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Judges
Roberta Weissman Sappington Dr. Sappington is a program manager at the Federal Aviation Administration Center for Management Development in Palm Coast, Florida. She is responsible for the main training programs required for every manager throughout all technical specialty areas within the FAA. She oversees contractors, coordinates with FAA Headquarters, the Aeronautical Center, accrediting agencies, a college credit recommending organization, and operational field personnel. With academic credentials including a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1976, majoring in Human Learning and Development, with minors in Research and Evaluation, and Philosophy of Science; a M.A. (1974) and B.A. (1971) from the University of Pennsylvania in Psychology, and various fellowships, research assistantships, and institute activities, Dr. Sappington has benefited from rigorous programs and standards. Before joining the FAA, Dr. Sappington was the Associate Director for Instructional Services for University Research Corporation, supervising five instructional team managers, and through them, 28 faculty members, the Registrar, Publications, Evaluation, and three support staff. She headed design teams for the FAA and independently developed extensive mid-manager training for the National Security Agency. Prior to that, for ten years Dr. Sappington was the chair of the Psychology Department at Bethune-Cookman College, while doing research and adjunct teaching for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She was on Case Western Reserve’s start-up team for their Ph.D. program in nursing, Cleveland State University’s Allied Health Program, and got many grants. Among Dr. Sappington's favorite accomplishments are her 18 years of service to ASQ’s International Team Excellence Competition, research on minimal brain dysfunction in cardiac bypass patients, authorship of software which teaches neurophysiology and teacher competencies, design of experiential management development activities, and her McKnight Faculty Fellowship which allowed her to improve the quality of home based day care of children three years and younger in Florida. In the community, Dr. Sappington is a past president of the Heart Association of Volusia County, Inc., a board member of the Volusia/Flagler Sierra Club, and the Anti-Recidivist Effort. She is the author of a book on psycholinguistics, several articles, and a complete competency-based religious school curriculum. She enjoys her home on the Tomoka River, which she shares with her husband, Jim and her experiences raising their three children, Gabe, Deena Michelle, and Jay Tyler. Together they enjoy many sports, each other, friends, family, pets, nature, and peaceful time. Roberta states... “I was inspired to serve the International Team Excellence Competition back in the early days of Total Quality Management when our Volusia County Government sponsored an annual Quality Fest chock full of workshops on participative leadership and tools for quality improvement. One of the presenters invited me to visit Harris Corporation, a one hour drive from my home. At that visit, I was invited to serve as a regional judge for the competition which Harris was hosting. I was so impressed with the spirit of team effort when it's aligned with organizational priorities, I was hooked for good! After being a judge, regionally and nationally, I became a site trainer, committee member and lead judge.”“My most memorable moments come from the annual conferences seeing Geetha work her magic orchestrating the innumerable details which must get careful attention, experiencing teams supporting each other even though they are competing, and for many months before regionals and international, feeling my colleagues working tirelessly behind the scenes to revalidate the criteria, improve our processes, and insure that this competition did not diminish in any way when AQP merged with ASQ. If it isn't already obvious why these moments are so memorable, let me state that the ITEC evokes the highest potential from those committed to its value, and if this "can do" voluntary attribute extended to politics, we'd have world peace and inclusive, global remedies for every malady that causes pain.” |
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