Airport Experience® News - Leadership Issue 2025

Right: Miller pursued higher education – and earned both a master’s and a doctoral degree – while working for the Houston Airport System. Now, he mentors and encourages others in their academic and career pursuits.

It’s that devotion to the industry, the constant knowledge-gaining and the focus on extraordinary passenger experiences that has impressed colleagues and peers both inside and outside the world of airports. His outsized impact on the North American airport industry prompted Airport Experience News to name Miller as its Director of Year, small airports division, for 2025. Major Chosen For Miller, a decades-long career in aviation sprung from the encouragement of several key mentors. “I would really love to say that I knew I was destined for a career in aviation, but the truth is that several people nurtured me and, in some instances, nudged me into this field of opportunity,” says Miller. “The most prominent, as I recall, were two uncles who were responsible for introducing me to aviation at a young age – [my] uncle Jardene Williams took me to a remote control aircraft field when I was young and my uncle Leroy Fair would take me to air shows until it was uncool for me to hang out,” he laughs. Years later, as an undeclared student at Texas Southern University (TSU), Miller would find his next mentor in Dr. Naomi Lede, the founder of the school’s newly created airway sciences program. Turns out she was quite prescient. “While I was walking through the halls of the School of Technology trying to determine the computer science class in which to enroll, Dr. Naomi Lede stopped me and asked what I wanted to do when I graduated,” says Miller. “Well, apparently, I didn’t answer the question fast enough. She abruptly snatched my registration form, filled it out completely, and said, ‘There you go — you are an airway sciences major, and when you’re finished, you will become a director of aviation.’”

During his tenure as an airway sciences major at TSU, Miller found two more mentors, Dr. Thomas F. Freeman and Dr. I. Richmond Nettey, as well as a pivotal internship with George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby International Airport (HOU) operated by the Houston Airport System (HAS). “At the end of the day, I do believe that a consequential internship with the Houston Airport System, which was a requirement to get the Bachelor of Science degree in airport science and management, resulted in a 25-year career with the organization,” says Miller, who promptly made his way from the graduation podium to the busy airport system, working in a variety of key maintenance, administration and operational roles that would eventually lead to serving as the general manager of HOU as well as the system’s civil and military joint use airport, Ellington Field (EFD). Miller credits his time in the HAS system as educational on multiple fronts. Not only did he get to learn vital operational and administrative skills, he was able to complete a Master of Science degree in transportation planning and management from TSU and a Doctor of Philosophy in Management from Walden University through the airport’s tuition reimbursement program, as well as become accredited by both AAAE and ACI/International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

During his time as manager of HOU, Miller helped lead the charge on $150-million worth of facility improvements and “had the privilege and the honor of transforming our airport from a medium hub domestic airport to a medium hub international airport,” he says, adding that his years in the HAS system were “very rewarding, not just in terms of compensation, but to learn more about the industry I fell in love with and to afford me the opportunity to enhance my skill sets.” He also led his colleagues to success. “As one of my first bosses at the Houston Airport System, Mr. Miller’s exceptional leadership profoundly shaped my 28-year career in aviation,” added Susana Nicol, Houston Airports administrative coordinator. “His dedicated mentorship instilled unwavering confidence, while his genuine belief in my potential and trusted professionalism opened transformative opportunities for me and countless others.” And after a quarter century in Houston, Miller was contemplating retirement, when an unexpected opportunity presented itself at the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport (JAN). Miller’s former HAS colleague Carl Newman, who had gone on to lead the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority (which operates JAN as well as Hawkins Field (HKS)), “called me and said, ‘I know you’re contemplating retirement, but there’s a great opportunity

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AX NEWS DECEMBER 2025 / JANUARY 2026