If you need someone to teach you about measurement, Heather Wade would be a good person to call.  

Heather knows a lot about measurement—she has decades of experience, has written and edited a 700-page book on the subject, and taught around the world. And perhaps most appealing, her expertise is matched by her enthusiasm.   

“She’s one in a million,” says Bob Bluhm, a consulting client and CEO of Norway Labs. “She’s a great teacher. She can do it in way that is not condescending, not preachy. She shares this same sense of awe and wonder as you approach this topic. The joy in seeing you learn. That’s a good teacher and a great person.”  

“Heather gets along with everybody,” says Dilip Shah, an ASQ Fellow and mentor. “She treats everybody with respect. That is another quality. She is humble. She knows a lot but she’s able to convey that information in a humble, non-intimidating way.” 

Clients and colleagues mentioned her passion for the subject, her approachable teaching style, and her sense of humor.  

Quality is proud to name Heather Wade our 2026 Quality Professional of the Year.  

The Expert Gets Started 

As a child, Heather once threw a tantrum at closing time at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History because she didn’t want to leave; she was enamored by the exhibits. This sense of wonder and excitement has stayed with her. Science was always part of her plan. She has a degree in biology from the University of Michigan and made her way through several lab jobs and eventually landed at NSF International.  

This felt like a master’s degree in life, she said, as she learned how to talk to people and explain things. If you get too technical, no one understands, but talking down to people doesn’t work either. At NSF International, she was hired as the Laboratory Calibration Officer. When she read the job description, she thought, “this is me.”  

“I felt like I had arrived home,” Heather says. “For so long it didn’t feel like work because I loved it so much.”  

After leaving NSF, she opened her own consulting business in May 2019. “I’d already been presenting at conferences and with the ASQ Measurement Quality Division booth for years. I was excited to network and meet new people and I worked hard to answer questions that people had.”  

During her NSF work, she would be referring people to different consultants and thought, ‘I could do this.’ 

Her colleagues in the metrology world helped her get started, with advice on consulting work as well as details like which laptop to get for traveling and which credit card would be useful for airport lounge access. The work went well. In October 2019, she went through accreditation assessor training with American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) and began assessing testing and calibration labs for A2LA. 

“I didn’t realize I could enjoy it as much as I did,” Heather says.  

It was nice to hear feedback as an assessor. She repeatedly heard people say “Thank you. We were nervous but you really helped us understand the requirements.”  

As an assessor, “We’re going in not trying to be punitive,” Heather says. “We’re looking for compliance and assuming conformance. If we find it isn’t there, we look for other evidence to support requirements. I try to put people at ease.” 

When performing her technical observations, she recognizes, “It’s stressful enough doing your own job, let alone have someone watch you work.” She assures people: “This is open book, it’s phone-a-friend, and if all else fails I do accept interpretive dance.” 

She tries to read body language and observe if someone is making a mistake because of nerves or something in the process. “I strongly believe it’s the process not the people.”  

She wants to help clients. “I’m always seeking to improve my skillset and knowledge to better serve my own and accreditation clients.”  

And sometimes this means Monty Python quotes. (“Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition!”) Colleagues and clients vouched for her sense of humor. Bluhm appreciated her “really bad jokes and puns and deep knowledge of Monty Python. I’d start out with random Monty Python jokes, and she would finish it.” 

700 Pages of Metrology 

It’s not all jokes though. She also has done important work as an author and the editor of The ASQ Metrology Handbook, 3^rd Edition. 

In her nomination, current ASQ-Measurement Quality Division Chair Patrick Jester wrote, “As editor, she authored or co-authored 36 of the 44 chapters and was responsible for reviewing the entire text, correcting errors, updating references, securing permissions, and refining content for clarity and accuracy. The ASQ Metrology Handbook, 3rd Edition, published in January 2023 significantly expanded, growing from 540 to over 700 pages and incorporating critical updates on ISO standards, metrological traceability, software validation, competency determinations, measurement uncertainty, risk and decision rules, chemical and microbiological traceability and uncertainty, and more.” 

Along with Heather, the contributing authors for the ASQ Metrology Handbook, 3rd Edition were Jane Weitzel, Walter Nowocin, Georgia Harris, Henry Zumbrun II, Pamela Wright, Paul Keep, and Anthony (Tony) Hamilton. 

As one of the contributing authors, Jane Weitzel worked closely with Heather on their chapter in the Metrology Handbook, 3^rd Edition as well as together on the 2020-2025 USP Expert Committee on Measurement & Data Quality. Weitzel, Chair of the 2020-2025 USP Expert Committee on Measurement & Data Quality and fellow A2LA Assessor, says Heather is a great leader. “She listens. She doesn’t raise anybody’s feathers. She brings everybody in gently,” Weitzel says.  

