BOULDER, Colo.– Elevations Credit Union has again been awarded the 2020 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which recognizes organizational performance excellence.
As a result, Elevations has become the only two-time recipient in the nonprofit category, the only financial institution to receive the award twice in six years, and the only credit union to ever receive the award
Elevations Credit Union was one of five recipients recognized from a field of 20 applicants for the 2020 award, and Elevations is one of only nine organizations to receive the award twice since 1988.
CUToday.info profiled Elevations CU and its CEO after its initial win here.
“Receiving the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for the second time is a testament to our dedication and commitment to our members and community,” said Gerry Agnes, president and CEO of Elevations Credit Union. “Twelve years ago, we chose to leverage the Baldrige framework in order to best serve our members. It has helped us do that and more — we have created a trusted, resilient financial organization that’s here to serve our members with financial solutions for a better life.”
Evaluation Process
To receive the award, organizations are evaluated using the Baldrige Excellence Framework. The Framework focuses on seven areas: leadership; strategy; customers; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce; operations, and results. Thousands of organizations worldwide use the Baldrige Criteria to guide their operations, improve performance and produce sustainable results, Elevations noted.
According to the credit union, the Baldrige application for 2020 showed how it has excelled in the areas of process management, innovation, use of data and analytics, and testing and learning. The credit union has also been recognized for sharing best practices with other organizations through events like Sharing Days.
To be considered for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, an organization must receive the top award for excellence from its state or regional performance excellence program. Elevations Credit Union said it achieved this milestone by receiving the Peak Performance Award from RMPEx in 2013. The credit union also elected to apply for the RMPEx award in 2019 and received it a second time. The Peak Performance criteria is identical to the Baldrige criteria, and the Peak Performance Award is RMPEx’s highest honor.
Elevations first received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2014.
Other Winners
Elevations is one of nine organizations to receive the award twice, joining: Solectron Corp. (1991, 1997), the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., (1992, 1999), Texas Nameplate Co. (1998, 2004), Sunny Fresh Foods, Inc. (now Cargill Kitchen Solutions) (1999, 2005), MEDRAD (now Bayer HealthCare Radiology & Interventional) (2003, 2010), MidwayUSA (2009, 2015), Southcentral Foundation (2011, 2017), and MESA Products, Inc. (2006, 2012, 2020) — the first three-time recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.