The following is a cross-post from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Noting that this year's winners “are held in highest esteem in your communities and, now, in our nation," U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross presented five U.S. organizations on April 7, 2019, with the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's only presidential award for performance excellence and innovation.

The five honorees are:

• Alamo Colleges District, San Antonio, Texas (education)
• Donor Alliance, Denver, Colorado (nonprofit)
• Integrated Project Management Company, Inc., Burr Ridge, Illinois (small business)
• Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center, Jasper, Indiana (health care)
• Tri County Tech, Bartlesville, Oklahoma (education)

"By winning this award, you have made the ultimate commitment of leading by example, and of sharing your best practices and processes with hundreds of other companies and organizations that can benefit from them," said Ross. Read his full remarks here. 

Named after Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987 to enhance the competitiveness and performance of U.S. businesses. Eligibility for the award was expanded in 1998 to include education and health care, and again in 2007 to include nonprofit organizations.

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in conjunction with the private sector, raises awareness about the importance of performance excellence in driving the U.S. and global economy; provides organizational assessments, training, tools and criteria; educates leaders in businesses, schools, health care organizations and government and nonprofit organizations; shares the best practices of national role models; and recognizes those role models with the Baldrige Award.