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Honors Program names Michael C. Maibach as inaugural winner of Outstanding Alumni Award

November 5, 2012
Michael C. Maibach

Michael C. Maibach

Michael C. Maibach, a former high-ranking Intel Corp. executive who more recently served as president of the European-American Business Council, has been named as the inaugural recipient of the University Honors Outstanding Alumni Award.

Maibach will visit campus Tuesday, Nov. 13, for an invitation-only awards ceremony luncheon that will include the kickoff of a new NIU University Honors Lectures Series. The University Honors Committee and University Honors Program established the new alumni award this past spring.

“Our goal is to recognize the accomplishments of our program graduates and highlight them as positive role models for current honors students,” said Christopher Jones, associate vice provost for University Honors.

Beginning in 2003, Maibach served for nearly a decade as president and CEO of the European-American Business Council (EABC), an organization committed to strengthening European Union-U.S. economic investment, innovation, regulatory integration and competitiveness.

During his tenure, he grew the organization’s membership from seven to 75 companies and opened the first EABC Brussels office. He was a member of the U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy from 2005 to 2011, and today serves on the department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy.

From 1983 to 2001, Maibach worked for Intel Corp., where he helped establish the company’s Government Affairs Department and served as assistant to Intel co-founder Robert Noyce. Later named as Intel’s first vice president of Government Affairs, he became a leading spokesman for America’s electronics industry on trade and technology policy, testifying 15 times before the U.S. Congress.

Christopher M. Jones

Christopher M. Jones

“We selected Michael Maibach as the first recipient of the University Honors Outstanding Alumni Award because he has such an impressive array of accomplishments, spanning both domestic and international environments,” Jones said.

“If you’re a student and thinking about climbing to the pinnacle of your chosen career, here’s someone who has distinguished himself in business, education, international trade and public service,” Jones added. “His accomplishments speak to a large cross-section of NIU honors students.”

A native of Peoria, Maibach earned his bachelor’s degree with honors in political science from NIU in 1973 and later earned a master’s degree in constitutional law and international relations from the university.

While distinguishing himself academically as an undergraduate, he also was elected during his junior year to the DeKalb County Board. He was just 20.

In 1976, he took a job with Caterpillar Tractor Co., first as a machine shop foreman, and later as a government affairs manager in Illinois, California and Washington, D.C.

Today Maibach serves on the boards of BritishAmericaBusiness and the Witherspoon Institute, and the advisory boards of the Institute of World Politics and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. He is also a senior fellow of The Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., and has published 68 essays on history, society, global trade and competitiveness.

Logo of the European-American Business CouncilIn addition to his NIU degrees, he holds a bachelor’s in American and Latin American history from California State University, a bachelor’s in international business from American University and a master’s in political philosophy from Georgetown University. In 2013, he expects to complete a master’s degree in international relations at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C.

Maibach will deliver the first lecture in the new NIU University Honors Lectures Series, speaking on the virtues of commerce, during the luncheon awards ceremony. It will be attended by representatives of University Honors and a group of students in the program.

A gift from the NIU alumnus is supporting the series, which will bring a successful CEO or business practitioner to lecture on campus each fall over the next three years.

During his visit, Maibach will also host a morning discussion with business students and deliver an afternoon lecture on the European economic crisis to a group of students taking courses in education and international relations.

“There will be many honors freshmen attending this final lecture,” Jones says. “It’s just the type of opportunity we strive to provide to students in the University Honors Program.”