Excellence Conference & Celebration

Chris Gray is the owner and CEO of Griffin Mechanical, LLC, a regional mechanical construction and service company. Griffin Mechanical was the 2018 recipient of the TNCPE Excellence Award, the culmination of an eight-year turnaround and improvement journey.

Chris has spent over 12 years as a member of the TNCPE Board of Examiners, serving as team member, team leader, and on the Panel of Judges. 

Chris holds an MBA from Belmont University's Jack C. Massey School of Business and a BA from Penn State University. He lives in Brentwood, TN with his wife Jen and two daughters.

Major General John C. Harris, Jr. is the Adjutant General, Ohio National Guard, Joint Force Headquarters, Columbus Ohio. General Harris assumed these duties on January 14, 2019. Appointed by the Governor, State of Ohio, General Harris serves as the Governor's principal adviser on all National Guard procedures and is responsible for both federal and state missions. The Ohio National Guard consists of the Ohio Army National Guard, Ohio Air National Guard, Ohio Military Reserve, and Ohio Naval Militia, totaling more than 16,000 personnel.

General Harris began his military career in 1981 when he enlisted in the Ohio Army National Guard. He received a commission in 1984 through Officer Candidate School. He has commanded at the platoon, detachment, company, squadron, and JFHQ levels. Recent assignments include Assistant Adjutant General – Army, Chief of Staff (Joint Force Headquarters), Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (Joint Force Headquarters), and Commander of Task Force Lancer in Kosovo.

Craig is a Program Manager and Industrial Engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and has over 25 years in problem-solving and system improvement experience. He is inspired by the concept that even the best organizations can get better which drives his passion for continuous improvement. Craig is a certified Project Management Professional and Six Sigma Black Belt. He has been an examiner for TNCPE for the last 4 years.

HuntBI

Steve Hunt is a speaker, investor, advisor, and, most of all, a teacher. A 25-year veteran of the security industry, he is a master at helping organizations identify solutions to complex problems and see invisible opportunities. As a strategic advisor to CISOs, CEOs and Boards of Directors, his primary goals are to identify major opportunities that can either dramatically reduce costs or generate new income streams in the shortest possible time. Companies that have benefitted from his counsel include British Petroleum, Anadarko, Hess, Exxon Mobil, Haliburton, The White House, Microsoft, Aon Hewitt, Lockheed Martin, Cisco, Symantec, and IBM. Steve has appeared as an analyst on CNBC, Fox News, CNN, and other news programs. 

Best Upon Request

Born in Cuba, Tillie and her parents, Matilde and Alberto Hidalgo, escaped in 1961 to find freedom in the United States. Coming with only 10 pesos, her parents taught her resourcefulness and determination. They became U.S. citizens in 1969.

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Tillie was a pharmacist for 13 years before coming to BEST as vice president of operations. She became president/CEO in 2003 and created a Board of Advisors in 2005.

Tillie and her husband, Dave, have three daughters, two sons-in-law, and five grandchildren. She lives by her values, the 7 Fs: Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness, Financial Strength, Freedom and Fun.

Tillie is a member of St. Elizabeth Healthcare Board of Trustees and was a former board member of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati as well as Legatus.

Quiet Excellence, LLC 

For over 40 years, Denise has been improving health care – from the personal experience of the individual patient in her care at the moment, through the organizational provider level, to enhancing health care efficiency and effectiveness at the state and national levels. 

Her expertise propelled her into various administrative roles – including clinical leadership, quality, staff development, and executive roles in strategic planning, revenue cycle management, and corporate compliance.  A Master Examiner with continuous service as a Baldrige Examiner since 2001, Denise is a highly acclaimed trainer who has facilitated the Baldrige Board of Examiner training at the national level on numerous occasions, and trained examiners for many Alliance Program members.  She travels across the country providing training and facilitating improvements based on quality principles including Lean, Six Sigma, Appreciative Inquiry, and IDEALS.  She is passionate about the Baldrige Framework because it promotes holistic health for organizations, which aligns with her passion for promoting holistic health for individuals.

