The average tenure of chief executive officers of large U.S. companies is 9.8 years, according to a recent study by consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. Naturally, there are always exceptions to the law of averages: A. Malachi Mixon III has been CEO of Invacare Corp. for 28 years.
In January 1979, Mixon used $10,000 of his own money and led a leveraged buyout of Invacare with annual revenues of just $19 million. Since then, Mixon has grown Elyria-based Invacare into a $1.6 billion worldwide enterprise that manufactures and distributes medical products including wheelchairs, home-care beds and respiratory products, among others.
Mixon and his company have been awarded dozens of international, national, regional and local business and entrepreneurial awards. In fact, Invacare was the first Centurion award winner in the Weatherhead 100. Mixon also has received numerous humanitarian awards for his leadership in philanthropy and in the Greater Cleveland community.
Most recently, Mixon received the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award, the school's highest honor. It is presented to Harvard Business School alumni whose lives and careers epitomize the school's mission to "educate leaders who make a difference in the world."
Harvard Business School presented the award to Mixon in part because his leadership puts a premium on new product development and innovation, while providing help and hope to people of all ages with disabilities.
"When I think of all of the people who have graduated from Harvard Business School, it was a nice honor," says Mixon. In addition to graduating from Harvard Business School, he also graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor of arts.
Although Mixon led Invacare through years of strong growth, it has recently fallen into some challenging times.
"Life doesn't go in a straight line, and neither do companies," says Mixon. "We have been severely tested by two things, changes in the reimbursement policy of the U.S. government for our products and very strong competition from China."
Despite the company's two-year stock slide, Mixon is confident that Invacare is turning around. After hitting a recent low of $17.35 on May 15, 2007, the stock recently rebounded to about $27 per share. "Seeing your net worth disappear before your eyes is certainly a sobering experience," reflects Mixon. "You can either walk away from it or you can become more resolute, and I think our Invacare team has chosen to reach down and take the steps necessary to restructure our company.
"We boldly moved a lot of our operations to China, set up a purchasing office in Hong Kong, and we cut a lot of costs out of the company. As a result of the steps we have taken, Invacare will be a much stronger and more efficient company compared to our competitors."
Mixon says he's looking forward to the next chapter of Invacare's story to be the best one of all.