The Statistics Division of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) selected A. Blanton Godfrey as the recipient of the 2016 William G. Hunter Award.

The Hunter award was established by the statistics division in 1987 to recognize the many contributions of its founding chair to promoting the use of applied statistics and statistical thinking. The attributes that characterize Hunter’s career—consultant, educator for practitioners, communicator, and integrator of statistical thinking into other disciplines—are used to help decide the recipient.

Blanton Godfrey is well known to many in industry and academia as a visionary leader in applied statistics and quality. He has made effective contributions to a wide array of application areas that include new technology development, manufacturing, product reliability and quality, and health care quality. The Joseph D. Moore Distinguished University Professor in North Carolina State University’s College of Textiles, Godfrey also served as dean from 2000–2014. He was chair and CEO of Juran Institute from 1987 to July 2000. From 1973 to 1987, he was a member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, the last five years as head of the quality theory and technology department.

Blanton Godfrey

Godfrey’s interests cover many areas of mathematical and applied statistics and quality management. He has had a long involvement in health care quality management and currently serves as a member and past chair of the board of directors for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He also contributed to the creation of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and served as a judge for the first three years of the award.

Godfrey has given seminars, consulted, or taught courses in more than 60 countries and his written materials have been translated, collectively, in more than 15 languages. He has personally worked with many of the top executives of leading companies throughout the world.