About Us
Our Story
Our History
For 27 years, the Granite State Quality Council (GSQC) has been the nonprofit resource for organizational excellence, starting in New Hampshire and, in 2012, adding Vermont and Maine. In 2019 we evolved to become the ExcellenceNorth Alliance (ENA) reflecting a forward-looking focus to help organizations and communities achieve their goals as the rate of change and disruption continues to dramatically increase across all business sectors. ENA will continue to be the nonprofit providing customized expertise in the Baldrige methodology and other systematic approaches to Northern New England organizations and communities.
About the ENA: The ENA is a conduit to transforming silos of inefficiency into optimized performance systems that build and sustain success for the long-term. We approach this from a Business Ecosystem perspective considering both the external or “Macro” ecosystem that impacts the organization and the “Micro” ecosystem that defines the organization itself.
How We Do This: ENA provides coaching, training, networking, and the sharing of best practices for all business sectors. We also provide a systemic, unbiased, and comprehensive external assessments that identify both an organization’s strengths and opportunities to continuously improve. Organizations that have been assessed can choose to be publicly recognized for their journey towards excellence as part of the region’s Baldrige-based awards and recognition program which we administer.
In the News
Interview
Fred Kocher, Anne Warner, and Buddy Phaneuf discuss how organizations can thrive in a 21st Century World on WMUR’s NH Business.
ENA Leadership Summit
ENA’s 2019 Leadership Summit on Navigating Generational Expectations took place on July 31, 2019 at the Northeast Delta Dental Conference Center in Concord.
Read the article on the Summit by the New Hampshire Union Leader’s Michael Cousineau as part of the What’s Working series.
Board Members
Anne Warner
Executive Director Emerita
As the former Executive Director for the ExcellenceNorth Alliance, Anne still remains active in her new role. After 20 years in a corporate environment as a Program and Project Manager, Anne discovered how the Baldrige Framework supported businesses and organizations in achieving excellence and sustaining success. She has been a member of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Examiners since 2003 and was an Officer in the nationwide Alliance for Performance Excellence. Contact Anne on LinkedIn or via Email.
Tom Raffio
Board Chair
President & CEO, Northeast Delta Dental
Tom Raffio is President & CEO of Northeast Delta Dental, which administers the dental benefits of over 876,000 people in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Well known for its customer service, Northeast Delta Dental has been recognized regionally and nationally for its human resource management, corporate social responsibility, and management practices.
Richard Tango-Lowy
Vice Chair
Owner, Dancing Lion Chocolate
Richard is a master chocolatier and small business owner. He currently coaches micro-business entrepeneurs and has served as a Senior Examiner for the GSQC, the Vermont Council for Quality, and WSQA (Washington State Quality Award).
Cathy Frankel
Treasurer
Manager of Customer Service, Northeast Delta Dental
Cathy has been with Northeast Delta Dental for 17 years as the manager of Customer Service. Cathy creates an environment of recognition and motivation for her team, fostering interactive solutions and achieving speed of answer and call abandon rate goals. Customer Service has surpassed customer expectations with an 89% satisfaction rate with dental offices and 90% with subscribers.
Brian Hettrick
Executive Director
Founder and Chief Murmuration Officer, Sustainably Thrive LLC
Brian and his company help organizations develop high-performance knowledge management systems infused with advanced analytics. His current focus is on the convergence and flow brought about by advances in technology. Brian has spoken at conferences around the world and published articles on quality in different industries. Contact Brian via email or on LinkedIn.
Courtney Scala Smith, JD, MA
Regulatory Counsel, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Courtney serves as an attorney with the FDA’s Center for Tobacco products, developing and drafting federal rules related to the regulation of tobacco products, in support of the Center’s mission of protecting Americans from tobacco-related death and disease. A native of New Hampshire, she is a Princeton graduate with an MA from the University of Melbourne (Australia) and a JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Kent "Whit" Whitman
Director
Franklin Pierce University – College of Business
US Army, Retired
After retiring from the Army Corps of Engineers, Whit became a Director of Quality Assurance at a NH manufacturing company. He has studied the Quality Management philosophies of Deming, Senge, Juran, Shewhart and many others. Whit has been involved in the GSQC, and now ENA since the early 1990’s. He teaches management and marketing courses at Franklin Pierce University.
Dr. Kevin Riehl
Director Emeritus
Director, Performance Excellence, BAE Systems, Retired
Lieutenant Colonel of the US Air Force, Retired
Kevin led a team of engineers focused on mission success and product assurance to deliver the highest quality products to our warfighters. Kevin is an M.I.T. graduate with a PhD in physics.
