Joe Alexander, associate dean and senior professor of performance excellence, has been elected chair of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) Foundation’s Board of Directors for 2009. Other Board members confirmed as officers for the coming year are Debbie Collard, director of program management and business excellence for Integrated Defense Systems/The Boeing Company (chair-elect) and Loren Meyer, CEO of Wheaton Franciscan Medical Group (secretary).
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was the vision of President Ronald Reagan and created through an act of the U.S. Congress in 1987 as a means of enhancing the competitiveness of U.S. businesses. Award recipients are selected annually as examples of “best practice” for achieving high levels of performance excellence and typically receive their awards from the President of the United States in a special ceremony.