Smart Business recently honored Invacare Corp. and its chairman and CEO, Mal Mixon with its Medical Mutual 2009 Pillar Awards with two awards for community service.
Invacare received the Medical Mutual S.H.A.R.E. award, which is annually presented to a company that exemplifies employee-driven community service, philanthropy or volunteerism.
Mixon received the Kent Clapp CEO Leadership Award, which recognizes a top executive of a for-profit company for creating a culture of giving.
Invacare is involved in various philanthropic efforts, including sponsorship of several local, national and international organizations, such as the Paralympics, the United Way of Greater Lorain County and Easter Seals.
It also operates the Invacare Gives Back program, which is designed to offer associates opportunities to better the local community. Through the program Invacare also participated in Harvest for Hunger, the Elyria Special Olympics and, the American Lung Association’s Asthma Walk.
Mixon’s civic activities include serving as chairman of the board of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, BioEnterprise and the Cleveland Institute of Music, which opened Mixon Hall, a state-of-the-art performance hall, in 2007. In addition, he established a chair in entrepreneurial studies at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Mixon also serves on the Visiting Committee of Harvard Business School and he has established a Mixon Scholarship in each new freshman class at Harvard College for students from Oklahoma, his home state, or Northeast Ohio.
