GRQC is your trusted partner on the path to sustained excellence.
GRQC helps area organizations achieve sustained performance excellence by helping their leaders and teams learn and adopt best practices in improvement processes and organizational culture. We offer a broad range of easy-to-access services to meet the needs of all organizations, regardless of size, sector or experience with continuous improvement.
Join us for upcoming events!
Tue, Oct 21Upstate New York's premier event recognizing quality and performance excellence
Wed, Oct 29The military is an oft-overlooked source of knowledge about the application of quality and leadership principles.
Finalists Announced: Get Your Tickets for the 2025 GRQC Performance Excellence Awards!
GRQC is excited to announce 22 finalists for its 2025 Performance Excellence Awards. Performance Excellence Awards are presented in three categories: Team Excellence, Organizational Excellence, and Customer Experience.
The 2025 award finalists include:
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Flight Wine Bar
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Gorbel
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Lifetime Benefit Solutions
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Rochester Regional Health
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Home Care
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Inpatient Rehabilitation
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Oncology/Palliative Care
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Pharmacy
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Primary Care
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United Memorial Medical Center
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Virtual Care
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UR Medicine
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Flaum Eye Institute
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Golisano Children’s Hospital
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Highland Hospital
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Radiology
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Wilmot Cancer Center
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Villa of Hope
The 2025 awards will be presented at the Annual GRQC Showcase and Performance Excellence Awards event during National Quality Month on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at the Memorial Art Gallery. The ceremony will feature a keynote presentation by Darlene Ryan, Chief Performance Officer at Hillside, and a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and former member of the GRQC Board.
To meet the finalists, click below to view the 2025 Showcase video.
Greater Rochester Quality Council events, programs and initiatives are supported in part by the Greater Rochester Chamber Foundation.
Celebrating Community Impact Through Quality:
The 2025 Day of Quality Celebration
The GRQC Day of Quality is modeled after the United Way Day of Caring. During this annual event, our members and volunteer supporters give back to the community, by bringing their time, talents, and decades of quality expertise to local non-profit organizations, to help them accelerate their goals of operational excellence.
This year, three of the organizations that participated in the Day of Quality shared their improvement projects at GRQC's Summer Networking Event, held at the Downtown Courtyard Marriott on August 6. Teams from The Children's Agenda, Gavia Lifecare Center, and United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes prepared exhibits and shared their stories with the leaders who attended the event.
Gavia volunteer project lead Paige Miller from Rochester Regional Health stated: “When we bring our skills to serve others, we don’t just improve processes—we ignite progress. True change begins when compassion meets collaboration. " Amber Ramerman, event lead, summarized the magic of this event, “Day of Quality reminds us that when organizations and volunteers come together with intention and curiosity, real transformation can happen—in a single day,”.
To view more photos from this exciting event, click here.
GRQC is looking for organizations that are interested in participating in the 2026 Day of Quality. Click here to fill out an interest form.
Learn About Partner Programs and Events
Upcoming PEN Webinars
We are pleased to invite you to these Thursday morning webinars from Performance Excellence Network (PEN).
Helpful Hacks: Exploring Personal Productivity Tools - October 2 PEN Webinar
Businesses and organizations today are feeling increasing pressures to improve productivity, eliminate waste, and maximize efficiency. In good times (and now in more challenging times), leaders at all levels – and employees in all roles – must increase capacity and use the technology tools we have to “work smarter,” saving time and better managing our workload.
The session will be facilitated by Libby Fisette of CTC Productivity, but also have an opportunity to share insights and best practices on productivity tools from attendees. Libby will introduce six Microsoft 365 productivity/technology tools (Outlook, Whiteboard, Teams, OneNote, Planner, and Loop) and then share a scenario – a case study – that shows how these tools work together to streamline meeting planning and follow-through.
We all need to be more efficient now in managing our time and maximizing our productivity these days. Don’t miss this valuable discussion on how to improve your – and/or your team’s – productivity!
Click here for more information and registration.
Best Practices in Staffing & Recruiting - October 16 PEN Webinar
Details to follow. Spoiler alert: One of the main speakers is from Excellus BCBS in Rochester!
