partners

Rob Herhold, CQM
President – The Institute for Strategic Management Practices (ISMP)

Through adjunct faculty arrangements, ISMP provides international consulting, studies, performance management software, and educational services to all industry sectors, both public and private. Key products and services include: Balanced Scorecard and Six Sigma Scorecard; Strategic Planning; Computer Simulation of Processes; Introduction to Six Sigma; Lean for Healthcare; Survey Design and Analysis; Market Analysis; Customer Relationship Management; ISO 9001/2000 transition & audit preparation, Supplier Management; Leadership Development, and Human Resources Management and Evaluation. Additionally, ISMP assists organizations applying for their state quality award program and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Prior to forming the Institute, Rob was the Vice President, Excellence in Missouri Foundation. His responsibilities included administering the Missouri and Team Quality Award, consulting and education, and providing Malcolm Baldrige Criteria education and assessments to health care, manufacturing, service, education and public sectors.

Rob has trained over 8000 individuals including over 1000 organizations in business performance excellence techniques and has participated in over 200 benchmarking projects. He has received international recognition from various organizations for his contributions to the practices of business excellence and benchmarking. These include AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Hydro Quebec, Rolls Royce, Cambridge University, Institute for International Research, Finnish Government, Anheuser Busch, British Aerospace, University of Rolla, Defense Contract Command – St. Louis, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Mr. Herhold has published overviews on Hoshin Planning, Kaizen, Capacity Planning, Metrics Architecture, Internal Customer Satisfaction, Benchmarking, The Human Side of Quality, TQM and Process Improvement. In 1999, he was interviewed on the Balanced Scorecard and was published in Business Finance Magazine. More recently he was published in the Kansas City Business Journal on developing human resource scorecards. After speaking at over 90 balanced scorecard venues and assisting more than 400 organizations, he continues to provide business leaders in the U.S., Canada, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Europe methods for developing Strategic Performance Management Systems.

Prior to joining the Excellence in Missouri Foundation, he served as a Senior Consultant with Boeing St. Louis for nearly 20 years. His responsibilities included consulting with senior management in the development and implementation of Six Sigma, Lean, and performance excellence tools, systems, methods and techniques. Rob was the Quality Organization representative for Lean and Six Sigma initiatives, and a principle in the development of the Boeing Balanced Scorecard.

In 1979 he joined TRW to lead one of the first efforts by a Fortune 500 company to employ Japanese lean manufacturing techniques.

Mr. Herhold is the 2005-2006 Chairperson, American Society for Quality Section 1304 and is a Certified Quality Manager. Additionally, he is an executive board member with Epworth Children and Family Services. He is also a member of: The Consortium for Supply Chain Management Steering Committee – St. Louis University; The Missouri Coalition for the Environment; The Performance Management Association; International Society of Six Sigma Professionals, and the Customer Satisfaction Measurement Association. Also, he is a volunteer for St. Mary’s Health Center, St. Louis. Further, he is a 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award examiner, Chairperson for the Ishikawa Medal Committee, examiner for the Best Manufacturing Practices Center of Excellence, instructor for Missouri Enterprise, and serves on the State Advisory Board for the Missouri Small Business Development Centers. In previous years he has served as a senior examiner for the Missouri Quality Award and a judge for the Missouri Team Quality Award. Lastly, he is a member, co-developer, and former Judge for the Human Resource Management Association Paragon Award.

Joel Middleton

Joel Middleton is a recognized statistician who studies public opinion, marketing and consumer behavior. He consults for Fortune 500 companies, political candidates and the US Government on issues of polling, research design and data analysis.

Mr. Middleton uses quantitative modeling techniques to describe how consumer behavior is influenced by product offers and media communications.  He has worked with Verizon, J.P Morgan-Chase, AOL-Time Warner, Conde Nast Publications, Paramount Pictures, Nextel and TXU.  His models are used to forecast demand for wide ranging products such as DSL, credit cards, magazines, cell phones and movies.

