Reid Hospital Governing Board
Quigg carries on family tradition of service to Reid
Bill Quigg
Leads 103-year-old business
From the time he was 12 years old, governing board member Bill Quigg said, his father let him work in the family business at Richmond Baking Co.
A Richmond native and Richmond High School graduate, Quigg earned a bachelor's degree in human resources from Miami University in Oxford, OH. He was working full-time at the baking company during the time he completed a Master's in Business Administration at Miami University as part of the school's nighttime executive program.
"That was a valuable experience," Quigg said. "I could learn and apply it on the job."
In 2002, Richmond Baking Co. celebrated its centennial. As part of the ceremonies, Quigg recalled, "Dad ‘passed the apron' to me. It was very special and a complete surprise." Speaking of his years preparing to be president of Richmond Baking Co., Quigg said, "The thing Dad did was allow me to make decisions, make mistakes and learn from them."
Richmond Baking Co. is FDA registered and tests new materials and finished products. "We must meet new requirements all the time," Quigg said. The company does contract manufacturing for Keebler/Nabisco and Procter and Gamble. One of Richmond Baking's most successful products is a Metamucil wafer.
Quigg, his wife, Valerie, and his stepdaughter, Elaina, live in the Richmond area, but Quigg, a licensed pilot, flies to and spends some time each month at each of the plants. The Richmond plant employs 130, followed by the Georgia operation with 80 employees, and 15 at the Portland plant.
Following in the path of his Uncle Bill, and his father, Jim, Bill Quigg says he is pleased to be a member of Reid Hospital's Governing Board.
The Reid board, he said, is one of the best in the community. "The people on this board are good individuals. I feel absolutely honored to have been asked to serve on this board," he said.
"This has been a learning experience," Quigg said of his 15 months as a board member. "I feel very challenged, but I feel open to ask questions. I take away as much as I give."
Quigg, president of Richmond Baking Co., said he now uses the "red, yellow, green" approach that Reid has implemented for its clinical quality efforts. "All our managers now have a red, yellow, green dashboard on everything they do."
Quigg said he has particularly learned the impact the Medicare/Medicaid shortfall has on hospitals. "As a business owner, I believed that Medicare was a Reid problem." Now, he said, he understands the pressure Reid and other hospitals feel under shrinking federal reimbursements, making it a problem for every business and employer.
"I don't believe the general public understands. The problems (with the shortfall in funding) are not being solved, and I wonder what it's going to take for changes to occur."
Quigg looks forward to the flexibility and opportunity to use technology that the New Reid will offer. "The flexibility built into the New Reid will allow us to change the delivery of health care if we need to," he said. "The whole point is we don't know what the needs of the aging population will be." He cited the current prevalence of diabetes and obesity among the population. "Five years ago, we didn't know what a big deal that would be."
Technology, he said, should help the new hospital be as efficient as possible. "With bar coding and computers, we are catching potential errors. The key will be how we integrate technology to help our personnel provide customer-driven health care."
Reid President Barry MacDowell praised Quigg as "a quick study."
"He asks appropriate, insightful questions," MacDowell said. "And he offers input that is reasoned and sound. Bill, as the youngest board member, will definitely play an important role in Reid's future."
Besides its local headquarters, Richmond Baking Co. has two plants: One is in Alma, GA, started 25 years ago to produce coatings for the fish and chicken industries.
Three years ago, the company built a new plant in Portland, Ore. That venture, Quigg said, prepared him for what is transpiring with the New Reid project.
"I learned a lot about facilities and financing because it was a ‘green field' project," Quigg said.
