Dan Hargett, Vice President for Microelectronics for Lockwood Greene, has been named the 1999 recipient of the Milliken Medal of Quality.  The announcement was made by Suzanne Rast, Chair of the South Carolina Quality Forum.  Mr. Hargett will receive the award during the South Carolina Governor's Quality Award Conference on April 29, 1999 in Columbia, South Carolina.

The Milliken Medal of Quality was established to recognize South Carolinians of extraordinary vision who have demonstrated leadership, innovation, and outstanding achievement in implementing quality systems in their organizations and communities, and who have been an inspiration for others to follow.  Hargett provided leadership for MEMC to become the recipient of the first South Carolina Governor's Quality Award in 1995. Additionally, under Hargett's leadership, MEMC received the Governor's Award for Leadership in Hazardous Waste Reduction and the State Chamber of Commerce "Best TQM Award." Hargett established the Upstate South Carolina Business/Education Council to bring education and business communities together to better prepare young people to compete in the global economy of the 21st century. The interaction between industry and education led to the transfer to education of quality concepts that had been successful in business. The Greenville-Spartanburg Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa honored Mr. Hargett with the 1995 Friend of Education Award for his outstanding contributions in bringing industry and education to the same table to talk about working together to prepare young people for careers in the future. 

As a member of the National Quality Board for the United Way, Dan Hargett worked to establish the National Quality Award for non-profit organizations. The program was designed to encourage the use of quality concepts to drive performance improvement in non-profit organizations across the country. He served as advisor to the United Way of the Piedmont which won the National Award for Quality in Non-Profit Organizations. Hargett was named by the South Carolina Association of Public Information Officers as the South Carolina Business Leader of the Year. Hargett served as a board member for the Spartanburg Chamber Quality Committee, for the South Carolina Quality Institute, and on Advisory Board of the South Carolina Quality Forum. 
According to John Stockwell, Chancellor of the University of South Carolina Spartanburg, "among Hargett's greatest contributions to quality are those number of professionals who have worked with him and who themselves have become leaders in the quality movement."

Hargett stated that "selection by one's peers for work in such an excellence driven field as quality is as good as it gets. My success is the direct result of shared learning from the many truly great quality professionals that have taught me over the years. I have been blessed by the fact that all firms I have worked for have valued the concepts of quality and used them to drive their business." 

Hargett works at Lockwood Greene corporate headquarters in Spartanburg, South Carolina and directs their overall microelectronics business worldwide. 

For more information about the South Carolina Quality Forum or the Milliken Medal of Quality, contact the Forum at 1-888-231-0578.