Rawlings elected to the board for Baldrige Award

Cornell President Hunter Rawlings recently was elected to the board of directors of the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Rawlings and four other executives were elected Feb. 4 to the 12-person board of directors of the Baldrige Foundation. Two other executives were re-elected to a second term.

"I look forward to serving on this board, which has accomplished a great deal in the decade of its existence," Rawlings said.

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is an annual award to recognize U.S. companies, education institutions and health-care organizations for performance excellence.

Also elected to the board were G. Richard Thoman, president and CEO of Xerox Corp.; Letitia Baldrige, Letitia Baldrige Enterprises; Richard Norling, CEO, Premier Inc.; and Michael Wood, president, Mayo Foundation.

Congress established the award in 1987 to enhance U.S. competitiveness by promoting quality awareness, recognizing quality achievements of U.S. companies and publicizing successful performance strategies. It is not given for specific products or services. Since 1988, 32 awards have been presented.

In May 1997, the foundation announced a $15 million fund drive to raise an endowment to help establish an award program for organizations in the education and health-care sectors.

"Thousands of businesses have dramatically improved their competitiveness and effectiveness by participating in the Baldrige Award program. Knowing that the country's educational and health-care organizations will now have the potential to reap similar benefits from the Baldrige program is good news for all Americans," Roger Ackerman, chairman and CEO of Corning Inc. and president of the foundation, said in announcing the new awards.