Best Upon Request

Bill joined the Best Upon Request team in 2012, where he serves as president and chief operating officer. Bill’s focus is on strategy and the convergence of people and processes. He is passionate about leading Best Upon Request on a continuous improvement journey.

Bill began his career at Hitachi Automotive Products, U.S.A., where he spent 13 years developing as a leader, continuous improvement practitioner and executive. During this time, Bill led the development of systems, processes, and robust quality controls that drove his teams to the highest levels of success, profitability and quality recognition rewarded by major auto manufacturers like General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. 

In Bill’s career he has also served as CEO of the Christian Appalachian Project, a top-15 human services charity based in Kentucky, and he led a 14-restaurant McDonald’s franchise, with a workforce of more than 700 people.

Family is one of Bill’s biggest passions. He’s devoted to impacting the lives of foster, adoptive and special needs children, and that begins with his family and extends to volunteer service as a consultant and speaker.

Bill serves as an advisor to the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League, and as a speaker for the Next Generation Institute of the University of Cincinnati’s Goering Center for Family & Private Business.

NHC South Central Region

Doran Johnson is the Senior Vice President of NHC South Central Region and has been with NHC since 1972.  Doran is a licensed Nursing Home Administrator and a member of the American College of Health Care Administrators.  He earned his degree in Business Administration in 1972 from Middle Tennessee State University.  Doran was born and raised in Southern Middle Tennessee, where he resides with his wife, Amanda.  He and his wife are proud parents of 2 daughters and grandparents of 4 children. 

National HealthCare Corporation is the nation's oldest publicly traded senior health care company.

National HealthCare Corporation (NHC) has been providing the best in senior care for almost 50 years.  NHC currently operates 75 skilled nursing centers with 9,513 beds, 25 assisted living communities, 27 hospice programs, a behavioral health hospital, five retirement communities, and 35 homecare agencies. Other services include memory care, long-term care pharmacies, hospital, rehabilitation services and management and accounting services to third parties.

Cheryl Janoski is an independent Baldrige trainer and coach. She served 20 years as a Baldrige Examiner at all levels and three years as a TNCPE judge. Cheryl served 30 years as a Department of the Army Civilian, applying the principles of Baldrige to the management and improvement of Army base operations. She holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master's degree from Ball State University in Muncie, IN.

McClaskey Excellence Institute

David Jones is Vice President for McClaskey Excellence Institute (formerly known as the Pal's Business Excellence Institute) where he both instructs and consults. With more than 30 years of experience in manufacturing, health care, and education, David is passionate about helping organizations improve their performance, particularly through the use of the Baldrige framework. His expertise includes Operational Excellence, Management, Leadership, Performance Excellence, Strategic Planning, Lean, Manufacturing, Marketing, and ISO 9000 and 13485. He has extensive hands-on experience in the Baldrige Excellence Framework having served twelve years on the Baldrige Board of Examiners and as a training facilitator. He also served twenty years with the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence as an examiner, judge, and training facilitator, and one year with the Virginia Senate Productivity and Quality Award as an examiner and trainer.

In 2007 David co-founded Edamar, Inc., an award-winning educational products company serving the K-12 science classroom with innovative hands-on teaching tools.

David is the recipient of the 2020 McWherter Leadership Award from TNCPE. He has served on multiple local, national, and international boards. He has also been an adjunct instructor in the College of Business and Technology at East Tennessee State University and in the MBA program at Milligan College. He is currently an instructor for the American Society for Quality (ASQ) where he earned certifications as a Certified Quality Engineer (1985-2011) and Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (1995-2011). David holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee.

Kris Kelso

Kris Kelso is a 2-time entrepreneur turned leadership coach. He works with business owners and their leadership teams, helping them to gain clarity, take action, and lead with confidence. He is an executive advisor with The Alternative Board, and an advisor/instructor at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.

