Joseph T. Mallof
President and CEO
World Kitchen, LLC
BSIE '72
For his recognition as an international leader in the consumer-products industry and his dedication to Purdue University
Having grown up in Chicago, Joe Mallof liked the idea of applying math and science to solve real-world problems. The first in his family to go to college, Mallof admits to not knowing much about engineering schools then. A respected friend of his father was a Purdue engineer and had sent two of his own children to Purdue, so Mallof followed suit.
What did he like most about his time on campus? "Honestly, I loved the academic curriculum and the new worlds it opened up to me," Mallof says. "I even liked the courses outside of industrial engineering, such as a thermodynamics course where a professor built a mathematical model of a power plant during just one class."
Mallof also had Professor Jim Barany for several honors' classes. "He was my senior paper advisor and I was his teaching assistant," he says. "He gave me a lot of responsibility and trusted me, even when I screwed up. And this taught me a lot about life beyond academics."
After graduation, Mallof applied his engineering and management skills to the consumer goods industry. Over the years he demonstrated a consistent record of achieving profitable growth in a global economy for four major firms–all leaders in their field.
Now the leader at World Kitchen, Mallof finds himself applying skills and concepts he first encountered at Purdue almost every day in his job. "Sometimes the ideas have been updated to the current reality, but the underlying principles are the same," he says. "However, my biggest challenge today is developing the right strategy and then aligning and motivating the organization behind it."
With the success of World Kitchen brands that include CorningWare®, Pyrex®, Corelle®, Baker's Secret®, and many more, Mallof continues his successful track record in running a business with approximately 2,900 employees in the United States, Canada, and Asia-Pacific regions.
Mallof also envisions engineers moving into more non-industry fields, including government operations and healthcare to address societal problems like water quality and supply. "An engineering education must evolve to address these new areas," he says, "perhaps making biology as important as physics and chemistry."
His interest in supporting engineering education, and Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering in particular, is evidenced by his role on the school's advisory board and the Professor James W. Barany Scholarship that Mallof and his wife Virginia started in 2005. The endowment, which provides monetary support to undergraduates, honors the great impact Professor Barany had on Mallof.
As for the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award, Mallof finds the recognition very personally satisfying. "But as important," he says, "I hope that my story in some small way serves as a model to others."
Career Highlights
| 2006-present | President and CEO World Kitchen, LLC |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Outstanding Industrial Engineering Award School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University |
| 2002-2006 | President and CEO CIBA Vision |
| 1997-2002 | Board of Directors Hormel Foods |
| 1995-2002 | Executive Vice President then President of North American Consumer Products (1995-98); President of Central and South America (1999); and President of Asia (2000-2002) S.C. Johnson and Son |
| 1974-1995 | Various marketing and senior management positions in the U.S., Italy, Philippines and Japan Procter and Gamble |
BSIE '72, Purdue University
MBA '74, University of Chicago