Mr. Middleton also applied his knowledge of randomized experiments in the 2004 presidential election, designing a large-scale (n=750,000) field experiment implemented in 8 cities.  The experiment measured the effectiveness of door-to-door canvassing on voter turnout.  It was the only study of its kind to be implemented in swing states during the election and has been heralded the best of field study of 2004 by Yale University political scientists.

Mr. Middleton is also a leader in the study of public opinion.  During the 2000 election he developed a statistical model of American voting patterns for the Democratic Leadership Council; results were published in the New Democrat Magazine.  He also analyzed the voter groups for Gore 2000 and was a founder of Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates’ Internet Surveys Group.

Mr. Middleton holds a  Masters  of  Science in Research  Psychology from Brown  University and a  Masters  in  Statistics from  The George Washington University.   He has lectured on statistical applications at Bucknell University.

Dr. John A. Shoemaker
President, American Informatics, Inc.

John received his Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky after completing his doctoral research at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark.  He has taught political science, public administration, statistics, research methodology, and project management at a number of colleges and universities including Kansas State University and the University of Kansas.

From 1981 to 1991 he served as President and Director of Research at Capital Research Services, a full-service research firm specializing in quantitative marketing research.  As the President of American Informatics, Inc., he continues to conduct customized research projects for clients in a variety of fields.  He also conducts project management workshops throughout North America and Western Europe.

For the last fifteen years much of his work has focused on organizational improvement.  He has served as the Director of the Kansas Center for Performance Excellence from 1998 until 2006.  During this period, he has helped numerous organization apply the Baldrige Criteria in their efforts to improve their efficiency and increase their profitability.  In 2004 he served on the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program.

Website: American Informatics

Douglas C. Wood, CQE, CMQ/OE
President – DC Wood Consulting, LLC

DC Wood Consulting, LLC provides assistance to organizations in quality system design, analysis, and installation as well as business intelligence systems planning, design, and solution implementation. Key focal areas are in operational processes, office and shop floor work measurement and design, interpretation of data needs and system deliverables, and integration of measurement systems and improvement projects with strategic objectives. A priority of the firm is customer service, and a listening attitude. We are here to help you solve your "challenges."

Mr. Wood was employed at Hallmark Cards for over 25 years. Activities there included work design and measurement in industrial and office settings, installation of a manufacturing balanced scorecard, implementation of a comprehensive production history database, and creation and operation of an eleven-year quality cost system that saved over $120 million. Other work included capacity planning, forecasting, regression- driven loss projections, lease- buy equipment analyses, material handling studies, website development, financial reporting, expert systems development, barcode reproduction evaluation systems, finished goods quality auditing, and analyses of the impact of advanced manufacturing systems.

Prior employment at Kellogg Co. included process flow measurement, longitudinal process flow studies, whole- crew work measurement studies, multi-plant work standards alignment, and a packaging simplification effort that resulted in a 6 figure annual savings.

Other work includes the Kansas state quality award as a team leader and examiner in 2001-2002, and Missouri state quality award examiner in 2004.

Instruction activities have included Quality Costs, Preparation for Certified Quality Engineer, Preparation for Certified Manager of Quality/ Organizational Excellence, and Use of Business Intelligence Query tools.

Publishing and speaking activities include:

• "Quality Costs Applied" presentation at the 18th Annual Quality Management Conference, March 3, 2006
• "Cost of Quality"Greater Kansas City Quality Assurance Association, February 8, 2007
• "The Executive Guide to Understanding and Implementing Quality Cost Programs: Reduce Operating Expenses and Increase Revenue" From Quality Press 2007

Mr. Wood holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Western Michigan University. He is currently Chair of the Quality Costs Technical Committee, Quality Management Division, American Society for Quality as well as a member of the University of Central Missouri Industrial Technology Advisory Board. Mr. Wood is also Education Chair for Kansas City Chapter- American Society for Quality.

Former committee activities are Chair of site committee for 2003 Annual Quality Congress 2001-2003, Chair of Kansas City Chapter, American Society of Quality 1999-2000, and member of the Union Station Kansas City advisory panel 2004-2005.

Website: DC Wood Consulting