Biography

Wendell Maddox is President and CEO of ION Corporation. Starting with no more than a dream in 1985, Mr. Maddox turned ION Corporation in 3 years into an engineering company with annual revenues of $13 million. ION Corporation has been recognized as a United States leader in the fabrication of spaceflight and aerospace hardware. Mr. Maddox’s vision has lead ION to expand its products and services from manufacturing, to design, engineering, and systems integration. In 2005, ION was presented NASA’s Special Recognition Award for its performance on NASA’s Deep Space Network Advanced Systems Program.

Mr. Maddox founded the Midwest Aerospace Consortium of Small Business, which has a membership to more than 300 small businesses located throughout 6 Midwestern states. Its Charter is to bring Midwest technology to the aerospace industry and the United States of America. Mr. Maddox also served as a director on the Board of the American’s for a Sustainable Economy. He served as Chairman to the White House Conference on Small Business from the State of Minnesota and has personally met with a number of Presidents including Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Wendell has a deep sense of community responsibility serving on the MN State Board of Education, the Hopkins Rotary, and the Twin Cities Chamber of Commerce and chairing the Hopkins United Way campaign. He served as Director for Minnesota Project Outreach, Minnesota Youth at Risk.

After completing his service in the US Air Force, and acquiring his BSEE degree from the University of Minnesota, Mr. Maddox joined FMC Corporation. During his 20 year career, he held a variety of management positions and was the General Manager of Manufacturing, when he left to found ION. He currently resides with his wife Julia and youngest son Julian in Minnetonka, a suburb of Minneapolis, MN.