Donor Alliance, the federally designated nonprofit that facilitates organ and tissue donation in Colorado and most of Wyoming, announced that its COO Jennifer Prinz was appointed to the Board of Examiners for the 2015

Jennifer Prinz, COO

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. This is Prinz’s fifth time being appointed an examiner for this award, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors for organizational innovation and performance excellence.

Examiners are responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Baldrige Award, as well as other assessment-related tasks and individuals are selected by meeting the highest standards of qualification and peer recognition, demonstrating competencies related to customer focus, communication, ethics, action orientation, team building and analytical skills.

The examiner board is comprised of more than 350 leading experts competitively selected from industry, professional, trade, education, health care and nonprofit (including government) organizations from across the United States.

“We are extremely proud of Jennifer’s commitment to this prestigious national quality award program, for which she has been named an examiner every year since 2011,” said Sue Dunn, president and CEO of Donor Alliance. “Improving our organization’s performance year over year is a top priority, and Jennifer’s experience on this well-respected board of examiners gives her special insights to lead Donor Alliance in our own quality initiatives, such as our participation in the Rocky Mountain Performance Excellence (RMPEx) program.”

About Donor Alliance

Donor Alliance is a nonprofit dedicated to saving lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation. As the organ procurement organization and accredited tissue bank for Colorado and most of Wyoming, Donor Alliance serves more than 5.8 million residents and more than 100 hospitals. The organization adheres to medical, regulatory and ethical standards: respectfully working with the families of organ and tissue donors, maintaining partnerships with hospitals, educating residents on the life-saving benefits of donation and inspiring them to sign up on the state’s donor registry. Colorado and Wyoming boast some of the highest rates of donor registration in the country, which directly translates to more lives saved through organ and tissue transplantation.

Donor Alliance is one of 58 federally designated organizations of its kind in the United States, and is also an American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) accredited tissue bank. For more information, please visit DonorAlliance.org or the Donate Life Colorado or Donate Life Wyoming Facebook pages.

About the Baldrige Award

Named after Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987. Awards may be given annually to organizations in each of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care and nonprofit. The Award promotes innovation and excellence in organizational performance, recognizes the achievements and results of U.S. organizations, and publicizes successful performance strategies. Since 1988, 99 organizations have received Baldrige Awards, including the 2015 winners: PricewaterhouseCoopers Public Sector Practice, McLean, Va. (service); Hill Country Memorial, Fredericksburg, Texas (health care); St. David’s HealthCare, Austin, Texas (health care) and Elevations Credit Union, Boulder, Colo. (nonprofit).

NIST manages the Baldrige Award in close conjunction with the private sector.

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program also offers the 2015–2016 Baldrige Excellence Framework: A Systems Approach to Improving Your Organization’s Performance, which includes the world-emulated Criteria for Performance Excellence; Baldrige Excellence Builder, an entry-level version of the framework; nationally ranked leadership training; and the Baldrige Collaborative Assessment and other assessment tools. For information on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the Baldrige Award application process, call (301) 975-2036, send an e-mail to baldrige@nist.gov, or visit http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.

Media with questions, needing background or wishing to arrange interviews with Baldrige Program officials should contact Michael E. Newman, NIST Public Affairs Office, at (301) 975-3025 or michael.newman@nist.gov.