Volunteer Examiners, the Key to our Award Program
SPQA’s success and the success of the organizations it serves depends in great part on the dedication and the service of its volunteer Examiners. We want to thank the list of recent Examiners and congratulate them for the completion of their service.
We train our Examiners on how to assess and provide feedback to Award Applicants, to Discovery Program Participants through the lens of the Baldrige Excellence Framework. Being selected to serve as an SPQA Examiner is an honor. It means you have learned and applied the Baldrige framework. It also is a tremendous learning and professional development opportunity. Examiners dedicate an average of 80 -180 hours (Discovery is at the low end) each year to review SPQA applications (i.e., an organization’s self-assessment), participating in site visits, and writing detailed feedback reports that help an organization get to the next level.
Examiners come from all professions. All share a common interest in organizational performance excellence and improvement. To ensure expertise is present and consistently applied, Examiners participate in extensive Baldrige criteria and Baldrige assessment training prior to being assigned to an application review team. New Examiners are supported by a mentor and paired with more experienced Examiners in evaluation teams. Examiner applications are generally accepted from October through December. All Examiners (new and returning), must apply each year they wish to serve and are trained each year they serve.
Join us in this very worthy endeavor and build your professional experiences. Examiners are entitled to documentation on request to meet professional development and recertification needs. To learn more about becoming an Examiner, contact programs.services@spqa-va.org. We look forward to having you join us on this very important venture.
Learn More About Examiners
SPQA Chair Letter
Board Chair Message 1/16/2024 Since 1983, the US Senate Productivity and Quality Award (SPQA) has been recognizing organizations for outstanding performance. The Medallion of Excellence was awarded in 1983 to Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA and to Philip Morris USA, Richmond, VA. The enduring testimony is that organizations want to improve using a disciplined approach….
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Become an Examiner
Apply to work alongside dedicated others from a variety of sectors and positions to help improve the economic engine of the region one organization at a time. Apply to become a member of the 2024 Board of Examiners and immerse yourself in this proven methodology. More details are available in the downloadable SPQA Examiner Guide…
Read MoreSPQA Chair Letter
Happy summer! Board Chair Message 6/26/2023 I’m proud to share the many exciting training and learning opportunities that SPQA has to offer. I encourage you to become engaged. The Baldrige Framework has been proven to improve organizational performance and provide sustainable results. Whether your organization is— large or small, service or manufacturing, education or health…
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Our Board of Examiners
Below are the names of the individuals who sacrificed time and family to review and provide helpful feedback to the organizations that submitted an application for the Senate Productivity and Quality Award. These persons comprise the esteemed membership of our Board of Examiners. We post their names here in recognition of the significant investment in…
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Benefits of an Examiner
Below are 20 benefits of being an Examiner. The tremendous professional development opportunity of being a hard-working, engaged examiner offers: A resume-noticeable accomplishment, Public recognition of accomplishment including a certificate and employer letter signed by Virginia’s Senators, Continued personal learning and professional development – sharpening skills and adding knowledge valuable to other types of certification…
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Learn about Examiners
Thank you for your interest in becoming a SPQA Examiner. Conducting an examination of an outside organization is the best way to learn how to apply the Baldrige Excellence Framework in your organization. The team approach focuses on the examination process and on building examiner skills in using the Framework. The Examiner Guide (downloadable here) provides…
Read MoreOur Examiners
Beth Edwards
Beth Edwards has two decades’ experience in promoting and supporting organizational excellence, process improvement, effective change management, operations planning and oversight, and staff development. Currently serving as the Senior Performance Improvement Specialist at United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), she is responsible for enterprise-wide internal improvement efforts and provides a monthly educational offering on improvement-related…
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Nyrma Soffel
Nyrma Soffel, Office Manager for the City of Harrisonburg’s Department of Community Development, is at the center of customer services related to development and building projects that come to City Hall. Nyrma has wide-ranging experience in operational quality control and assurance, and in Six Sigma and Lean methodologies. Her focus on service-oriented process improvement and…
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James Spengler
James (Jim) Spengler is currently employed by The Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities Department (RPCA) in Alexandria, Virginia. Their mission is to create meaningful experiences through public space, cultural activities, and programming. Operating responsibilities cover public parks, medians and rights-of-way, urban forestry, outdoor areas at public schools, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and a city…
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Kim Humphrey
Kim Humphrey is President/CEO of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (www.ame.org ). AME, founded in 1985, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the exchange of knowledge in enterprise excellence. Kim has over 30 years of leadership experience with international companies including Huntington Ingalls/Newport News Shipbuilding, where she was responsible for process excellence and supplier development. Her diverse background…
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Clyneice Chaney
Clyneice Chaney – Principal Systems Engineer with MITRE brings over 30 years of testing, quality management, process improvement experience with broad-based knowledge in software and systems engineering topics including: project management, organizational change/process reengineering, organizational assessment and improvement, and software engineering training. She’s a regular presenter at international conferences and holds certifications from the American Society for Quality…
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Kimberly Bond
Kimberly Bond blends financial fluency, operations acumen and strategic innovation to help organizations optimize performance. As a Healthcare Operations and Business Strategist, Kimberly’s expertise spans a wide range—from data analytics and workforce development to project management, staffing models and process improvement. During her tenure at Centra Health, Inc. in Lynchburg, Virginia, Kimberly served as Manager…
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Steve Bonk
Steve Bonk has over 40 years’ experience in IT program management and engineering. BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Penn State (High Honors) and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, an MBA from Virginia Tech, and a Post Masters Graduate Certificate in IT and Telecommunications from Johns Hopkins. Project Management Professional (PMP), Risk Management Professional…
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Victoria McNamee
Victoria McNamee (DDS, MPH); trained dentist, data analyst, system engineer, process improvement analyst, and management consultant. Received original education in dentistry with residency in orthodontics and later immigrated to the USA where she earned her master’s degree in management in Public Health from George Washington University (GWU). Upon graduation, Victoria leveraged her new skills set to support those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities as well…
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Joe Sprangel
Dr. Joe Sprangel is an associate professor of business at Mary Baldwin University. He is also the founder and principal consultant of Emmanuel Strategic Sustainability. He blends his academic and industry backgrounds to redefine the role of manufacturing — to an industry that efficiently and effectively balances environmental, financial, and social success that leads to…
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Henri Haskell
Henrisa (“Henri”) Tosoc-Haskell. As a Senior Leader at the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), “Henri” is responsible for the internal quality efforts for the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the external quality efforts nationally for the Organ Procurement Transplant Network known as the OPTN. As the organizational leader for quality, she provides…
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