WINNING the Malcolm Baldrige - Los Alamos National Bank receives Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award - Brief Article

Chief Executive, The, August, 2001 by Bill Enloe

BILL ENLOE, CEO of Los Alamos National Bank, heard the good news last November during a brief phone call from then-U.S. Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta: The New Mexico bank had won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, one of the most coveted prizes in business.

The $660 million-asset bank had been chosen for its customer service and financial strength, as well as its support of Los Alamos after fire devastated much of the town last summer.

The wind-whipped blaze, which began as a "prescribed burn" set by the National Park Service, grew into New Mexico's largest-ever wildfire and destroyed 200 homes. The bank responded by offering no-interest loans to victims and negotiating with Fannie Mae to suspend mortgage payments on lost homes. It also distributed food and clothing, and paid employees who helped in the relief effort.

For Enloe, receiving the Baldrige award marked a high point in his 30-year career with the financial institution. "It was momentous," he says, recalling the day he learned of the honor. "After the announcement, you could hear the buzz all over the bank."

Yet the 53-year-old CEO insists the award's biggest benefit wasn't the headlines it garnered. The real value came months earlier, as the 200-employee bank put together its application. That task forced the bank to take a hard look at its operations, Enloe says, and "put some time frames on improvement in certain areas."

Take the loan department, for instance. Bank managers saw that much of the paperwork accompanying loans was lost or incomplete. The problem? Los Alamos' loan processing system was too decentralized. "There was a department for this document and for that document," Enloe recalls. So the division was reorganized, and loan officers began working more collaboratively to insure applications are complete and customers receive speedy replies.

Such changes helped the bank better serve its customers--and no doubt impressed the Baldrige award judges.