THTC President Named to Board of Examiners for Baldrige Award

 Mitchell Named to Board of Examiners for 2016 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has named Joe Mitchell, President at Trinity Hospital Twin City in Dennison, Ohio, to the Board of Examiners for the 2016 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The Baldrige Award is the nation’s highest honor for organizational innovation and performance excellence.

            Appointed by the NIST Director, examiners are responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Baldrige Award, as well as other assessment-related tasks. The examiner board is composed of more than 350 leading experts competitively selected from industry, professional, trade, education, health care and nonprofit (including government) organizations from across the United States.

            Those selected meet the highest standards of qualification and peer recognition, demonstrating competencies related to customer focus, communication, ethics, action orientation, team building and analytical skills. All members of the board must take part in a nationally ranked leadership development course based on the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence and the scoring/evaluation processes for the Baldrige Award.

            Mitchell is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. He has 25 years of experience in healthcare executive leadership and has worked in healthcare for 37 years. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Central Arkansas and his Master of Health Services Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He has been the President of Trinity Hospital Twin City since November of 2011, and he also serves on the executive leadership team at Trinity Health System of Steubenville.

           Named after Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987. Awards may be given annually to organizations in each of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care and nonprofit. The Award promotes innovation and excellence in organizational performance, recognizes the achievements and results of U.S. organizations, and publicizes successful performance strategies. Since the first group was recognized in 1988, 109 awards have been presented to 102 organizations (including seven repeat recipients). The 2015 winners are MidwayUSA, Columbia, Mo. (small business; won in the same category in 2009); Charter School of San Diego, San Diego, Calif. (education); Charleston Area Medical Center Health System, Charleston, W.V. (health care); and Mid-America Transplant Services, St. Louis, Mo. (nonprofit).

           NIST manages the Baldrige Award in close conjunction with the private sector.

            The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program also offers the 2015–2016 Baldrige Excellence Framework: A Systems Approach to Improving Your Organization’s Performance, which includes the world-emulated Criteria for Performance Excellence; Baldrige Excellence Builder, an entry-level version of the framework; nationally ranked leadership training; and the Baldrige Collaborative Assessment and other assessment tools. For information on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the Baldrige Award application process, call (301) 975-2036, send an e-mail to baldrige@nist.gov, or visit http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.