`CREATING VALUE' THEME OF BUSINESS CONFERENCE

"Quality Service: A Constant Challenge" will be the topic of Arnold M. Weimerskirch during the 1995 business conference to be held April 12 at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Weimerskirch, vice president of corporate quality for Honeywell Inc. in Minneapolis, Minn., and former chairman of the Panel of Judges for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, will be keynote speaker at a noon luncheon of the one-day conference.

The event is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce University Relations Committee and Southeast Missouri State University's Donald L. Harrison College of Business.

"Creating Value" is the theme of the 1995 conference.

The program is divided into two sessions: a retail panel discussion with opening remarks by Dan Wood, executive vice president of the Tommy Hilfiger line of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, Chicago, Ill., and a special health-care panel with opening remarks by Kathleen Steele of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Kansas City.

"The conference will bring together some of the major players who will be determining the quality of our business environment," said John Mehner, president of the Chamber of Commerce. He said that the conference is designed for large and small businesses. "It will present some real issues that businesspeople must contend with in order to meet the challenges of the future."

Weimerskirch, who joined Honeywell in 1960, has served in a number of positions of increasing responsibility in product quality, electronics component testing, and test equipment design.

He is a registered professional engineer and was founder of the Minnesota State Quality Award. He is coauthor of "Total Quality Management -- Strategies and Techniques Proven at Today's Most Successful Companies," a book published in 1994 by John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Weimerskirch is also a member of the Board of Judges for the U.S. Government President's Award.

Wood will head the retail session, starting at 8 a.m. Following Wood's remarks, a local panel will discuss area retailing. Bert J. Kellerman, associate dean of the Harrison College of Business, will serve as moderator. The panel includes Judith R. Wilferth, president, Children's Bazaar; Harry Rediger, manager, J.C. Penney Co. Inc.; Charles L. Hutson, president, Hutson Furniture Co.; and Dennis Marchi, manager, Schnucks.

The health panel will start at 9:45. Steele, who serves a four-state region for the health and human services group, is a former Missouri state representative, having served three terms from the 2nd District. She will discuss "current issues facing business and what the future holds."

Karen Hendrickson, assistant administrator at Southeast Missouri Hospital, will serve as moderator of the health session. Health-care panelists will include Belinda Heimericks, executive director of the Missouri Nurses Association, who will discuss "Patient Care Issues in a Reformed Environment;'" Charlotte Craig, administrator of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Department, who will talk about "Health-Care Issues at the County Level;" Ron Cates, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Health, who will discuss "Missouri issues;" and William Shell, president of MedAmerica HealthNet Inc., who will discuss "Physician Hospital Organization."

Cost of the seminar, including the noon luncheon, is $40 per person. Cost for students is $10 for the luncheon. Conference sessions are free for students.

Registration at the conference will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Additional information is available by contacting the Chamber of Commerce at 335-3312.

CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE

Where: Show Me Center.

When: 7:30 a.m., registration; 8 a.m.. retail panel; 9:30 a.m., coffee break; 9:45 a.m., health-care panel; 11:30 a.m., lunch, keynote speaker.

Cost: $40 per person, include all sessions and luncheon; $25 morning sessions (no luncheon); $25 luncheon only; $10 student luncheon cost (conference sessions free for students).

Parking: Show Me Center parking lot.