Zachery Palmer
Enterprise Development Officer
Strafford Economic Development Corporation
Zachery focuses on building relationships with small business owners looking to strengthen their business through guidance with a community development financial institution.
A transplant from Southern New England, Zachery attended Southern New Hampshire University and upon graduating chose to call New Hampshire home. He has always had a passion for entrepreneurship, affordable housing and racial equity from a young age.
In 2021 Zachery was selected for the Union Leader’s 40 under Forty list and in 2022 was honored with the Eastern Bank Foundation’s Community Advocacy Award. A graduate of Leadership Greater Manchester’s Class of 2020 and the Equity Leaders Fellowship Cohort of 2018, he has understood the importance of civic duty and sits on the board of NeighborWorks Southern NH, Waypoint-NH, National Alliance for Mental Illness NH, and was a Commissioner for the City of Manchester’s Inaugural Housing Commission.
Jen MacLaren
Founder and Curator
Dew Collective, LLC
Jen is a seasoned small business owner with a wealth of experience in defining corporate growth agendas and managing business operations. She excels in commercialization, change management, and stakeholder engagement. With a proven track record of balancing strategy, leadership, and implementation with diverse, cross-functional teams, she has successfully built and navigated corporate and executive brands both internally and externally. Her focus is on fast-growing business models that achieve market differentiation and drive success through multifaceted integration strategies.
As the Founder and Curator of Dew Collective, LLC, Jen MacLaren acquired and rebranded a local florist to emphasize sustainable practices and local sourcing. This endeavor involved overseeing daily operations and expanding services across two locations, as well as curating fine art and contemporary home décor for retail. Concurrently, through MacLaren Consulting, LLC, she partnered with CEOs across various industries to launch new revenue streams, develop strategic business plans, and engage key stakeholders, ultimately improving business outcomes and executive alignment.
In previous roles, including Chief Administrative Officer at Keystone Agency Partners and Marketing Lead at Willis Towers Watson, she drove corporate strategy development, executed special projects, and managed comprehensive marketing and communications initiatives. She successfully supported large-scale growth, led rebranding efforts, recruited executive leadership, and engaged with board members and investors. Her work has consistently focused on building efficiencies, driving integration, and achieving strategic business goals.
Jeannette Davila
Chief of Operations
ISN
Jeannette, a senior bilingual executive, brings over three decades of leadership experience across banking, finance, corporate, and nonprofit sectors. In 2023, she joined ISN as Chief of Operations, where she leads strategic vision and planning, ensuring that organizational goals align with the needs of the individuals they serve. Jeannette’s extensive community involvement includes roles as a trustee, spokesperson, advocate, and philanthropic advisor, reflecting her unwavering commitment to excellence in service and leadership.
Jeannette’s distinguished career includes pivotal roles such as Director for Strategic Partnerships at The Fedcap Group, where she led initiatives resulting in over $33 million in new business. At Easter Seals New Hampshire, she served as Chief Development Officer, spearheading a critical fundraising initiative for a $100 million organization. Her tenure at Fedcap Rehabilitation Services saw her directing a corporate services model that supported multi-brand growth, emphasizing strategic changes in diversity, inclusion, and change management. At RBS Citizens Financial Group, she excelled as Senior Vice President, managing significant funds and developing profitable portfolios, while enhancing the bank’s diversity and inclusion strategies.
She holds a BA in Psychology from Saint Anselm College, is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at Harvard Business School and earned an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Saint Anselm College, where she also serves on the Board as a Trustee. Her educational and professional background underscores her dedication to leadership and excellence. Bilingual English / Spanish
David Rogers
Chief Development Officer
DEKA Research and Development
David previously served as a White House Fellow in the Office of American Innovation from 2018 to 2019. His background also includes dedicated service in the U.S. Air Force, where he spent four years in East Africa managing aid and development programs. This experience provided him with extensive expertise in humanitarian missions and program management.
David earned his PhD in Text & Technology from the Institute for Simulation & Training at the University of Central Florida (UCF). David is also a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, which laid the foundation for his leadership and technical skills.
David’s research is centered on mobile software development for distributed service delivery, informatics, and missions related to humanitarian and disaster response. His innovative approach to creating learning networks and developing technological solutions demonstrates a strong commitment to enhancing global systems through technology and collaboration.