This is the final installment of a five-part series.

We’ve considered two quality organizations. The first, ASQ, has been around since 1946. Founded by none other than W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M. Juran, Walter A. Shewhart, and George D. Edwards. Titans of the quality field. Visionaries before they were recognized as such.

The second, ASQE, is barely two years old. Birthed by ASQ as a trade organization, with membership of 180 organizations and growing, is grappling with getting recognized and understood even by long-term quality professionals. As you will see, its time will come.

We sat down with both CEOs and discussed their “connected journey”—how 1 + 1 = 3, and how the two quality organizations mutually support the profession and the industry, the individual, and the organization.

Some weeks ago, Quality Digest Editor-in-Chief Dirk Dusharme and I attended ASQ’s 2022 World Conference on Quality and Improvement (WCQI) in Anaheim, California. It was the first in-person conference since Covid hit the world, and attendance was just over 1,000, about a third of what had been the norm.

ASQ made its leadership available for wide-ranging video interviews covering everything from the future of the quality profession to the organization’s new legal structure. Quality Digest appreciates their efforts to help us provide valuable reporting to our readers.

In all, we conducted five interviews with:
• ASQ’s CEO Ann Jordan
• ASQ’s board of directors
• ASQE’s (ASQ Excellence) CEO Jim Templin
• ASQE’s board of directors
• Both CEOs together, talking about their “connected journey”

This final installment is our interview with ASQ CEO Ann Jordan and ASQE CEO Jim Templin.

Ann joined ASQ in 2017 as general counsel, and began serving as interim CEO in January 2020, which was confirmed in January 2021.

Jim joined ASQ in 2016 as director of membership, then held various executive director positions for Membership and Communities, B2C Operations, Individual Membership Solutions, and then interim CEO of ASQ. He was appointed CEO of the newly formed ASQE in 2020.

We started off with the fundamentals of the relationship between the two organizations, both legally and mission-based. We then asked if there was a “grand vision” for creating synergy between the two. We followed with how this has affected both membership and certifications of quality professionals. And then we asked the revealing question of what has been challenging in integrating the two organizations.

Of the five interviews we did, I found this one the most reassuring, even inspirational, for the future of the quality profession. Not that you have to have “quality” in your title to be affected by it. But the connection between the individual (ASQ) and organizations (ASQE) will only elevate the critical importance of quality in all the millions of processes that go on every day, day after day.

The clip below is an excerpt from interview. Listen to the full interview here.