Granite State Quality Council & Northern New England Alliance for Excellence

The GSQC is pleased to announce the recognition of two organizations as part of the 2013 Granite State Awards and Recognition Program.

Achievement of Excellence: Phaneuf Funeral Homes and Crematorium. Phaneuf Funeral Homes and Crematorium have been serving the public since 1906 and is one of the oldest continuously family-owned funeral homes in New Hampshire. The Funeral Home offers four full-service funeral homes—two in Manchester, one in Boscawen and one in Littleton—plus two crematories, three non-denominational chapels, and a cremation society. Phaneuf is also a Better Business Bureau Torch Award recipient and has also been named Friendliest Funeral Home in NH Magazine’s Best of NH issue.

Profile Recognition: City of Dover. Dover, New Hampshire - The Garrison City. Settled in 1623, Dover is the oldest permanent settlement in New Hampshire and the 7th oldest in the US. Dover is conveniently located in the seacoast area of New Hampshire, a one hour drive to Boston, MA, Portland, ME and the NH Lakes Region and White Mountains.

We congratulate both of these organizations for their commitment to performance excellence that has earned them the recognition. We also recognize all of our volunteer examiners and judges who used their training in and knoweldge of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to evaluate and provide valuable feedback to these organizations.

The Institute for Quality Advancement will offer three different education opportunities throughout New England. 

For more information and dates/locations contact Kathy Letentre (kletendre@qualityadvancement.com).

Partners in Performance Excellence, the state Baldrige-based organization serving Massachusetts and New York, are holding a Best Practice Summit at the Omni Parker Hotel in Boston from October 31 - November 2.
 
The Summit features five recipients of the Baldrige Award, a CEO roundtable, and GSQC Chair/Northeast Delta Dental President & CEO Tom Raffio discussing The Why and How of Superior Service.

The Summit will also have presentations on Strategic Transformation, Integrating Lean and Baldrige for Exceptional Results, Building a Customer Focused Organization, and Process Wrapped in Culture.  Click here for more information on the agenda and pricing (early bird pricing through October 1st!).

On Wednesday August 15th, the New Hampshire Board of Education recognized Boynton Middle School (BMS) in New Ipswich on Wednesday for its Achievement of Excellence.  (See Photo: from left to right - Asst. Principal Chip Mercurio, Board of Education Chair Tom Raffio, SAU 87 interim Superintendent Dr. Betsey Cox-Buteau, and Principal Tom Starratt).  On Monday August 20th, the 25th anniversary of the Baldrige Program, the GSQC held a Recognition and Sharing Event to congratulate and learn from BMS as well as thank and recognize our volunteer examiners and judges who make our program possible.

The Achievement of Excellence is the highest level of recognition in the 2012 GSQC Awards and Recognition Program (see press release for details).   In an interactive presentation, BMS Principal Tom Starratt and Assistant Principal Chip Mercurio shared their student, staff, and stakeholder-centered approach to school improvement and why they chose to use the Baldrige Education Criteria to support this approach.

The GSQC Examiners and Team Excellence Award Judges who served in our Programs this year were also recognized at this event.  In the attached photos, GSQC Chair Tom Raffio recognizes

• The GSQC Examiners (from left to right: Sarah Beckley, Debbie Krider, Cathy Frankel, Tom Raffio and Richard Tango-Lowy.  Also serving but unable to attend are: Ray Bouchard, David Harrison, and Larry Blachut)
• The GSTEA Judges (from left to right: Mariann Murphy, Cathy Frankel, Tom Raffio, and Kevin Cooney.  Also serving but unable to attend are Beverly Parent, Bob Dufresne, and Chris McRae) 

We are truly grateful to all who participated in our Recognition and Awards Process this year.   Contact GSQC Executive Director Anne Warner to learn more about the benefits of becoming an applicant, examiner, or judge for the coming year which kicks off in September!

 Thank you to our sponsor Northast Delta Dental for hosting this event

Click here to see the BMS Recognition Announcement

The Baldrige Program has been ranked as a top 2011-2012 Leadership Development Program by Leadership Excellence magazine.  Baldrige was ranked 11th in the list of government/military leadership training programs along side of others such as the Navy Seals, Army Rangers, and West Point.

The magazine used survey responses, interviews, and site visits to evaluate the programs.  Organizational rankings were based on seven criteria: vision/mission, involvement/participation, accountability/measurement, design/content/curriculum, presenters/presentations/delivery, take home value, and outreach.

The GSQC provides Baldrige training in New Hampshire.  Click here to for an overview of our training programs and contact us for more information.