Keynote Speakers

Mike Adams
Vice President, Quality, Allegheny Energy, Inc.

Mike is vice president of quality for Allegheny Energy, Inc. — a $3 billion electric utility with approximately 1.5 million customers in the Northeast United States.  He joined Allegheny as a member of a turnaround executive team in 2004 to transform a challenged company to a high-performance organization. Working directly for the chairman, CEO and president and partnering with the executive team leaders, Mike develops, deploys and coaches on the quality practices, technical applications and skills high performers need.

Mike co-owns Allegheny Energy’s customer satisfaction strategy and shares responsibility in delivering predictable business results reflected in the company’s balance scorecard.  He also works with the company’s leadership and employees-at-large to develop skills in general management, problem solving, statistical applications and the overall practical application of quality tenets and Six Sigma.

Previous career experiences include:

• Microsoft’s Director of Global Performance Excellence 2000-2004  
• Managing partner for a consulting and creative services practice
• 21 years leadership capacities at Florida Power & Light and FPL Group including departments of engineering, budgets, division management and quality
• Unit adviser for FPL in 1989 when we won  the Deming Prize,— the first non-Japanese company in the world to receive this quality management award administered by the Union of Scientists and Engineers.

Mike has bachelor’s degree in engineering from University of Florida and an MBA. from Florida Atlantic University. He serves as twice co-chair for the flagship U.S. Quality Council of the Conference Board, past Board director for the Baldrige Foundation, examiner for the Baldrige National Quality Award, judge for the USA Today Quality Cup and immediate past chair of the Juran Medal for Distinguished Leadership.

A worldwide lecturer, Mike spoke at International Convention on Quality in Tokyo (2005) and had the privilege to provide the keynote address at the 10th anniversary of the Florida Quality Conference in 2002, the Glasser Lecture Series at Rochester Institute of Technology, and at the inaugural International Convention for Quality in Beijing in 1997. His topics include global quality, benchmarking, privatization, management performance and Six Sigma.