BaldrigeCoach

Kay Kendall spent more than 20 years as a quality executive leading large-scale change initiatives across diverse industries. As CEO of BaldrigeCoach, she currently works with organizations coaching them on their journey toward Performance Excellence. BaldrigeCoach has worked with 23 organizations that have received the Baldrige Award, 36 organizations that have won their state program’s highest level award, and 18 Gold Award recipients of the AHCA/NCAL Quality Award. Kay served on the Panel of Judges for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program for three years. She continues as a Master Examiner, technical editor, and case study co-author.

Kay is the co-author of "The Executive Guide to Understanding and Implementing Baldrige in Healthcare: Evidence-Based Excellence® " and "Leading the Malcolm Baldrige Way: How World-Class Leaders Align Their Organization to Deliver Exceptional Results."

City of Germantown

The City of Germantown Administration Department is led by City Administrator Patrick J. Lawton who has served as the City Administrator since 1989 and is responsible for the day to day operations of the City. In his role, Lawton is responsible for managing a team of professional public servants and is guided by the City of Germantown and International City/County Management Association (ICMA) code of ethics. Lawton earned a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Public Administration from Indiana State University. Lawton is married to Cathy and together they have three children and five grandchildren.

McClaskey Excellence Institute

David McClaskey is the President of the McClaskey Excellence Institute (formerly known as the Pal's Business Excellence Institute). The McClaskey Excellence institute inspires, enables, and supports leaders to create extraordinary organizations through operational excellence. It does this through teaching and consulting with organizations of all types on world-class management practices.

As a Baldrige expert and performance excellence consultant for more than 40 years, David has worked with thousands of organizations from every sector, including health care, service, small business, government, manufacturing, education, and non-profit. He works with organizations that want to be extraordinary. He has helped seven companies (including Ritz-Carlton) to win eight Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards; and assisted Florida Power and Light to be the first company outside of Japan to win the Deming Prize, Japan’s national quality award. David helped develop and deliver the original training for the Baldrige Board of Examiners in 1988. He served as a judge for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for three years and as a TNCPE judge for twelve years. In 2011 his outstanding leadership in the pursuit of performance excellence was recognized with the TNCPE Ned R. McWherter Leadership Award and by the American Society for Quality with its prestigious international E. L. Grant Award for the development and presentation of meritorious educational programs in quality management.

David holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering.

Kelley Molavi is the Director of Programs for TNCPE. She joined the TNCPE staff after many years as a volunteer with TNCPE, having served in as a member of the Board of Examiners, an editor on the Editorial Review Board and an organizational coach. Kelley has also served as an examiner on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Prior to joining TNCPE, Kelley worked in both the service and healthcare industries as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. She has developed and launched new programs such as ISO 9001 certification auditing program, strategic planning execution program, and multiple full scale quality and performance auditing programs. Kelley has also led application writing teams for two organizations.  

Kelley is an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt and an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor. She holds a BA in English from Middle Tennessee State University.

LBL Strategies

Randall Rollinson is President of LBL Strategies. LBL is a Registered Education Provider of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP), the Project Management Institute (PMI) and a certified veteran owned business. He is a certified Strategic Management Professional (SMP) and an ASP Pioneer. In 2010, he coauthored and published a strategic management text book entitled Strategy in the 21st Century:  A Practical Strategic Management Process.

Since 1985, Randall has served more than 2600 clients in a wide range of industries with practical strategy facilitation, board development and performance management services.  He has a special focus on industry associations where governance issues are often a major consideration.  Over his career he has specialized in strategic management consulting, teaching and software development. His body of work includes the Mastering Strategy: Strategic Management Performance Certification Program, which won the 2001 Exemplar Award from the International Association for Continuing Education and Training, as an “exemplary, outstanding results-oriented program.” This live and online education program is now offered in partnership with George Washington University, Center for Excellence in Public Leadership to help management professionals expand their knowledge, skills and provide a pathway to ASP certification. 

