• March 25, Quality Awards Workshop, Las Vegas

• April 22, Quality Awards Workshop, Carson City

• May 20, Quality Awards Workshop, Las Vegas

• May 31, Eligibility Certification Form Due

• July15, 2003 Awards Applications Due & Examiner Applications Due, Examiners Review of Applications

• Aug (1^st wk), Examiner Training, Las Vegas & Carson City, Examiner Consensus

• Sept 15, Complete Site Visits

• Sept 30, Feedback Reports Due to Judges

• Oct 15, Awards Notification to Applicants

• Nov 7, Awards Presentation

• December (TBA), Feedback Reports Due to Applicants    

• December (TBA), Improvement Day     

2002 APEX Awards recipients:

Las Vegas, Nevada—The first annual Governor’s Awards for Performance Excellence Ceremony was held on Friday, November 1st, 2002, from 6pm-10pm at the Henderson Convention Center with the Lt. Governor, Loraine Hunt presenting the honors.  Keynote speaker was Robin William , a representative from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC.

The specialty awards were as follows:

The Nevada Award for Community Support was given to St. Rose Dominican Hospital
The Nevada Award for Workforce Development was given to The Nevada Federal Credit Union.
The Nevada Award for Customer Service Excellence was given to Wackenhut Services, Inc.

The Nevada Governor’s Awards for Performance Excellence given were:

Prospector Award:  given to organizations that have embraced the principles of performance excellence and are beginning to benefit from their effort.

Two organizations received this award:

1. Promenade on the River – an independent Senior Living Community in Reno providing housing, hospitality services, health promotions and activities for seniors
2. Hometown Health Plan – a provider of fully insured and self-funded administration of health benefits programs for Northern Nevada employers.

Trailblazer Award:  recognizes organizations that have demonstrated significant progress in building sound and notable processes and achieving notable results.

Three organizations received this award:
1. City of Carson City – a city government providing a complete range of municipal services to citizens, visitors and employees
2. The Nevada Federal Credit Union – a large federally charted community based credit union that provides a full range of consumer financial products and services to residents of Clark County, Nevada and portions of Reno, Nevada.
3. The Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation – a  state department focused on employment, training and rehabilitation.

The Pioneer Award:  this is the highest award presented this year.  It is conferred upon eligible organizations that have demonstrated through their practices and results, significant achievements in performance excellence.

Two organizations received this high honor:

1. Wackenhut Services Inc., Nevada Operations – a company formed to provide contract security services to the US Department of Energy at the Nevada test site and several other facilities located in the Las Vegas area.
2. St. Rose Dominican Hospital – an organization recognized as the only not-for-profit, non-tax supported and religiously affiliated hospital in Southern Nevada.

What are the Baldrige (and APEX) criteria?

1. Leadership--Examines how senior executives guide the organization and how the organization addresses its responsibilities to the public and practices good citizenship.
2. Strategic planning--Examines how the organization sets strategic directions and how it determines key action plans.
3. Customer and market focus--Examines how the organization determines requirements and expectations of customers and markets.
4. Information and analysis--Examines the management, effective use, and analysis of data and information to support key organization processes and the organization's performance management system.
5. Human resource focus--Examines how the organization enables its workforce to develop its full potential and how the workforce is aligned with the organization's objectives.
6. Process management--Examines aspects of how key production/delivery and support processes are designed, managed, and improved.
7. Business results--Examines the organization's performance and improvement in its key business areas: customer satisfaction, financial and marketplace performance, human resources, supplier and partner performance, and operational performance. The category also examines how the organization performs relative to competitors.

The NvQA Awards program will adhere strictly to this proven assessment model.

Contact Judit Flueck (702) 451-8015 or John Zedick for APEX application information.

NvQA Background

Several years ago a handful of local American Society for Quality members (ASQ) joined with like-minded individuals -- many representing a number of public and private organizations in the Las Vegas area -- to promote National Quality Month (NQM) activities in our community. The centerpiece of NQM was the annual ASQ live satellite downlink program known as the National Quality Forum. The Quality Forum downlink commenced some 14 years ago and featured presentations by many internationally renowned corporate and institutional leaders for quality. National Quality Month is recognized by a proclamation of the U.S. Congress to advance the cause of systematic improvement in all sectors of society.

We dubbed ourselves the "Southern Nevada Quality Coalition" when we began our yearly program planning. Our annual undertakings have been gratifyingly successful as a result of the selfless pro bono efforts of many individuals, efforts backed by the generous logistical and financial support of local business and government organizations.

It is time now to take the next step and become an ongoing, active, and effective statewide community quality council, through which to focus the considerable talents and resources in our vibrant and rapidly growing Silver State. We seek and welcome the improvement skills, program ideas, and public service energy of all comers in what we feel intensely will be a force for significant good in this dynamic and beautiful region as we face the myriad challenges concomitant with our incredible economic and civic growth.

Meeting our objectives

NvQA programs will be wide-ranging, and will include events such as:

• ongoing local informational forums sharing quality management and improvement techniques and technologies with all sectors of our communities;
• a national Community Quality Councils (CQC) conference hosted by NvQA, with invitations to all of the many CQCís around the country. This event, perhaps held bi-annually, will bring community quality leaders from across the nation to Las Vegas to present invaluable ìlessons learnedî in pursuit of civic improvement;
• a Nevada State Performance Excellence awards program. Forty three states now administer such Quality Assessment programs. Ours, like most, will be based on the proven Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. We are blessed to count among the NvQA membership participants with lengthy, active, and effective involvement with Baldrige and similar programs. They stand ready to serve Nevada organizations in the assessment of and assistance with progress toward lasting operational excellence.

Other Community Quality Council Resources

Join the NvQA movement