Ernest (Bud) Miller Email and Phone Number

I currently serve on the boards of directors of three family owned companies. My primary areas of focus are assisting in the transition of management and/or ownership, helping in the development and implementation of strategic plans that address the needs of shareholders, improving the working relationship between a company's board and its shareholders, and encouraging management to increase profitability and return on equity.

We were able to assemble an outstanding team of faculty and staff that were able to reinvent the business school to become one of the leading business programs in the southeast. We were able to achieve accreditation by the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)--an honor that less than 20% of business schools have been able to achieve worldwide. We worked closely with the local business community to redefine our courses and majors to ensure our graduates had the skills needed by local companies. We also were able to introduce a MBA program designed for working professionals and create specialized majors in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.I served on the Board of Trustees for the University's Foundation as well as the Board of the Foundation's Real Estate LLC. In this latter role I helped raise over $40 million in a public/private bond issue that we used to design and build a dormitory and student activity center.

During my tenure with Arivda, which was one of the country's leading developer of master planned communities, I was CFO, and then COO, and ultimately CEO. The company, with over $1.0 billion in revenues and 6,000 employees, expanded from a Florida company to one with operations throughout the southeast, southwest and southern California. Arvida also expanded from being just a developer to a builder of high quality homes, office buildings, retail centers, and resorts.The company grew by the acquisition of land and troubled communities and financed its growth with over $1.0 billion in debt and $750 million in public equity.