2019 Men of the Year: Travis Miller

SBJ photo by Jessica Rosa

In His Words

Family: Married to my high school sweetheart, Laurie, for 21 years. We have twins who are 16 years old and who are making our area streets treacherous.
Words to live by: Those who say it can’t be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
Favorite place to be: Floating on local streams and rivers.
Childhood dream: A race car driver. I still might do it someday.
Critical trait in employees: Being humble enough to ask for help and strong enough to accept responsibility.
Advice to other men: Live by the Scout Oath and Law and you can’t go wrong.

Without leadership, a business lacks a vision to follow. For Miller Engineering PC, President Travis Miller provides the vision.

“It is my responsibility to set the tone, provide a vision and keep our company on the road toward that vision,” Miller says. “Three years ago, I established the Bridging the Gap initiative within our company.”

The initiative, he says, is as follows: “Establish our company as the golden standard for our region, build the highest educated and highest qualified staff in our region, [and] establish a scholarship program that brings high school graduates straight into construction and engineer internships.”

Miller acknowledges the goals come off as ambiguous, but his support within them is tangible.

“I have supported several employees on their endeavors to get higher degrees. I have paid for portions of their schooling and altered their work schedules to allow for them to attend school during the workday. I have sent our employees to out-of-state education courses to obtain certifications that are not offered in our area,” Miller says.

Another recent result is the engineering firm’s addition of four certified thermographers, who specialize in using infrared technology to gather data. Miller currently has some of his employees achieving higher education certifications.

“I have two employees who I have put on a path for getting their engineering license soon,” he says. “And our existing licensed engineers are now seeking higher licenses that will allow higher wages for them and Miller Engineering to be able to provide structural engineering services in any of the 50 states.”

Miller also has established an employee fitness program that brings instructors to the office multiple times a week to facilitate workouts during business hours. He says this program is designed to allow employees more time with their families.

“To this same end, our office has a washer and dryer for employee use, so that some laundry can get done during the day and does not have to be a distraction from family in the evenings. We have a dedicated room where employees with sick children can bring their kids to work and have them be away from the other employees but can be fully monitored,” Miller says.

He strives to keep the company involved in the community.

“I set a goal within our company to complete 150 hours of community service this year and we are on track to exceed that,” he says.

Miller also says the company has adopted a stream, built a water tower and designed a shop building for Eden Village, a homeless program in Springfield that uses tiny homes. The company has sacked groceries for Convoy of Hope, performed a trash pickup within the city of Ozark and did a toy drive for Great Circle.

“We also went to Great Circle and pressure-washed all their outdoor playground equipment,” he says.