Alpha Center for Public/Private Initiatives, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Alpha Center was formed to assist with the development of private sector approaches to social challenges in job creation, housing, education, health, and other social issues. The organization was intended to identify specific opportunities for collaboration between profit-seeking private sector organizations and governments; to find organizations and funding sources to address those opportunities; and to enable business expertise to be applied to areas traditionally in the public sector in order to reduce the cost of government, increase the quality of services provided to the public, stimulate economic development, and foster job creation. The organization was founded and operated by business leaders from throughout the United States, and had its headquarters office in the Minneapolis suburbs of Edina and Bloomington, and a co-headquarters office in New York City. Judson Bemis served as chairman of the board from the founding of the organization in 1985 until May 1991.

The Alpha Center for Public/Private Initiatives apparently had its beginnings as the Public Policy Subcommittee of the Control Data Corporation, a Bloomington, Minnesota-based computer manufacturer. By 1984 Control Data and several other companies had informally organized an entity calling itself Alpha Enterprises. Members of its interim board of directors included Judson Bemis, retired chairman of the Minneapolis-based Bemis Company, and Robert M. Price, chairman and president of Control Data.

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