CIO and Associate Provost Dr. Barbara A. White receives Quality Leadership Executive Visionary Award

ATHENS, Ga.— Executive Alliance, creator and provider of premium leadership recognition forums worldwide, has announced the winners for the Quality Leadership Executive (QLE) of the Year Southeast Awards 2007. Dr. Barbara A. White, CIO and associate provost at UGA, has received the QLE Visionary Award for 2007.

Dr. Barbara A. White, CIO and associate provost at the University of Georgia, is pictured here receiving the 2007 QLE Visionary Award in the End-User Category. She is pictured with several colleagues. From left, front row: Lynn Latimer, Sandra Brooks, White, and Greg Topp. From left, back row: Rehan Khan, Mike Dennis, Stanton Gatewood. Photo: Wynne Bolton, Executive Alliance.

The Visionary Award recognizes an individual for exemplary initiatives in strategic planning, foresight, thought leadership, and the employment of Quality Assurance to support organizational objectives. The QLE Visionary Awards honor both an executive visionary from an end-user company and an executive visionary from a software company. White received her award in the end-user company category.

"I am thrilled and honored to have been selected for this award," said White. "It is, however, an award that represents the efforts of a large number of individuals from Enterprise Information Technology Services and the University of Georgia. The focus both internally and externally on Quality Assurance is a priority for my organization and we are all grateful for the acknowledgement of efforts represented by this award."

Winners were revealed Tuesday, December 11, 2007, at the JW Marriott Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia. White attended the awards event with several colleagues from EITS and the Office of the CIO (photo at left).

White was selected from an impressive roster of nominees, along with their teams, who were recognized for exemplary practice in the field of Information Technology Quality Assurance. Quality Assurance is the standard and practice of planning and implementing systematic processes for assuring that a product or service meets the quality needed and expected by the customer.

"The stature of the QLE Award is validated by the prominent class of nominations, "said Marci McCarthy, CEO of Executive Alliance. "The judges did not have an easy task to choose the winners from the great lineup of candidates."

Among the Quality Assurance practices initiated and sponsored at UGA by CIO White are the Compact Planning process and training in Six Sigma methodology. Compact Planning is a highly interactive, collegial, and participatory planning process involving clients, partners, and IT professionals throughout the University. Six Sigma, a quality management program designed to achieve high levels of quality through the application of statistical methods to improve operating efficiency, complements and supports the Compact Planning process.

The following Executive Alliance press release provides more information on the QLE awards, including a list of all award recipients:

About the Office of the CIO and EITS
The Office of the Chief Information Officer and Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) are committed to the mission of UGA as a land-and-sea-grant institution where academics come first and the research extensive university community encourages research efforts at the undergraduate and graduate levels. To that end, under the direction of the University´s Chief Information Officer, EITS endeavors to provide a robust, reliable, and secure information technology infrastructure, maintain essential production services, and offer world-class support.