Randall holds an MBA in Management from DePaul University, a master’s degree in rehabilitation counselling and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southern Illinois University.  He has taken advanced certificate level training from DePaul University in executive information systems and project management. He completed a certificate program in international trade at the World Trade Center of Illinois in 2011. He is a certified Balanced Scorecard Professional receiving his certification from George Washington University, College of Professional Studies.  He completed an Advanced Measurement Certification program from the Balanced Scorecard Institute. He is an active member of the Chicagoland PMI Chapter and a former member of the Chapter’s Executive Council.

He is a past President of the Norwood Seniors Network.  He is a Vietnam veteran.

He enjoys listening, facilitating, writing, teaching and delivering on promises made to LBL’s customers and strategic partners.  He has a primary interest in helping leaders accept the reality of climate change. In his spare time, he enjoys working out, traveling, water skiing and family.

Quiet Excellence, LLC

A retired US Army Colonel, Doug now serves our country through helping organizations improve and attain performance excellence.  As a commanding officer, Doug led the efforts of the first Government organization to ever win the Gold-Level "Eureka" Award from the California Awards for Performance Excellence (Baldrige-based) program.

While assigned to The Pentagon, he initiated the actions that created the US Army’s Performance Excellence Award, based on the Baldrige Criteria. Since his military retirement, Doug has worked with organizations in all sectors and sizes to improve their performance through the use of the Baldrige Criteria.  As a highly acclaimed trainer and facilitator, he has led strategic planning, leadership development, and process improvement activities in a variety award-winning organizations.  Doug’s history of roles and experience, from the executive leader of an award-winning applicant, program administrator, judge for numerous Baldrige-based programs, and now consultant, provides Doug with a perspective of the Baldrige Program that no one else shares. 

Heather Schoch is a Performance Excellence Consultant specializing in the Baldrige Framework, performance metrics and scorecards, operational planning, and process improvement. She is a TNCPE veteran of 15 years, serving as a TNCPE and Baldrige examiner, TNCPE team leader, applicant, member of the Panel of Judges, and Chief Operations Officer of the organization. In 2009, Heather received TNCPE’s Champion of Excellence Award for leading CGS’s excellence journey.

Heather began her relationship with Baldrige as the Business Excellence Leader at CIGNA Government Services with responsibility for all quality management, strategic planning, Balanced Scorecard, and project management initiatives. In this role she ultimately led the organization to achieve the prestigious Excellence Award for the state of Tennessee in 2010. After CGS, Heather joined the TNCPE workforce as the Award Program Manager and later became the COO.

Heather’s recent accomplishments include consulting with the City of Germantown on their 2019 Baldrige application, which resulted in them receiving the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award on their first attempt. She works with many other Tennessee organizations at all levels of the TNCPE program. Heather graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics.

Blaze Performance Solutions

In the past 30 years Kent has helped 100’s of organizations gain 100’s of Millions dollars through growth in top line revenue, sales growth, client acquisition, process, productivity and quality improvements, and reduction in turnover. 

He has conducted over 2,000 days of Strategy & Execution Consulting, Leadership Development, and process improvement work for these organizations. His clients (past and present) include FedEx, Nissan, Honda, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Toyota, Wal-Mart, Nike, Eastman Chemical, U.S. Army, NHC, Covenant Transport, USXPress, ABF Freight, ServiceMaster, First Tennessee Bank, Volunteer Bank, Jewelry Television, Pilot, MLGW, Halton, NGK Metals and The State of Tennessee to name a few.

Kent has lived all over America and in Europe He graduated from the University of Alabama; where he completed a B.S. in Business Administration/Finance and an MBA (all in four years) graduating with Honors.

