Southwest Tennessee Community College Scoop Newsletter

KUDOS: Dr. Donald Fisher to receive McWherter Leadership Award

The Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE) recently announced Donald C. Fisher, Ph.D., Executive Director/CEO of Mid-South Quality/Productivity Center (MSQPC), will receive the 2018 Ned R. McWherter Leadership Award Feb. 21 at the 2018 Excellence in Tennessee Awards banquet in Franklin, Tennessee. MSQPC was founded through the leadership of the Memphis Regional Chamber (now Greater Memphis Chamber) and State Technical Institute at Memphis (now Southwest) and funded through a Tennessee Board of Regents grant to establish TBR’s only Center of Emphasis in Quality and Productivity in the state.

The Ned R. McWherter Leadership Award annually recognizes an individual who exemplifies outstanding leadership in the pursuit of performance excellence and has worked to further performance improvement beyond the boundaries of his or her organization.

Don Fisher

TNCPE says Fisher’s strategic partnerships, promotion of continuous improvement principles, long-standing presence within local and international excellence communities and his overall commitment to excellence make him an ideal recipient.

“While Donn is a significant presence in the Southeast’s excellence community, his influence is global,” says Katie Rawls, TNCPE president and CEO. “He was a founding member of TNCPE’s board of directors 25 years ago and has traveled from Memphis to Kuala Lumpur and many places in between, delivering Baldrige principles to myriad organizations. His numerous books on Baldrige extend his reach even further.”

Fisher has served as a judge for numerous regional quality awards programs, including TNCPE's Robert W. Carey Performance Excellence Award, the Arizona State Quality Award, the Commonwealth of Kentucky Quality Award and the Greater Memphis Award for Quality, among others. He was an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and serves on the board of the Alliance for Performance Excellence.

McWherter Leadership Award winners can be selected from any industry sector. They are committed to the core values of TNCPE and the Baldrige Excellence Framework, the nationally recognized framework that helps organizations align resources; improve communication, productivity, and effectiveness; and achieve strategic goals. The McWherter Award is named after the 46th governor of Tennessee, who was instrumental in TNCPE’s founding in 1993. Ned McWherter’s support for the program acknowledged the value of the Baldrige Excellence Framework as an integral tool that can help Tennessee businesses and organizations thrive.