Terri Brelsford is an executive consultant with the Federal Quality Consulting Group on special assignment from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). She works with government executives to transform culture and systems to create a customer-driven government. She uses the principles of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the recommendations of the Vice President's National Performance Review when she customizes and instructs seminars and consults with executives.
Terri has extensive experience in managing large organizations and leading change for a high-performing customer-driven government. At the PTO, she led her 800-person organization including line operations for processing patent applications, direct public services, and administration functions, to win the Secretary of Commerce Quality Award and the government-wide Quality Improvement Prototype Award. As leader of PTO "corporate consultant" activities, she guided the PTO in becoming customer-focused, with customer needs and expectations serving as the basis for strategic planning, budgeting, and business processing reengineering of the PTO's major processes.
She has given presentations and workshops to thousands of people in both the public and private sectors to share experiences that led to successful business results. She served as a judge for the Presidential Quality Award for several years and is a member of the Alliance for Business Excellence. As a prior senior executive consultant with the Federal Quality Institute, she assisted other federal agencies in their transformation to a government that works better and costs less.
Terri is the recipient of many awards including the Department of Commerce's highest honor, the Gold Medal Award; the Outstanding Public Service Award from the American Society for Public Administration; and the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive.
She has a B.A. from Catholic University of America, has completed graduate courses at George Washington University, and is pursuing a Certificate in Advanced Public Management from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. She has two sons and lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband.