Healthcare
Medical Equipment and Supplies
NYSE:
IVC
Invacare
Corporation
One Invacare Way
PO BOX 4028
Elyria, OH 44036
A.Malachi Mixon
III
Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer
Interview conducted by:
Walter Banks , Co-Publisher
CEOCFOinterviews.com
March 2001
BIO
OF CEO
A.
Malachi (Mal) Mixon, III is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Invacare
Corporation (IVC:NYSE), the leading worldwide manufacturer and distributor of medical
products for the home health care market. 2000
sales were $1 billion. Mal led a leveraged
buy-out of Invacare in 1979, when sales were $19 million.
Mal serves on the boards
of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE), The Lamson & Sessions Company (NYSE) and
Primus Venture Partners, a leading Midwest venture capital firm. He also is a founding investor in MCM Capital
Corporation, a Cleveland leveraged buyout company; and RoundWood Capital, a Cleveland
limited money management partnership. Additionally,
Mal has been an active investor in several successful Cleveland-area ventures that became
public companies including Royal Appliance Manufacturing Company (NYSE), STERIS
Corporation (NYSE), and NCS HealthCare, Inc. (NASDAQ).
In September 2000, Mal
was honored as the Master Innovator at the
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield / Small Business News Business Conference. In 1999 and 1992, Mal was awarded the International Business Executive of the Year Award
by The Cleveland World Trade Association. He
was honored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society with the Hope Award for distinguished civic and
community service and the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization presented him
with the America’s Free Enterprise Legend Award
in 1997. Mal was inducted in 1996 as a
charter member into the Cleveland Business Hall of
Fame. The Paralyzed Veterans of America
honored him with the 1996 Corporate Patriot
Award in recognition of his significant commitment to the PVA and to all those who
have sacrificed in defense of our country. The National Society of Fund Raising
Executives Greater Cleveland Chapter honored Mal in 1995 as Outstanding Philanthropist. In 1992, he was awarded the Inc. Magazine Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award for
Northeast Ohio. The Harvard Business
School Club of Cleveland honored Mal with the Dively
Entrepreneurship Award in 1984.
A graduate of Leadership
Cleveland (1986), Mal's current civic activities include serving as Chairman of the Board
of Trustees of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He also serves on the boards of Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland Tomorrow, Students in Free Enterprise, and the Fred A.
Lennon Charitable Trust.
Mal is originally from
Oklahoma, and is a graduate of Harvard College (BA) and Harvard Business School (MBA). Between degrees, Mal served four years in the U.S.
Marine Corps, including a year in Vietnam, attaining the rank of Captain.
About
Invacare Corporation
Invacare Corporation
is the world's leading manufacturer and distributor of home medical products and enjoys
the leading market share position in a more than $6 billion worldwide market. In the 21
years since the current management has been in place, the company has grown from a small
U.S. company with two product lines, 350 employees and $19 million in annual sales, to an
international company that offers over two-dozen product lines in more than 80 countries,
employs more than 5,500 people throughout the world, and achieved $1.0 billion in sales
for 2000. The company's world headquarters are in Elyria, Ohio, located outside of
Cleveland.
CEOCFOinterviews - Mr. Mixon, could you
give us a brief history of Invacare Corporation?
Mr. Mixon: "This
is my 22nd year of running the company. We started as a LBO 21 years ago. I led a local group of Clevelanders and purchased
Invacare for approximately $8 million dollars from Johnson and Johnson. Sales at that time were $19 million dollars; we
had one million dollars in common stock; and we started out basically in a single product
category of standard wheelchairs. We went public in 1984 and switched to the New York
Stock Exchange a couple of years ago. In 2000, we had a billion dollars in sales, with a
market cap over a billion dollars and have set a new goal of becoming a $2 billion dollar
company in the next five years. We are the global leader in the manufacture and
distribution of innovative medical products used in the home care environment. About a
third of our business today comes from outside of the United States."
CEOCFOinterviews
- What is your product line right now, and how many products do you have?
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