Dr Manu Vora honored with ASQ’s Ishikawa Medal for innovative contributions and achievements

NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS: Dr. Manu K. Vora, of Naperville, Illinois, was honored by American Society for Quality (ASQ), with the Ishikawa Medal for his for his innovative contributions and achievements in quality.

The ASQ noted his extraordinary commitment to teams in corporate, academic, professional, and philanthropic domains. ASQ is the world’s largest network of quality resources and experts.

Dr. Vora is chairman and president of Business Excellence, Inc., a global quality management service firm. He has over 40 years of leadership experience guiding Fortune 500 companies with Baldrige Performance Excellence in the areas of leadership development, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and process excellence. For over 22 years, he has taught quality management, operations management, supply chain management, and project management courses at various business schools globally. He is a past vice president of ASQ, ASQ Fellow, and ASQ Certified Quality Engineer.

Two years ago the ASQ presented the  Spencer Hutchens Medal to Dr  Vora for his commitment to social responsibility in founding, funding, and leading the Blind Foundation for India.

The Blind Foundation for India has raised more than $3.5 million since 1989 to bring help to over 15 million blind in India.

“God gave us eye sight when we were born. By skipping a lunch or dinner, we can save $20, which will allow one cataract operation in India. Thus almost like God, we have the power to empower our blind brothers, sisters, and children in India," Vora says.

"It costs $4,000 to get Cataract done in USA, however, in India it takes only $20 to get a cataract operation done."

BFI has supported 100,000 free cataract operations, donated 104 mobile vans, distributed 10,000 Braille kits to blind children, performed eye sight checkup for more than one million people and completed child sight projects for over 450,000 school-going children.

“Major child sight projects are underway with our medical partners to do screening camps at public schools to examine eye sight of school-going children. So far, over 500,000 children have been examined, given medicine, glasses, Vitamin A, and in rare cases free cataract operations as necessary,” he said.

“In general 2-5 percent of youngsters in school have some eye related issues and they drop out from schools as they can not see what is written on a blackboard. By early intervention through medical partners, we provide brighter future to children afflicted with eye related issues.”

He said the situation as regards blindness has not improved much since he started the BFI. “Unfortunately, we still have the burden of 15 million blind in India which accounts for one out of every three blind people in the world.”

He said he always wanted to give back to society, because after losing his mother at age 4 and father when he was six, he was taken care of by the family. “Since God almighty has looked after me during my need, I firmly believe that I should make every effort to help others in need,” Vora said.

He has a special reason for focusing to help the blind.

“The seeds of helping blind may have something to do with my early days in high school in my home town of Amreli in Gujarat. In my eighth grade, during Diwali time, a fire cracker exploded in my face and my eyes were shut for 24 hours. That experience in 1959 left an indelible impression on me about the plight of blind people. Thirty years later in 1989, we started the Blind Foundation for India.”

Vora came to the US in 1968, on a JN Tata Endowment Scholarship to pursue higher studies.

Vora holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University. He also got an MBA with marketing management from the DeVry University’s Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago.

He also serves as an adjunct professor at Northern Illinois University’s College of Business.

He is a sought after speaker on business excellence and quality management topics with over 440 presentations globally and has published over 50 articles in professional journals. He has delivered executive education to audiences in Africa, Caribbean, Europe, Far East, Latin America, Middle East, and USA. Dr. Vora is serving on the Board of Examiners of the International Asia Pacific Global Performance Excellence Award Program since 2004.

He is recognized with numerous honors from ASQ including Grant Medal for quality management training, Hutchens Medal for Social Responsibility, Lancaster Medal for International quality contributions, and Distinguished Service Medal for his life-long service to Society.