Sustainment: The Final Frontier

In these unprecedented times, leadership can lose focus, reacting in ways that seem right, but unknowingly have a future negative impact.  We will start you re-calibrating your organizational factors and attributes using a strategic framework that you can take back to re-assess, re-align and re-focus your entire organization on building sustainment actions for long-term success. 

Len Deneault, Executive Director, MassExcellence – Massachusetts’ Baldrige–based quality program

Len Deneault is the Executive Director for MassExcellence, the Massachusetts’ Baldrige-based non-profit assessment, award and education program using the Criteria from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program.  He is also the President of the NorthEast Center for Performance Excellence, a New England consulting consortium that guides companies in using the Baldrige framework to achieve their next level of performance.  These roles stem from his seven-term experience as a member, senior and alumni member of the National Baldrige Board of Examiners.  He is also an adjunct faculty member of Bentley College in Waltham, MA and Rivier College in Nashua, NH.  He brings to the table several years of leadership and project management experience in the sectors of high-tech manufacturing, government, and non-profits.

Are you a Quality Manager, or a Leader?

In a series of questions and cases studies, the speaker will help you recognize whether you are truly a driven leader, or merely an employee going through the daily grind.  Then, with this realization, how you can catapult not only yourself, but your team, and even you company, to a higher level of performance within a short period of time.

Demetrios G. Venetis, Dean of Continuous Improvement, Entegris University, Entegris, Inc.

Demetrios Venetis has been teaching, mentoring, and coaching in corporate and academic environments for the past two decades, and is ASQ Olde Colony’s Education Chair.

As the Dean of Continuous Improvement at Entegris University, as well as an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black, he currently teaches, mentors, and coaches Six Sigma Champions, Black Belts, Green Belts, Yellow Belts, and Lean Facilitators, as well as conducting a variety of Lean Kaizen Events like Value Stream Mapping and 5S.   He is a trusted teacher, mentor, and coach to hundreds of professionals from C-Level executives, to R&D Ph.D.’s, to mid-level managers, to hourly associates.  

Taking Your Quality Group from Good to Better to Best

In poor economic climates like this one, it is more important than ever for quality departments to perform well and earn scarce organizational attention and resources.  This presentation, which is based on extensive interviews with heads of quality and other support functions, describes the key elements of success and how they build on each other to take the departments from good to better to best.  Specifically it covers doing the basics very well, becoming indispensable to organizational success, and building a strong infrastructure.

Diane Schmalensee, President, Schmalensee Partners

Ms. Schmalensee specializes in listening to internal and external customers and using that information to increase organizational competitiveness.  Many of her clients, including IBM and AT&T divisions, Datatel and Clark & Reid have won the Malcolm Baldrige award or state quality awards.   She is a widely-published speaker and author, whose publications have won awards. 

Continuous Improvement of Work Habits

Today’s work place has dramatically changed in respect to speed, complexity and volume. While some of our tools (iPhone or Blackberry) may reflect the evolution of technology we have enjoyed in recent years, our mind-set and work habits have not necessarily gone through the same transition. That gap can be closed by applying the principles of continuous improvement to our work habits and the way we think about work.

Eb Schmidt, President & Owner, productivity21 LLC

Eb Schmidt has a passion for organization, productivity improvement and cost reduction - essential qualities for business success in the 21st century. He founded productivity21 early in 2007 to offer in-depth consulting, teaching and coaching on the effective use of modern business tools. Over his 25-year corporate career, Eb has held management positions in the areas of quality and operations in several global companies. He has experience implementing lean management tools, continuous improvement programs and companywide strategic planning processes. productivity21 now offers Mission Control © for personal and corporate productivity, Expense Reduction Analysts’ 10 Step Process to reduce costs and provides continuous improvement consulting in partnership with the Quality Support Group.

Story Telling to Teach Quality Principles

For millennia people of all cultures around the world have used stories to teach, to enlighten and to entertain. Why? Because they work. This session will illustrate the value of storytelling within a quality management system. Come listen to the stories.

Denise Robitaille, Principal, Robitaille Associates

Denise Robitaille is the author of eight books and co-author of the recently released Insiders' Guide to ISO 9001:2008. She is an internationally recognized speaker who brings years of experience to the quality profession. She is a member of US TAG to ISO/TC176, a fellow of ASQ, an RABQSA certified lead assessor, and ASQ Certified Quality Auditor.

Denise has helped numerous companies to achieve and maintain ISO 9001 registration and to improve their quality management systems. She has conducted training courses for thousands of individuals on such topics as document control, corrective action, root cause analysis, management review, auditing and implementing ISO 9001.  She is a regular columnist for Quality Digest and The Auditor and is the author of numerous articles.