Invacare Corp.‘s high-profile chairman and CEO A. Malachi Mixon III — known to most people simply as Mal — plans to return to his chairman’s seat by the end of July.
The hard-living entrepreneur who threw in his life’s savings of $10,000 to lead the buyout of the home healthcare equipment and supply maker in 1979 has been on medical leave since late April. He is recovering from a mild stroke.
Securities analysts, investors and leaders in the medical equipment industry — for which Mixon has become a national spokesman — had begun to wonder when the 69-year-old “Mr. Invacare” would come back. Some had questioned whether he would use the medical leave as a door to retirement.
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But Mixon has been telling investors for years that he’s focusing on his industry’s political matters in Washington and his Elyria, Ohio company’s strategic direction, leaving the day-to-day management in the hands of Gerald B. Blouch, president and chief operating officer.
“So no one was surprised, and no one was overly concerned about the day-to-day operations” when Mixon took leave, said Lara Mahoney, director of investor relations and corporate communications.
In his company’s release on strong second-quarter earnings today, Mixon said he would return as chairman but made no mention of returning as CEO.
“I am pleased by the company’s performance and give full credit to interim Chief Executive Officer Gerry Blouch and the Invacare management team,” Mixon was quoted in the release. “Gerry will continue to act as interim CEO, as I return to my role as chairman of the board at the end of July. My thanks to Jim Boland for acting as interim chairman during my medical leave.”
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During a conference call with securities analysts, Jason Rodgers of Shaker Heights, Ohio-based research firm Soleil Great Lakes Review pressed Blouch about Mixon. “Is Mal intending to return as CEO, or will he remain as chairman?” Rodgers asked.
“He’s announced that he’s going to continue his rehab and that he’s returning, at the moment, as chairman of the board,” Blouch replied. “Jim Boland who’s been acting chairman will go back to his role as lead director. Mal is phasing himself back in. We’ll see what the future holds.”
Like any responsible publicly traded company, Mixon and his management team have a succession plan that kicked in “seamlessly” when Mixon took leave, Mahoney said. Blouch, 63, took over as interim CEO. Joining Invacare in 1990, Blouch has been Invacare’s president since 1996 and its chief operating officer since 1994.
His 20 years’ experience at Invacare has given Blouch “a deep knowledge and understanding of the company, and the financial and operational aspects of its business, as well as the competitive environment in which it operates,” Invacare said in its latest proxy statement.
“Mr. Blouch has demonstrated his leadership abilities and his commitment to the company since he was appointed an executive of Invacare in 1990, and his intimate knowledge of all of the major functional areas of the company is invaluable to the board,” Invacare said.
But Mal is … well, Mal. He’s the irreplaceable engineer of Invacare — the world’s largest maker and distributor of home and long-term care medical products. When Mixon and other investors bought the company in the late 1970s, Invacare was a sleepy maker of wheelchairs with annual sales of $19 million. Last year, Invacare’s sales were $1.7 billion.
Today, Mixon is a nationally recognized and influential medical equipment industry executive. He was a voice of reason for the industry during the national healthcare reform debate, last year’s Ohio budget crisis and the federal government’s aborted attempt at a competitive bidding process to determine Medicare reimbursements for some durable medical goods.
He is “a leading national spokesman for medical equipment manufacturers and distributors, and one of the visionary forces driving strategy and change across the industry,” Invacare said in its proxy statement.
He’s also a political force, working with Invacare’s senior vice president of government relations, Cara Bachenheimer, for nearly a decade to lobby Congress on everything from blocking a proposed sales tax on medical devices to reforming the oxygen benefit system. Last year, Invacare was the top spender of healthcare reform lobbying dollars among Ohio health companies, at $1.2 million.
At home, Mixon is an inveterate entrepreneur who cares about hospital management (he’s chairman of the trustee board at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation) and the development of young musicians (he’s also chairman of the Cleveland Institute of Music’s trustee board).
So as the government prepares for its second attempt at competitive bidding and considers more Medicare reimbursement changes, the home medical equipment industry may be heartened to know that Mixon is returning. It will be good to have you back, Mal.