Pensacola Blue Wahoos Principal Owner Quint Studer Wins 2025 Baldrige Foundation Leadership Award

Quint Studer, principal owner of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and co-founder of Pensacola’s Healthcare Plus Solutions Group^® (HPSG), has been named one of the 2025 recipients of the Baldrige Foundation Leadership Excellence Awards. The award, given by the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Inc., recognizes leaders who embody Baldrige leadership and management values.

Studer is one of four healthcare leaders who received the honor.

Studer has a history of Baldrige recognition. Fifteen years ago, Studer Group, his company at the time, was selected as one of seven U.S. recipients of the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. He says he was inspired to apply for the award when organizations his firm worked with followed the Baldrige framework.

“The Baldrige framework made them better,” says Studer. “And some of them ended up receiving the Baldrige Award. We decided to go through the process too. We applied for the Baldrige Award several times and finally won. It was exciting, but more important, it made us better.”

After leaving Studer Group, he founded Healthcare Plus Solutions Group along with business partner Dan Collard.

“At HPSG, we continue to live by the principles Baldrige stands for,” Studer adds. “We never stop trying to get stronger and better. We feel we owe it to our partners.”

In addition to his healthcare leadership work, Studer applies Baldrige principles to his efforts to serve communities across the U.S. that are on the path to vibrancy. He is the founder of Studer Community Institute (SCI), which advances early brain development and leadership training. He also founded the Center for Civic Engagement, which focuses on bringing community best practices to the Pensacola, Florida area. His efforts have helped revitalize Pensacola, driving significant growth and earning national recognition.

Studer and his wife, Rishy, are active philanthropists and have donated to a variety of organizations in healthcare, community development, education, and more. Recipients include Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart, Baptist Healthcare Behavioral Medicine Center, Bear Levin Studer Family YMCA, the University of West Florida, the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition, Bruce Beach Park, and many other community groups.

The Foundation’s Leadership Awards will be presented during the Foundation Awards Ceremony held as part of the annual Quest for Excellence^® conference in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 1, 2025.

About the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Inc.:

The Baldrige Foundation was created as the private partner to the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program in 1988. Its mission is to ensure the long-term financial viability of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and to support organizational performance excellence throughout the U.S. and the world. The Baldrige Program, located at NIST within the U.S. Department of Commerce, is a separate entity and is solely responsible for managing and administering the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. For more information on the Baldrige Award process, please visit: https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/baldrige-award?blm_aid=959513.

About Quint Studer:

Quint Studer is a businessman, entrepreneur, and leadership expert dedicated to helping organizations and communities thrive. He founded Studer Group, which improved education and healthcare outcomes and earned the Malcolm Baldrige Award before its acquisition in 2015.

He later went on to found Healthcare Plus Solutions Group^® (HPSG), along with longtime colleague Dan Collard. The mission of the organization is to have a positive impact on those who receive care and those who provide care. HPSG specializes in helping healthcare organizations to diagnose and treat their most urgent pain points in order to achieve and sustain results.

Quint is also active in community revitalization, founding Studer Community Institute (SCI), which advances early brain development and leadership training. He also founded the Center for Civic Engagement, which focuses on bringing community best practices to the Pensacola, Florida area. His efforts helped revitalize Pensacola, driving significant growth and earning national recognition. Quint is also heavily engaged in Rock County, Wisconsin. He owns the Beloit Sky Carp, a minor league baseball team, and has invested in Block 42 and now Block 43 in Janesville. In addition, he and his wife, Rishy, have donated $1 million to UW-Whitewater for scholarships, $500,000 to the Stateline Community Foundation, and $100,000 to the Children’s Museum in remembrance of Sam Loizzo.

Quint is the author of 16 books, beginning with his first title, BusinessWeek bestseller Hardwiring Excellence. While most of his books are geared to those working in healthcare, two of his general business books—Results That Last and The Busy Leader’s Handbook—became Wall Street Journal bestsellers. In 2021, he released The Calling: Why Healthcare Is So Special, which is aimed at helping healthcare professionals keep their sense of passion and purpose high. In 2023, the book Sundays with Quint, a collection of his most popular leadership columns, was released.

A newer book, Rewiring Excellence: Hardwired to Rewired, provides tools and techniques that are doable and that help employees and physicians experience joy in their work as well as enhance patients’ and families’ healthcare experiences. The Human Margin: Building the Foundations of Trust, written in partnership with Katherine A. Meese, PhD, was published in March 2024 by Health Administration Press (ACHE).