ASQ Vice President Visits Istanbul, Turkish Society for Quality

KalDer, the Turkish Society for Quality, held its 15th Annual Quality Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, November 20 – 22, 2006.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Quality of Thinking and Global Management.” Over 2,200 professionals attended the three day event. Activities taking place during the KalDer 15th Quality Congress were:

• International Quality Organizations and Professionals Summit
• Leadership Forum
• 2 Keynote Sessions
• 20 Parallel Sessions
• 11th Quality and Management Systems Fair

Grace Duffy, ASQ Vice President, represented ASQ during the International Quality Organizations and Professionals Summit. Grace shared the work of ASQ’s 2005 Futures Study with an audience of about 500 Turkish and international quality leaders. Other quality leaders on the “21st Century, Century of Quality” panel were: Panel Chair Dr. Tito Conti, President of the International Quality Academy; and Hakan Kilitcioglu, Secretary General of KalDer.

Two other panels were held during the International Quality Organizations and Professionals Summit. The first, chaired by Atakan Basturk, Secretary General of the Turkish Accreditation Agency, asked “Is Quality an ‘Out of Fashion’ concept?” Speakers on this panel were: Professor Mohamed Zairi, President of the Middle East Quality Association and Juran Chair in Total Quality Management, Bradford University, UK; Joal Teitelbaum, President of the Director Council of World Partner of ASQ in Brazil; and Nikos Ebeoglou, President of the Hellenic Management Association.

The third panel, chaired by Bahadir Akin, Member of the Board of the Turkish Society for Quality, was “Management Leadership Development for Quality Professionals.” Speakers for this subject were: Frank Steer, Director General of the Institute of Quality Assurance and Vice President of the European Organization for Quality; Hesam Aref Kashfi, President of the Iranian Society for Quality Managers; and Salvador Olivas, Director General of the Spanish Associate for Quality and Chairman of the Personal Registration Unit of the European Organization for Quality.

The KalDer conference provided a great opportunity for several of ASQ’s World Partners to share ideas and a vision of the future of quality. World Partners represented at the conference were: Brazil, Ireland, Germany, European Organization for Quality, Israel, Japan, Singapore, Canada, Turkey, and ASQ.