[2] Born in Austria, Mandl moved to the United States with his father Otto in the 1950s after his parents divorced.
After high school he attended Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, where his father took a teaching position.
Alex Mandl received a degree in economics at the small liberal arts school.
He then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley where he earned a Masters in Business Administration in the late 1960s.
[3] Mandl began working for Boise Cascade Corporation after college, remaining there for 11 years.