Kent’s work experience has varied tremendously. Prior to Co-Founding BPS he spent 24 years with Franklin Covey as a Managing Director leading a large Sales and Consulting Team, Consultant and Client Partner. He was a Soviet Intelligence Analyst in Europe, a Financial Manager and Operations Leader with a Fortune 100 company along with several other jobs along the way.

Kent and his wife (the love of his life) have been married for 35 years and have three amazing children. He loves swimming, running, cycling, Marital Arts, working out, and hanging out with his family. Kent continues to be goal oriented earning a black belt on his 40th birthday, running a marathon for his 45th birthday, completing a mile swim for his 50th and recently completing multiple Sprint Triathalons. 

Kent’s new Leadership book “Everyone Can Lead” is available on Amazon.

Kristen is the Director of Operational Excellence for DCH Health System in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she is responsible for guiding the Lean transformation. She has a B.S. in Commerce and Business Administration from the University of Alabama, an M.B.A. from the University of Mississippi, and an Advanced Lean Healthcare Certificate from the Belmont Massey Graduate School of Business. She has served on the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living National Quality Award Program, and is a long time Master Examiner for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence. 

Blaze Performance Solutions

David is an achievement-oriented professional with extensive experience in organizational development, operations management, and human resources.  He has served as a Business Owner, Executive and Leader at some of the world’s best organizations.  He received his undergraduate and Masters degrees in Human Resources Management from Liberty University and also has a Masters in Philosophy.

David is the co-author of the new book “The 3 Keys of Execution. Simple Ideas. Extraordinary Results.”  which was just listed #6 on INC’s Summer Must-Read Books list.   He has worked in the Execution space for 15 years with organizations as diverse as Wal-Mart, Toyota, Samsung, Marriott, Clayton Homes and HCA.  Thousands of people have been touched by David’s ability to help them grow and improve their results. 

David will be quick to tell you, there is no such thing as a former Marine.  David overcame a life threatening spinal injury while serving in the Marines and he has a love for the veteran which is motivating and contagious. He is always going out of his way to serve those who have served and spends a lot of his free time volunteering in Veteran’s homes and in the local VA Hospital.

Another thing you will find when working with David is his contagious laugh. David has an innate ability to connect with all levels in an organization and it all begins with his smile. He gets people and he is a master at getting results.

Sonja Wulff Consulting

Sonja Wulff has dedicated the past 15 years of her career to performance excellence and brings unique Baldrige experience as an award recipient, examiner, judge, and consultant. She is nationally recognized in the Baldrige community as an instructor and frequent advisor to the U.S. Department of Commerce program. She has experience in organizational assessment, integration, and transformation, as well as strategic measurement and customer and workforce engagement.

Sonja has built a successful consulting company that supports organizations across the country on their journeys to excellence. She works with executive teams to redesign, align, and integrate their systems for leadership, strategic planning, measurement, customer and workforce engagement, and operational effectiveness to help them achieve performance excellence. She also has had particular success in writing and coaching development of award applications to help organizations earn Baldrige national site visits.

Sonja has held leadership positions with two nationally recognized health systems, where she served as an advisor to the executive teams and facilitated implementation of Baldrige principles to drive organizational transformation. As part of that work, she completed comprehensive organizational assessments and wrote national Baldrige applications that earned national site visits and, for Poudre Valley Health System, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

In all interactions, Sonja brings her passion for performance excellence and holds true to a strong sense of personal integrity, genuine respect for each organization’s individual culture, and a desire to make Baldrige as easy and practical as possible.

Sonja is an Alumni Examiner on the Malcolm Baldrige Board of Examiners. During her 15 years on the Board, she has facilitated national examiner training, led numerous examiner teams, and served on multiple advisory teams in support of the Baldrige Program for Performance Excellence. She currently serves as a judge for the California Awards for Performance Excellence and previously served as a judge for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence.

Sonja is a Certified Lean Master. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology and Chemistry from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and a Master of Arts Degree in Journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder.