WARREN, NJ, April 20, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Walter Paul Blass with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Mr. Blass celebrates many years' experience in his professional network and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. Blass is esteemed for his work as an economist, strategic planner and management consultant. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he served three years as a Navy officer at sea, after which he spent three more years in his father's engineering consulting practice. During this time, he served as a consultant to the United Nations African Economists Training Program. He moved back into professional economics as one of the first three economists ever hired by AT&T in 1961. After working in the Chief Statistician's office, he did a three year tour in Public Relations where he correctly forecasted the defeat of the Dirksen amendment in the Senate in 1964. He then moved into Operations Research.
He took a two year leave of absence to become Sargent Shriver's last appointee as Country Director of the Peace Corps in Afghanistan where he supervised some 400 volunteers in diverse efforts to foster economic and social development. He returned to AT&T in 1968 but was moved to the New York Telephone company as Revenue Requirements Assistant Vice-President. After the company lived through a vast deterioration of service in 1969-70, he instituted the first comprehensive corporate planning process in the Bell System Operating companies under the tutelage of John R. Mulhearn. In 1982 he returned to the parent company, AT&T, as Director-Globalization in the Strategic Planning organization. He retired early in 1985 to teach the capstone course at the Martino Graduate School of Management at Fordham University. He simultaneously started his own management consulting practice with clients such as McKinsey & Co, McDonell Douglas Corporation and thirty other clients including the U.S. Government. He was asked to serve part time as Visiting Professor of Management at the Grenoble Graduate School of Management in France from 1987 to 2012. He also lectured in Poland, Russia, Serbia, Mexico, Germany and China.
As an extension of his academic endeavors, Mr. Blass has been designated as a senior fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. He has lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the country between 1974 and 1985 as well as in 2017. He also participated on the board of trustees at Guilford College between 1975 and 2018. At the same time, he served as the chairman of the planning committee from 1992 to 1999 and the vice chairman of the academic affairs committee from 1999 to 2009. He was later appointed trustee emeritus of Guilford College after more than 40 years in this position. A talented writer, Mr. Blass co-authored "The Strategic Planning Handbook" in 1982 and "Handbook of Strategic Planning" in 1986. He also penned articles and five case studies of Total Quality Management in firms such as Volvo, NEC, and Firestone/Bridgestone.
Born in Dinslaken, Germany, Mr. Blass was a refugee after Hitler assumed power with his family at the age of five, settling in Brussels, Belgium. At the age of 10, as World War II erupted, he and his family were refugees again before being arrested as "enemy aliens" by the French. Through the good offices of the American vice-consul in Marseille, they were given American visas and arrived in New York in May 1941. Mr. Blass went to the Choate School and then Swarthmore College before graduate school at Princeton and Columbia Universities. He was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy and served 18 months as Commissary and then Disbursing Officer on the U.S.S. Orion. After 18 months he was promoted to LT (j.g.) and served as the Supply Officer on the U.S.S. Joyce DER 317 in the North Atlantic.
In support of his career, Mr. Blass has been affiliated with the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Economic Association, the National Association of Business Economists and the Royal Economic Society. The former two-time director of the Society of Values in Higher Education, he formerly flourished as a member of the board of directors of the Planning Forum. Honored for his success, he has been recognized among the American Men and Women in Science and is noted in Google Scholar. A celebrated Marquis listee, Mr. Blass has been showcased in multiple editions of Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Finance and Business and Who's Who in the World.
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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