Outgoing Salt Lake Community College Board of Trustees Chair
Gail Miller was honored Wednesday by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert during her final
meeting with the board.
Herbert recognized Miller and outgoing board members since
2013, Patricia Richards and David W. Lang, for their years of service to the
college. Trustee Annie Schwemmer, who served on the board representing the SLCC Alumni Association since 2009, was also honored. Miller recently received the Association of Community College Trustees
Pacific Region Trustee Leadership award.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert pays tribute to Gail Miller.
“She is such a good friend and contributor to our community
in so many different ways,” Herbert said about Miller during the meeting. “The
success of Salt Lake Community College is in large part tied to Gail Miller’s
efforts with Larry (H. Miller) and their organization. They built and donated
the Miller Campus to Salt Lake Community College in 2001, which is used
mightily. She’s been a tireless advocate for this institution ever since she’s
been in the valley. She recognizes the significant and unique role that Salt
Lake Community College plays in our higher education system.”
Board Vice Chair Clint Ensign will replace Miller as chair. “Gail,
we salute you,” Ensign said. “You are a beautiful and rare lady. None of us
fully appreciates the breadth and the depth of your sacrifice and
contributions. Your legacy will long reside in the heart and soul of this great
college and in our lives as well. You have truly done something that is worthy
of being remembered. Today we all join to simply say, thank you, we love you
and will miss you, and may almighty God bless you for all you have done.”
Dozens of former and current students, who have benefited in
some way from Miller’s generosity, filed into the boardroom with flowers,
“Thank you” notes and hugs for Miller.
Current and former SLCC students pose with Gail Miller and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert
“What a remarkable tribute it’s been – thank you,” Miller
said. “All I can say is, thank you. I think that no one has benefitted more
than I have from this experience. I have certainly learned an awful lot and am
humbled by this experience and the opportunity to try to make a difference in
the community that is so important and that means so much to Utah. Learning
from each of you and rubbing shoulders with people, who every day spend their
lives giving students an opportunity to excel and to be their very best is
truly a privilege for me. I will miss being here, and I will never forget my
time here.”
Miller was born
and raised in Salt Lake City, is a graduate of West High School and attended
the University of Utah. She received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Salt Lake Community College in 2008. Miller served on the Salt Lake Community College Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2008
and was reappointed in 2009. She served as SLCC’s Board chair since 2013 and is
also chair of the Larry Miller Group of Companies.
During Miller’s
time on the Board, she helped support funding for the Center for
Arts & Media at South City Campus and the Academic and Administration
Building on the Taylorsville Redwood Campus. Between 1998 and 2006, Gail and
Larry Miller constructed and donated a $130 million seven-building complex to
SLCC known as the Miller Campus, where over 1,000 students access
state-of-the-art resources for automotive training, public safety education,
entrepreneurial development, corporate partnerships and culinary arts. Gail
owns and chairs The Larry H. Miller Group, which operates professional sports
teams, automotive, entertainment, media and other enterprises that employ over
10,000 people. Each year Miller lends her name and support to an annual SLCC
golf tournament, the Gail Miller Utah Leadership Cup, helping to raise $600,000
over four years, funding more than 30 student scholarships each year.
The Larry H.
& Gail Miller Family Foundation was formed in 2007 to allow the
philanthropic spirit, which Larry and Gail have so graciously established, to continue
for generations to come. Larry H. Miller built a legacy of giving back to the
communities where he conducted business. The Millers’ love of education
inspired them to create the Larry H. Miller Education Foundation. Instituted in
1996, its purpose is to provide educational assistance to dependent children of
full-time employees of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies. Since its
inception, the LHM Education Foundation has helped more than 3,150 students at
60 different universities or trade schools throughout the United States.
Gail Miller bangs the gavel to bring her final meeting to order.
Richards is president
and CEO of SelectHealth. She began her career in healthcare as a staff nurse in
general surgery and trauma at the University of Michigan Medical Center. “She
and her husband Joe are great believers in career and technical education and
have established a scholarship at SLCC to support students heading into CTE
fields,” Herbert noted.
Lang is head of the
Goldman Sachs Salt Lake City office and head of Operations for Salt Lake City,
and he was recently made a partner in Goldman Sachs. He has also served on the
Board of Directors for the Salt Lake City Police Foundation and the Economic
Development Corporation of Utah. “He has been a strong advocate for the Goldman
Sachs 10,000 Small Business partnership with SLCC and has been critical in
developing a strong educational component between the program and the local
Goldman Sachs leadership,” Herbert said.
David W. Lang is thanked by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert
