From Law School To Weightlifting, Michigan Drug Buyer Stays Busy

Joe Muha’s parents told him to never stop learning.

As a licensed pharmacist who is studying law and has already earned an MBA while holding various professional roles in big retail, the former Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Forty Under 40 honoree said he might have taken this advice to an extreme.

Since he was listed as a 2004 up-and-comer, Muha has relocated to Grand Rapids, Mich., where he works as a prescription drug buyer for Meijer, one of America’s largest retail chains.

Meijer’s stores are primarily located throughout the Midwest, and the chain is credited as pioneering the supercenter store concept.

As generic prescription products buyer at the store’s home office, Muha combines his business expertise and 20-plus years of pharmaceutical experience.

During nights and weekends, he works toward earning his law degree at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Grand Rapids. Muha anticipates the credentials will aid him in his career as a buyer, because legal compliance is an integral part of the prescription drug business.

He also predicts the industry will only become more litigious in the future, which is why he decided to earn his law degree now.

Muha was granted a scholarship for 80 percent of his tuition. However, the degree program is a large time investment, he said. “I always wanted to go, and luckily I have a very supportive family.” He and wife Jacquelyn have an 8-year-old daughter, Madelyn.

Perhaps it is this support that has enabled him to excel in his studies. He has been named to the Dean’s List and Honor Roll each semester since he enrolled at Cooley Law School and was recently nominated for a Grand Rapids Area Higher Education Network Adult Learning Award. The network recognized Muha because of his high energy, he said.

He also serves as associate editor for the Cooley Journal of Practical and Clinical Law, earning an Outstanding Associate award in August.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pa., Muha earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in 1990 from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He earned his MBA through the Fayetteville campus of Webster University in 2008.

Before the move to Michigan in 2009, Muha worked for three years as video game buyer for Sam’s Club and previously held a 16-year career at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., where his various roles included Northwest Arkansas regional tire and lube manager and pharmacy loss prevention coordinator at the Walmart home office in Bentonville.

For Muha, relocating also meant selling his stake in several Northwest Arkansas Restaurants, including Pizza Pro, Mama Fu’s Asian House, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Copeland’s. He owned a portion of each of these restaurants as principal for several franchising companies, including Cardinal Enterprises, Laughing Cow (a play on his last name) and Vandalay Enterprises (a nod to the television show Seinfeld).

Although he has not ruled it out for the future, Muha does not intend to rejoin the restaurant business any time soon.

He spends the time not allocated for work, school or family activities engaged in a project that he hopes will revolutionize the American legal system. 

The aim? To make legal help more affordable and therefore more accessible to all socioeconomic groups. He has pooled law school faculty resources who believe in his cause, and they are working together on the endeavor.

Muha said the legal needs of most individuals and corporations don’t require a boutique law firm that costs $300 an hour. He believes there should be a low-cost option, especially for routine legal issues like wills and divorces.

He’s working out a way to apply retail super-chain business models — with which he has plenty of experience — to the legal world and is re-examining the codes that surround the practice of law itself.

Muha also has been called upon at his law school to provide a guest lecture on negotiations — a crucial element of his career as prescription drug buyer.

Although he misses the duck hunting in Arkansas, he still takes time to enjoy hobbies that include running, skiing, practicing pond hockey with his daughter and scuba diving when he can.

And, at 46, he is also proud to have been a Michigan state champion in the American Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation competition for the last four years.

“I feel good about that at my age,” he said.