Joe F. Alexander

Dr. Joe F. Alexander is a long-time advocate for managing by facts but with a heart for people. He spent over forty years working in higher education, splitting nearly equal time between classroom and leadership roles. Joe earned a reputation for improving organizational performance through consensus-building leadership and strong collaboration with key internal and external partners. Alexander earned a B.B.A from Harding University and an M.B.A. and Doctorate (in marketing) from the University of Memphis. He is a firm believer in the practice and pursuit of “kaizen”—continuous improvement toward personal, professional, and spiritual growth. A Six Sigma Black Belt and Fulbright Fellow (Japan), Joe is past-president of the nine-state AACSB Midwest Business Deans Association and has served as board chair for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Foundation, HCA’s Centennial Medical Center, the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE), and Rochester Christian University. He also served as a shepherd on a team of individuals that helped plant Journey Christian Church in Greeley, Colorado. In 2004, Joe led a team of faculty, staff, student leaders, and university/community stakeholders at the University of Northern Colorado’s Monfort College of Business to earning the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award from the President of the United States. Monfort remains the only business school to ever earn that distinction. He was also the 2014 recipient of the Ned McWherter Leadership Award by TNCPE. Named after Tennessee’s former governor, the annual award recognizes one individual in the State who exemplifies outstanding leadership in the pursuit of organizational performance excellence and who has worked to further performance improvement beyond the boundaries of his or her own organization. Most importantly, Joe is a Christian husband, father, and now grandfather. At sixty-five years old, he remains very much a student at heart.