 Under his direction, the American National Ballet held a Los Angeles debut and he received an invitation from the Chinese government.By Maldonado’s fifth year as director he nurtured the company to 20 full-time artists.During his tenure as Artistic Director, he served on the Minnesota State Arts Board, received both presidential recognition from President George W. Bush, and gubernatorial acknowledgements from former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and current Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton.