1:27 p.m., Jan. 7, 2009----The Delaware Quality Award Executive Council has joined the University of Delaware in announcing the 2008 recipients of the Delaware Quality Awards in honor of W. L. (Bill) Gore.

The State of Delaware's Division of Corporations and the Speakman Company have both received the Gore Award of Excellence, the highest-level award in the state. Bayhealth Child Care and Early Learning Center has been awarded the Delaware Quality Commitment Award.

“I am pleased to announce the three outstanding organizations that have been named to receive this year's Delaware Quality Awards,” Tom Inagaki, chairperson of the Delaware Quality Award Executive Council said. “Each of the recipients we honor today can serve as a role model embodying the values of excellence, proactive leadership, and commitment to employees, customers, partners and community.”

Delaware's governor-elect, Jack Markell, has been invited to present the awards during the Delaware Quality Award luncheon, held in conjunction with the Delaware Quest for Excellence forum, on Thursday, Feb. 5, at John M. Clayton Hall on the University of Delaware campus in Newark.

The Delaware Quality Award was established in 1992 as a public-private partnership to promote and recognize performance excellence throughout the state. The top Delaware award honors W. L. (Bill) Gore for his effort in promoting excellence, innovation, and a positive working environment at the company that bears his name, W. L. Gore & Associates.

As one of 37 state award programs based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Delaware Quality Award applicants are evaluated rigorously by an independent board of examiners in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results.

The evaluation process for each of the recipients included from 500-1,000 hours of review and an on-site visit by a team of examiners to clarify questions and verify information in the applications.

The Gore Award of Excellence recipient Delaware Division of Corporations has as its mission to create business entities and generate revenue for the State of Delaware while providing superior service to its customers.

Key to its success are the 100 professionals within the division that facilitate the processing of more than 1.2 million corporate and Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) transactions and more than 750,000 annual tax payments each year. Revenues collected by the Division of Corporations account for 22 percent of the state's general fund revenue.

“I have long been praising the outstanding performance and dedication to mission that the Division of Corporations exhibits each day with each transaction,” says Delaware Secretary of State Harriet Smith Windsor. “It is extremely gratifying, however, to receive confirmation of this in the form of such a prestigious award from a well-respected third party organization.”

Over the last decade, the division has continued to promote productivity and customer service by developing sophisticated and advanced customer solutions. The Division of Corporations' Web site welcomes more visitors than any other Delaware state agency Web site.

Customers conducted more than 400,000 paid transactions through the division's Web site in the past year alone.

In 2008, Delaware became the first corporate jurisdiction to offer live online chat for customers seeking corporate, UCC or tax information.

“The division is committed to meeting the challenge of continually increasing levels of customer service, improving productivity, and enhancing the quality of its work environment,” comments Windsor. “The division participates in the Delaware Quality Award process to help it realize its vision of being America's corporate and alternative business entity domicile of choice and to pursuing a path of continuous improvement.”

Also a Gore Award winner, the Speakman Company, headquartered in New Castle, is an independent, privately held plumbing and pipe fitting company that has forged a reputation for product innovation and proven quality.

Widely recognized as an industry leader, Speakman is known for specification-quality plumbing fittings, electronic faucets, showerheads and emergency equipment. It led the market transformation into modern-day showering nearly 80 years ago and pioneered the introduction of safety showers more than 50 years ago.

“We are very excited to be awarded DQA's W.L. (Bill) Gore Award of Excellence for 2008,” says Rod Ward, president of the Speakman Company. “It has been a worthwhile journey. We have spent the last five years making meaningful improvements to our processes, including implementing many of the recommendations from our first DQA feedback report from 2003. As a result of our participation in DQA, we're a higher performing company with a brighter future.”

Today, the Speakman Company operates as three autonomous business units -- plumbing solutions, safety equipment and shower products. Plumbing solutions supplies specified faucets and showers primarily to the commercial market including schools and hospitals. Safety equipment supplies emergency eyewash and safety showers for the industry, and shower products offers a wide range of showerheads, hand held showers and accessories for residential, hotel and commercial markets.

A leader in quality manufacturing, Speakman has been an ISO registered company since 1997, and became the first site in the State of Delaware to achieve registration on the new ISO-9001: 2000 standard by QMI.

A Delaware Quality Commitment Award was earned by Bayhealth Medical Center's Child Care Center and Early Learning Center of Dover. The center opened in 1988 to provide child care services for Bayhealth employees.

Since 2000, the center has been accredited and in good standing with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The center has also received the status of being a Five Star Child Care Center in alliance with the State of Delaware Stars Program.

In 2001 and 2006, the center received the Governor's Award for Excellence in Early Care and Education.

“I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of our child care staff,” says Bayhealth Vice President of Human Resources Jon McDowell. “They are very deserving of this award in recognition of the positive impact they have on the lives of our employees' children. We are very fortunate to have a staff that is dedicated to making a difference every day for the children enrolled at the center.”

The Delaware Quality Award luncheon on Feb. 5 will be the culmination of the Delaware Quest for Excellence. The keynote speaker at the Quest event will be Terri Kelly, president and chief executive officer of W.L. Gore & Associates and a University of Delaware graduate.

Kelly's leadership abilities have driven her success in a company known for its non-hierarchical “lattice” structure. At Gore, associates become leaders based on their ability to gain the respect of their peers and to attract followers.

Kelly earned the title of president and CEO in 2005 -- one of the few titles within the enterprise -- following a peer-driven selection process.

The Quest for Excellence event will also feature a welcome address by University of Delaware President Patrick Harker, presentations by award-winning companies, and an optional afternoon workshop on using the Baldrige Criteria to drive performance excellence.

For information on the program, visit the Web site or call (302) 571-5239.

The Delaware Quality Award is a program of the University of Delaware's Division of Professional and Continuing Studies. It is housed at the UD Downtown Center at 8th and King streets in Wilmington.