Biden Presents Baldrige Award to Marriott School Grad

From left: Commerce Secretary Gary Locke;
Priscilla Nuwash, Director of Performance Excellence at PVHS;
Rulon Stacey, CEO of PVHS; and Vice President Joe Biden.PROVO, Utah – Dec 24, 2009 – While the health care debate rages on Capitol Hill, Vice President Joe Biden recognized one Marriott School of Management graduate and his Colorado-based health care organization for low-cost, expert care. Rulon Stacey, CEO of the Poudre Valley Health System, accepted the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award on behalf of the system's physicians, staff and volunteers at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Dec. 2.

"Here we stand eager to tell a nation that is plagued by rising health care costs and limited access to health care how one locally owned, not-for-profit health system continues to hold costs below national and regional averages while achieving clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and financial performance in the national top ten percent," said Stacey, who graduated from the Marriott School's Romney Institute of Public Management in 1985 with a master's degree in health administration.

The annual award recognizes performance excellence in American organizations and is the only formal recognition of organizational excellence awarded by the president. The Poudre Valley Health System began applying for the award in 1999 and incorporated the feedback they received each year into improving its system.

When Stacey joined the Poudre Valley Health System ten years ago, the company was far from top-notch. The organization experienced a high employee turnover rate and the CEO turnover was even higher, with five CEOs in just four years. Stacey knew management needed to rethink their approach.

"We talked to the leaders of our organization and told them that we provide a service to our employees," Stacey explains. "If we're going to expect our employees to give the best possible service to our patients, they first have to feel like they've been treated better than at any other job."

This approach to leadership stems from Stacey's belief that the customer isn't always right. While customers are important to the business, they aren't necessarily more important than employees.

"We go overboard to meet the needs of our patients, but we value what our employees bring to the organization and we're going to do what we can to provide them with the best environment and protect their ability to be successful," Stacey says. "Successful organizations make a real commitment to make sure their employees are engaged in what they do."

By implementing employee-centered leadership, Stacey and his team turned the health system around and began a steady climb to better and better services.

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke commented on management's ability to work with employees during his speech at the award ceremony. He said, "Poudre's leaders are renowned for facilitating seamless communication between management and staff and an organization-wide focus on high performance and customer satisfaction."

Stacey credits his education with providing him the leadership skills necessary to make a difference.

"I could have never done the things that we've done at Poudre Valley Health System without the Marriott School of Management or BYU," Stacey says. "The things I learned in the Tanner Building prepared me for this."

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, entrepreneurship, and recreation management and youth leadership. The school's mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,300 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.