The book turned out well. 

Jd Marhevko and Heather go way back. Marhevko is an ASQ Fellow, 2015 Howard Jones Award, 2016 Dorian Shainin Medal Awardee, and the 2020 Inaugural Inductee to Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame.  

Marhevko says she rarely buys hardcover books, but “I bought hers, and already read it cover to cover. She’s always relevant, not the same old, same old.”  

Heather’s conference sessions are updated and useful, as in a recent round robin session on calibration, Marhevko says, and her personality draws people to her as well.  

“She’s just a blast, vivacious, easy to talk to, easy to approach, there’s not a person that she doesn’t like, I don’t think,” Marhevko says. “It makes it very easy to get the answer. She brings the energy. She’s a great role model. Calibration is not fall-off-a-log easy, but she will explain and reexplain and make sure that people understand the concept.” 

“Most of the products and industries we’re in, if you get safety wrong, people will die, literally die,” Marhevko says, citing aerospace, automotive, food. It’s crucial that gaging and measurement systems are working properly. “She takes the time to make sure that people understand it. She’s well-deserving. She’s dedicated to her craft and the sciences. It’s not easy writing a book of that magnitude and she’s done it.”  

“I’ve got six books out there myself, so I know what it takes,” Marhevko says. “She’s out there making a difference in the word. She’s making sure people understand the criticality of measurement systems in the world.” 

Not only did the book turn out well, but the process also went smoothly.  

Lillian McAnally, ASQ Quality Press managing editor, enjoyed working with Heather on the book. “She did a great job working with the ASQ division that created the first and second editions. The editor and an author of those editions, Jay Bucher, passed away, and she did an excellent job of honoring Jay’s legacy. She remained true to the initial editor, which says a lot about her and her respect across the industry.”  

“I just remembered the publication staff saying ‘Can you send more like Heather?’” says Michael Byrnes, executive director ASQE. “She’s a delight to work with. She made working with her fun. She’s definitely one of a kind. Kudos to her.” 

And even after such a big project, “She’s never relented. She’s giving back to the industry in ways that she doesn’t have to.” 

“Her volunteering and dedication is commendable,” Byrnes says. “Long may that spread to other quality professionals.”  

It takes a range of skills to succeed in quality. Technical skills are one thing, but corralling volunteers takes a special set of skills, as does organizing conferences. As the ASQ Measurement Quality Division Chair 2021–2022, she brought back the ASQ-MQD annual conference after an absence of more than 15 years, expanding it into a multi-day event. 

Gary Hinshaw met Heather through the ASQ Measurement Quality division. “I’ve learned so much from her. She’s a great teacher, great instructor.  She has this knack for teaching people,” Hinshaw says. “She does so many things. It’s a lot, and she puts her heart and soul into everything. I don’t know how she does it.”

Museums, Hiking, Travel 

When I spoke to Heather, the power had gone out at her house in Michigan, but that didn’t stop her from our conversation. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her wife. “She makes it completely possible to do the work I do,” Heather says. They went to Germany in December for one of Heather’s accreditation assessments, and by the end of the week she felt more confident interacting again in German.  

“One of the challenges of being your own boss, there’s always work to do,” Heather says. (Though she notes she does have a great boss.) She enjoys hiking, relaxing on their pontoon boat (named “The Office”), and is learning to train their new puppy—“Basically his attitude is, why should I do it your way?”—and enjoying audio books. (As of January 9, she had already listened to three and usually consumes a couple hundred audiobooks a year.) She also enjoys spending time with friends, going to concerts, plays, and museums, including the ones in Chicago. And she manages to leave museums these days without any tantrums. 

Museums, Hiking, Travel 

When I spoke to Heather, the power had gone out at her house in Michigan, but that didn’t stop her from our conversation. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her wife. “She makes it completely possible to do the work I do,” Heather says. They went to Germany in December for one of Heather’s accreditation assessments, and by the end of the week she felt more confident interacting again in German.  

“One of the challenges of being your own boss, there’s always work to do,” Heather says. (Though she notes she does have a great boss.) She enjoys hiking, relaxing on their pontoon boat (named “The Office”), and is learning to train their new puppy—“Basically his attitude is, why should I do it your way?”—and enjoying audio books. (As of January 9, she had already listened to three and usually consumes a couple hundred audiobooks a year.) She also enjoys spending time with friends, going to concerts, plays, and museums, including the ones in Chicago. And she manages to leave museums these days without any tantrums.