, Illinois

Located in northwest suburban Chicago, Community Consolidated School District 15 is a kindergarten through eighth grade system of quality public education with 13,000 students in 20 schools and over 1900 employees.  The student population includes 37.5% minority students, 32.5% at low-income level, 32% students from non-English speaking backgrounds, and 72 different languages spoken in the homes of its students.  It is the first and only educational organization in Illinois to receive the Lincoln Foundation Gold Award for Achievement Excellence and was awarded the Baldrige National Quality Award in 2003.

Producing world-class learners in today’s complex and fast-paced world is the single most important responsibility of District 15 and its 2005-2010 Student Performance Targets include such lofty goals as “every student will be reading at grade level by the end of second grade” and is supported by a full curriculum delivered by highly qualified teachers.  Schools, teachers, administrators and support staff work together to ensure all students receive world-class educational opportunities that will enable them not only to meet or exceed state standards, but will position them for success in future educational and career endeavors.  District 15 is committed to high achievement for all learners, which is clearly evidenced by the great strides being made in closing the achievement gap between all sub-groups in an extremely diverse community.

Mary Zarr is Executive Director for Curriculum, Special Services, and School Improvement for Community Consolidated School District 15 where she previously served as an elementary school principal.  She will share a snapshot of their successful Baldrige journey as well as what they learned from it and where they are today. Mary says:  “Consider the Baldrige process a means to an end—enhanced effectiveness—and not an end it itself.  Follow our journey which began over ten years ago as we sought to measure ourselves against other high performing organizations - not only in the academic world, but also in a more global environment”.

AGENDA

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

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