A. Malachi Mixon III — known to most as Mal — is one of the Cleveland healthcare industry’s entrepreneurial successes. But that’s just one of the reasons why he is MedCity Media’s first recipient of “The Cities” Medical Mayor award, which recognizes his insight, vision and contributions to healthcare. “The Cities” awards honor the best, brightest and most innovative in Cleveland’s healthcare scene.
Mixon’s story, told modestly, goes something like this: A small-town Oklahoma boy becomes the first from his school to attend an Ivy League college, and after a four-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps and a return to Harvard for a business degree, he recruits some investors and uses his own savings to purchase a wheelchair company. He then spends the next 30 years developing that company into the world’s largest home healthcare device maker and distributor.
Mixon purchased Invacare from Johnson & Johnson’s Technicare unit in 1979, when the company had about $19 million in annual sales. He took it public in 1984 for $11 a share. When he gave up his post as CEO this past November, Invacare was trading for around $27 a share and made $1.7 billion in annual sales in 80 countries.
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Throughout his tenure, Mixon diversified the company by completing roughly 57 acquisitions, growing it from three factories with 300 employees to more than two dozen factories with 3,600 employees. Invacare has churned out innovative wheelchairs, devices and equipment for the comfort and care of seniors and people with disabilities.
“I added 6,000 jobs in the world — I’m pretty proud of that,” he said reflecting on his accomplishments with the company. “We were an obscure wheelchair company in the early years and have grown to be the biggest company in our market.”
But his contributions to the healthcare community don’t stop there. He’s also helped launch several companies in Cleveland — most notably another big medical player, Steris Corp.
In his “off time,” Mixon has devoted himself to many community organizations; for starters, he was part of the group that founded BioEnterprise, the economic development organization that has helped put and keep Cleveland on the radar as a hotspot for healthcare innovation.
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He also served as chairman of the board of trustees at the Cleveland Clinic for 13 years and is now chairman emeritus of the board of directors and board of trustees.
A trained piano player and self-proclaimed classical music lover, Mixon also sits as chairman of the board of trustees for the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Although Mixon stepped down as CEO of Invacare in November, he remains chairman of the board of trustees and is still involved in the big-picture happenings of the company. “I’m spending a lot of my time on Washington matters, because reimbursement is the key to our future,” he said.
In 2009, Invacare led the way in lobbying spending among Ohio healthcare organizations, a testament to the company’s efforts in Washington, D.C. Over the past decade, Mixon has become an outspoken advocate for home healthcare, lobbying on issues from Medicare reimbursement to the medical device tax. He says his biggest concern now is the uncertainty of where healthcare is headed policy-wise and the lack of a clear vision in Washington.
Uncertainty aside, Mixon looks forward to expanding research and development efforts at Invacare over the next several years and watching his company continue to grow.
