Four people have been selected for ISU’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Presented annually since 1957, the Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have made significant achievements professionally and within their communities, locally and globally. The honorees will receive their awards November 5 at the inaugural President’s Dinner.
Michael “Mike” Alkire, ’85 Alkire grew up in Akron, Ohio, and was a two-time All-American swimmer before attending Indiana State. He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in computer science. Alkire now serves as President & CEO of Premier Inc., a technology-driven healthcare improvement company uniting an alliance of more than 4,400 hospitals and health systems and approximately 225,000 other providers and organizations. Since joining Premier, he has taken the company public and created more than $4 billion in value for member health systems across the country. Alkire is a thought leader in the healthcare industry, and led Premier’s efforts to address a nationwide drug shortage, testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives regarding Premier research on shortages and gray market price gouging. More recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he led his company to use domestic suppliers and global sourcing to bring 226 million masks and respirators, 106 million gowns, and 750 million exam gloves to U.S. providers in a time of need. Alkire currently serves on Premier Inc.’s Board of Directors as well as the board of the Alliance for Healthcare Policy, and participates on the Healthcare Leadership Council. He is also host of the InsideOut podcast, sharing compelling stories of innovation across America’s healthcare system. He was named one of the Top 25 chief operating officers in healthcare for 2018 by Modern Healthcare. Mike and his family reside in Dallas, Texas.
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