Steve Holladay was awarded ANAB’s first annual Terry Burgess Assessor of the Year Award.
Holladay has been working with ANAB since 1992 – when the organization was still known as RAB, first as a volunteer Operations Council member and subsequently as an accreditation assessor, while also serving on ISO/TC 176, the committee responsible for developing and maintaining the ISO 9000 quality management standards.
After graduating from the Auburn University School of Engineering, Holladay began his career as a safety and compliance inspector with the FAA. He then served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and later in various quality roles with Nekoosa and Union Camp over several years before he began his association with ANAB.
Holladay has been instrumental to the growth and development of ANAB through the years. He has dedicated many hours, including volunteer hours, to help the company become what it is today. When ANAB’s staff was small and needed technical assistance and hands-on help, he was always willing to dedicate time and energy to making our company better.
Holladay is deemed competent to conduct assessments for many of ANAB’s approximately 40 management systems accreditation programs, so his skills are much in demand.
When conducting assessments, Holladay has mastered the balance between requirements and business needs. He is known for being tough but understanding, making sure the customer is conforming while being open to new ideas. Holladay spends a great deal of time in discussion with customers on innovative ideas and business needs.
Today, Holladay continues to work with ANAB’s management systems business unit and he still serves on the Management Systems Accreditation Council. He is ANAB’s most active accreditation assessor for management systems, and serves as an Executive Assessment Team Leader – equivalent to an account manager – and as an Assessor Review Panel member, helping to evaluate other assessors to ensure ANAB assessors maintain a high level of competence and provide a consistent level of service and value to customers.
As his nomination stated, Holladay “has earned an uncompromising level of respect…. His interactions with his team members exhibits his excellent leadership qualities and respect for others. He has an innate ability to put the auditee at ease with his style of communications and patience.”
It is fitting that, like Terry Burgess, Holladay gained experience with quality and standards in the military, and went on to serve as an assessor for ANAB. Also like Burgess, he has helped shape ANAB into the organization it is today. He has been a teacher to all and a friend to many, and ANAB is very grateful for his contributions. He is a very deserving recipient of this award.