MCC's Course Offerings for Learners with Various Objectives, Schedules and Budgets
The Economic & Workforce Development Center of Monroe Community College offers easy-to-access programs for people with a wide variety of learning needs, schedules and budgets. Here are some of their offerings.
MCC Corporate College provides education and training for individuals, offering both self-paid and employer-paid options for professional development. Many offerings are delivered virtually. To access the course catalog, click here.
The Finger Lakes Workforce Development Center is designed to focus on rapid training, retraining and upskilling of technical middle-skilled workers in demand by local employers. Through innovative partnerships and technical programming, the FWD Center is a catalyst in developing our region’s economy. Employers and individuals, click here for more information.
Local companies need a workforce skilled in robotics and automation and MCC’s new micro-credential, offered through the Engineering Technologies department, will have you ready to join that field with an exciting career in just 11 weeks! You’ll earn while you learn—tackling a paid work experience while taking special college courses, earning college credit and be job ready when you’re done. Click here for more information.
RIT|Certified - Upcoming Belt Programs
Yellow, Green and Black Belt certification via an academic (for-credit) pathway are available every semester. Use the following links for information about these programs:
Click here to visit the RIT|Certified website and search for courses.
GRQC Partner Events
View presentations and videos from recent
GRQC programs
Process Improvement Meets Reality: Stories from the Front Lines
Process improvement doesn’t have to be complicated, slow, or weighed down by red tape and shifting priorities.
Enter Gemba — a Japanese term meaning “the real place,” where work actually happens and where the best ideas for change are found.
That’s where Eileen Askey and Pat Campbell, also known as the Gemba Gals, live and lead. Through real-life stories, they show meaningful improvements, and how to achieve success when plans fall apart, priorities shift, or unexpected challenges hit.
Click below to view the presenter slides from this event.
Click below to view the Zoom recording of this event.
When Six Sigma Isn't Enough: The Importance of Independent Audits and Verification
Rochester features a vibrant and diverse food and restaurant industry, recognized nationally for its quality and innovation. Also, the region is a hub for food and beverage manufacturing. This program highlights the ways in which food quality is assured.
A review of potential food safety problems is followed by a review of the keys to building safety in through contamination control and robust food safety management systems. The program then shifts to the importance of third party inspection and verification, including the role of state and county authorities in assuring good, safe practices. The keys to food quality and safety are universally relevant to all products, industries and organizations.
Click below to view the presenter slides from this event.
Click below to view the Zoom recording for this event.
GRQC Resource Center
GRQC is your resource for tools and templates, case studies, local consulting resources, and links to industry-leading websites to aid you in your pursuit of performance excellence and quality improvement. Click on the links below to access information.
Download favorite tools of GRQC Board members
Dowload presentations from recent GRQC events.
Visit these websites for useful tools and templates.
Check back often to access new material that you can use!
Tools You Can Use - Free From GRQC!
GRQC has assembled a searchable library of tools developed by our members, partners and friends, and is offering them free to website users. Find tried and tested tools, templates and information about a wide variety of quality processes: control charts, FMEA, Lean, Pugh matrix, and many others. You can search the library by keyword or by sector (business, healthcare, education, etc.). When you find what you need, simply click on the tool name to download it to your PC.
Click the button below to go to the webpage Homegrown Tools in the GRQC Knowledge Center, and take advantage of the expertise of our members and friends.
Find Resources You Can Use On The Job
Be a Part of GRQC's Mission - Volunteer!
Would you like to partner with GRQC to advance performance excellence in the community without making a long-term commitment? We have just the thing for you – volunteering to help one of our committees! GRQC has eight committees that help us achieve our strategic objectives. These committees are staffed by GRQC Board members and volunteers. We invite you to visit our new Volunteer Opportunity website page and reach out to any of the committee contacts to lean more or to express your interest. Volunteer opportunities are open to GRQC members and non-members alike. We’d love to have you join us!
Become a GRQC Member
GRQC benefits its members through a wide variety of program activities and membership services, including:
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Participation in GRQC Workshops and Programs.
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Participation in GRQC’s community projects.
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Interaction with leaders and innovators regarding best practices in quality.
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Contributing to making the Greater Rochester area a community of excellence.
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Opportunities for networking with other organizations on the journey to excellence.
Our Champion and Advocate Level Members
