For Immediate Release

IRS Executive to Open ASQ Lean Six Sigma Conference

Sustainable Growth Through Lean Six Sigma Focus of This Year’s Conference

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December 7, 2007 — Lean Six Sigma experts from around the world will gather at the 8th Annual American Society for Quality (ASQ) Lean Six Sigma Conference February 11–12, 2008, at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix. On tap at the 2008 conference are four of the most noted experts in the implementation of Six Sigma in government, healthcare, manufacturing and the utilities industry. Attendees will discover how they, too, can grow their organization using Lean Six Sigma.

Featured at the conference will be:

Monday, February 11

• Julie Rushin, Director, Strategy & Finance Division, Internal Revenue Service
• Leslie A. Behnke, Vice President, Six Sigma Business Excellence, CIGNA Healthcare (CHC)

Tuesday, February 12

• Scott Gray, Vice President, Corporate Quality, Eaton Corporation
• Mike Adams, Vice President of Quality, Allegheny Energy, Inc.

Finding Answers Through Lean

Sustainable Growth Through Lean Six Sigma is the main focus of this year’s conference. Breakout sessions are tailored from the novice level (Green Belts) to the very technical (Black Belts) and cover a wide variety of topics.

• Application of LSS to Improve the Blood Administration Process, Donald Lighter, M.D. and Roger Noble
• Challenges and Rewards of Lean Six Sigma in Mid-Size Business, Jack West, Ph.D., and Mike Paraszkiewicz
• Lean Success in a Small Shop, Doug Anton
• Getting Rid of the Clutter: A Successful 5S, Duane Allen

The full program is listed on the 2008 Lean Six Sigma Conference Web site.

IRS Executive to Address Conference Attendees

Julie Rushin leads the Strategy & Finance Division in the Wage and Investment Division of the Internal Revenue Service. Her responsibilities include a $2.5 billion budget for a division that has more than 50,000 employees. The Strategy and Finance Division also includes research, human capital office, strategic planning, performance improvement and Lean Six Sigma. Her leadership in Strategy and Finance provides support for the whole Wage and Investment Division. Rushin has been with the IRS for 33 years and has spent the last 17 in management positions and the last seven in executive positions. She earned an MBA in business technology from Webster University.

Eaton Corp. Executive Will Also Present

Scott Gray is vice president of Corporate Quality at Eaton Corporation. Gray joined Eaton as director of quality for the Automotive Group in March 2006. He has a leading role in Eaton’s Business Excellence program. Before joining Eaton, Gray was vice president of quality for Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership in Plymouth, Mich. Prior to that, he held various assignments of increasing responsibility in the areas of quality and engineering. He has served as chair of the ASQ Huntsville (AL) Section 1503 and is a Senior member in the American Society for Quality.

The American Society for Quality, www.asq.org, has been the world’s leading authority on quality for more than 60 years. With more than 93,000 individual and organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results, and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide. As champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners and everyday consumers, encouraging all to Make Good Great®. ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., ASQ is a founding partner of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator, and also produces the Quarterly Quality Report.