Companies
To learn a bit more about each of these award winning organizations, please visit their
biographies below.
In 1983 Jack Stack and twelve business partners scraped together $100,000 and borrowed another $8.9 million to buy one of International Harvester’s divisions. The future looked bleak for the Springfield, Missouri–based engine-rebuilding plant they called Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation (SRC). With hundreds of jobs on the line and morale at an all-time low, Stack knew he had to do something drastic to keep the business afloat: He turned the business into a game based on open-book management, a concept that Stack later described as “The Great Game of Business” (GGOB).
Through GGOB, SRC has become a thriving company of over 1,200 employees in more than 17 business units across a variety of industries. For thirty-one years, SRC has been remanufacturing products for the agricultural, industrial, construction, truck, marine, and automotive markets, with success after success as the oldest employee-owned remanufacturer to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in North America. SRC is known worldwide for an open-book culture that espouses transparency, integrity, and economic literacy, which is the way all areas of the company do business and prefer to do business with others.
Contributors from SRC included Jack Stack, Rich Armstrong, Neil Chambers, Jeff DeCarlis, Jeremy Dodd, Ron Guinn, Becky Lane, Mike Lofton, and Rodney Swope. Read more →
C. Richard Panico, the founder, president, and CEO of Integrated Project Management Company, Inc. (IPM), established the firm in 1988 with the goal of building a company based on honesty, integrity, and ethical precepts. With this foundation, Rich envisioned a service-focused company that would execute projects reliably and efficiently–a skill he felt was sorely lacking in the industry. Today, IPM’s application of process, discipline, and leadership in the project management framework assures execution of the organizations’ most critical initiatives.
Beyond its project management expertise, IPM’s real competitive advantage comes from values-driven, self-motivated, and highly skilled employees, the company’s most important asset. The award-winning culture sets the company apart from others through values-based leadership, honesty, integrity, courage, and the ability to inspire. These same principles are apparent as the company has contributed, and continues to engage in, programs that positively influence the world in which we live. Read more →
MidwayUSA is a ‘brick and mortar’ catalog and internet retailer of sporting goods, carrying merchandise related to shooting and hunting and other outdoor products. Established in 1977, this family-owned and operated company employs over 400, and has a headquarters in Columbia, Missouri.
The vision of the company states that “To be the best run business in America, for the benefit of our Customers, by systematically applying the modern leadership and management principles from the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence” provides a great insight into the organization’s DNA.
MidwayUSA’ constantly strives to achieve its goals of Customer Satisfaction, Employee Satisfaction, Vendor Satisfaction and Shareholder Satisfaction, and the accompanying Key Stakeholder Requirements. These goals, along with the results from our Key Measures, are key components of MidwayUSA’s Strategic Planning process. MidwayUSA is ISO certified 9001:2011, a 2008 recipient of the Missouri Quality Award and a 2009 recipient of the Baldrige National Quality Award. Read more →
Tarlton Corporation is a St. Louis-based, privately-held business providing general contracting and construction management services. Formed in 1946, this WBENC-certified Women’s Business Enterprise, serves a wide range of clients in the institutional, life sciences, federal government, power, industrial, and commercial markets, as well as concrete repair and restoration. Tarlton’s projects range from $10,000 to $150 million in both new construction and complex renovations, led by teams that thrive on meeting unique construction challenges.
Tarlton is consistently recognized not only for its award-winning projects, outstanding safety record, and top-notch reputation in the subcontractor community, but also for its industry leadership and civic involvement. The firm is ranked in Engineering News-Record’s Top 400 Contractors, and has been named a “Winning Workplace” for its demonstrated commitment to employee education, health, and well-being. Tarlton’s expertise in sustainable construction and operations is showcased in its LEED Silver headquarters. Read more →
The North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN) has one goal: to aid North Lawndale residents in gaining economic advancement and an improved quality of life through innovative employment. Founded in 1999 through an 18-month community planning effort led by the Steans Family Foundation, NLEN aims to serve the unmet employment needs of individuals with significant barriers to employment in the North Lawndale community.
NLEN’s addresses the extremely high rates of unemployment and underemployment by offering employment services and transitional jobs to residents, many of whom are formerly incarcerated persons and others with barriers to employment. NLEN is committed to assisting those with these barriers—especially former offenders—in securing jobs with family-supporting wages, partnering with employers in recruiting and retaining workers, advocating on behalf of low-income job-seekers, empowering job seekers with access to financial tools and literacy, and creating a thriving and sustainable community. Read more →
Tasty Catering is more than the typical catering company; it is really a service company that specializes in corporate catering, event planning, and event production. The company has been serving the needs of suburban Chicago organizations for over twenty years. With a strong, company-wide foundation in core values, all 250 full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees are committed to the same goals and morals.
A growing reputation for quality food and quality people has given Tasty Catering a set of very important market differentiators. Tasty Catering is the whole package, from delivering coffee and tea in the morning for a breakfast meeting, all the way up to planning and executing a thousand-person, grilled, on-site picnic. They populate each and every event they perform with exceptional food and exceptional staff, from the initial order all the way to the cleanup, exceeding expectations of clients and guests alike. Read more →
Founded by Joe Dahm, Mike’s Carwash is a private, family-owned business. Mike’s Carwash specializes in exterior-only automated carwashes complete with self-serve car care products and other services available for the interior. The first Mike’s opened in 1948 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and today allows customers to get their cars clean, dry, and shiny, at any of their 40 locations.
No matter the location, Mike’s Carwash utilizes two essential components that have been proven to fuel their success. First, customers will consistently get clean, dry, and shiny vehicles on each visit, courtesy of state-of-the-art equipment and technology. Second, and most importantly, Mike’s Carwash hires and trains only the best candidates for employment, creating team members that embody professionalism and personality on a daily basis. Customers frequently tell Mike’s Carwash that they keep coming back because of the way they are treated by the 600 caring associates. Read more →
Good Samaritan Hospital is part of Advocate Health Care, the largest health system in the state of Illinois. It is an acute-care medical facility in Downers Grove, Illinois, that has evolved during the past 35 years from a midsized community hospital to a nationally-recognized leader in health care. Good Samaritan Hospital features DuPage County’s only Level I trauma center and certified Level III neonatal intensive care unit.
Noted for cancer care, women and children’s services, and surgical services, Good Samaritan Hospital received the American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet® designation, the highest level of recognition awarded to nursing excellence in national and international health care. With a workforce of 2,700 associates, 450 volunteers and 950 independent physicians representing 59 specialties, this 333-bed facility is the only health care organization in the nation to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Read more →