J.D. Power Founder Joins Elite List

J.D. 'Dave' Power III, founder of J.D. Power and Associates, was recognized this week as 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year in a ceremony at the USC Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles. He joins a list including Apple's Steve Jobs, McDonald's Ray Kroc and legendary oilman Armand Hammer.

The Entrepreneur Program, run by the USC Marshall School of Business' Lloyd Grief Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, has since 1977 honored some of the most distinguished figures in American business. Power said it was 'truly an honor ' to receive the award, whose other notable recent recipients include Angelo Mozila of Countrywide Homes and Amgen's Dr. George Rathmann.

Power has spent more than four decades as a pioneer in customer satisfaction. He graduated from College of the Holy Cross in 1953 and then spent four years of line officer duty aboard a Coast Guard icebreaker in the Arctic and Antarctic. He subsequently earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and joined Ford Motor Company as a financial analyst. He worked on General Motors accounts at Marplan and then as an MR executive for J.I. Case Company and as Director of Corporate Planning for LA-based engineering firm McCulloch Corporation.

He launched J.D. Power and Associates in 1968 and in 1992 received the Automotive Hall of Fame's Distinguished Service Citation, awarded each year to seven of the industry's most accomplished leaders.

Paying tribute to Power's charitable and civic leadership and his 'values of empowerment, integrity and innovation', JDPA President Steve Goodall comments: 'This award recognizes entrepreneurial success, but it also celebrates the extraordinary man Dave is'.

J.D. Power and Associates, now part of the McGraw-Hill Companies, is best known for its work in the automotive industry, but also conducts quality and customer satisfaction research for more than a dozen industries. Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., it is online at www.jdpower.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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