For the first time in 14 years, Border States Electric will open on Wednesday, April 1 with a new Chief Executive Officer. Tammy Miller will move on to become the Chief Operating Officer for the State of North Dakota beginning on April 1. David White, the current President at Border States, will become the new CEO.
Before Miller left, she took an hour out of her day to do an “exit” interview for the “DistributED with tED magazine” podcast. The podcast allowed her to convey her thoughts on her 29 years at Border States, including how Miller was able to create career opportunities through the Border States culture, whether she recognizes her influence on women in our supply chain, and her favorite accomplishments since becoming the CEO of Border States in 2006.
“It has been quite an amazing honor and journey working at Border States,” Miller said on the podcast. “I am proud of some of those numbers. I am proud to say we hit $1 billion in sales, and shortly after we hit $2 billion in sales. It’s also very exciting to think about how we responded to our customers with added services and solutions to help them be more successful. But I really what I look back at, and am most proud of, is the employee-owners and leading an employee-owned company. One of the favorite accomplishments for me is helping the employee-owners accumulate personal wealth in their ESOP. It’s so rewarding to get feedback from those employee-owners as they retire with income security that they never dreamed possible.”
During her career at Border States, Miller worked with the National Association of Electrical Distributors, and also earned its highest awards. Miller was the association’s Finance Committee Chair from 2001-2004, Western Region Vice-President in 2005-2006, Distributor Chair of the SPA Task Force in 2006-2007, and became the first woman to be named NAED Chair in 2007. Miller also earned the NAED Trailblazer Award in 2013, and the NAED Arthur W. Hooper Award, the association’s highest honor, in 2014.
“I’m really happy that I can influence and motivate others to maybe do more than what they expected,” Miller said. “If we can do good things and inspire others along the way, it’s great. More than half of our managers in the branch support center are female. I think there are opportunities for everyone.”
In part 2 of the podcast interview, Miller gives her farewell speech to the entire supply chain.
You can listen to both parts of the “DistributED with tED magazine” podcast on any podcast player.