Quality leaders to help launch a new committee to improve state government

Audit, Review and Oversight Committee begins work on Sept. 29

September 25, 2009

OLYMPIA—Two world-renowned experts on quality management will headline the first meeting of a new legislative committee that aims to improve the performance of Washington state government.

Deborah Hopen and Dr. David Spong will share their expertise on creating high-quality, high-performance systems at the Sept. 29 opening meeting of the House of Representatives' new Audit, Review and Oversight Committee.

The committee's inaugural meeting will run from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 2 of the John A. Cherberg Building on the state capitol campus.

"We are very fortunate to have two of the world's leading thinkers on high-performance systems on hand as we begin this important effort to improve the oversight and quality of state government services," said Rep. Mark Miloscia (D-Federal Way), who chairs the committee.

Deborah Hopen is the editor of American Society for Quality's Journal for Quality and Participation. Hopen has more than 30 years of experience in total quality management. In addition to serving as a senior executive with both Fortune and Inc. 500 companies, she has served as president and chairman of the American Society for Quality and as president of the Washington State Quality Award Program and the International Standards Initiative.

Dr. David Spong recently retired as president of Aerospace Support for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, completing a 40-year career with the Boeing Company. Under Spong's leadership, the Division earned the 2003 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for service. He is Past-Chair and sits on the Board of the Baldrige Foundation and is President-Elect of the American Society of Quality.

The House of Representatives created the Audit, Review and Oversight Committee earlier this year to further improve the accountability and performance of state agencies.

"While Washington is consistently ranked as one of the best-managed of the 50 states in the nation, that is a low standard. I know we can do better," said Miloscia, the committee chair. "There are star agencies, but our performance is very uneven across all 150 agencies and overall we still don't match up to the best run organizations in the country or even Washington State. If we retreat from our commitments to Baldrige Assessments and true performance improvements , it will only cause more budget deficits and more harm to our citizens."

Miloscia is also an expert on quality management and audits. Earlier this year, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program selected Miloscia for the 2009 volunteer Board of Examiners, a panel of experts from across the nation with specialized knowledge in the field of quality and performance management. He is one of just 14 expert examiners who are currently serving in the state of Washington.

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