Up the Ladder: Miller Has Built a 36-Year Career with the State of Michigan
Written by Doug Goodnough
Lynda Breyer Miller, ’82, has turned her passion for learning new things into a 36-plus-year career with the State of Michigan.
Starting as a data entry processor in the State Court Administrative Office in 1987, Miller has worked her way up the state positional ladder. She is currently the manager of the state’s Business Services unit within the Office of the Chief Technology Officer.
“I wasn’t really sure I wanted to be a manager,” said Miller, who spent some time with the Department of Information Technology Office before the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget Office was created a few years ago. However, during the interview process, she knew she was right for the job. “I have had a lot of very good managers. I like helping people to learn and grow in their own career.”
Her path to the State of Michigan started in 1986, when Miller and her husband, Scott Miller, ’82, married and moved to Lansing, Michigan, so he could take over the family business. After briefly working for a local distributor of Adidas footwear and clothing, she applied to the State of Michigan as a mail room clerk. She didn’t get the job but received a call a couple of weeks later about the data entry position. She has been with the state ever since.
“I’ve truly enjoyed my 36 years working for the state,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot and I’ve worked with some incredible people.”
Miller came to Hillsdale after spending a couple of years taking classes at Oakland Community College and Oakland University near her home. Working for her father and building up her grades, she eventually decided it was time “to go away.”
Her grandfather worked for Detroit Edison. He recently had attended a conference at Hillsdale College and recommended that she look into Hillsdale.
“I fell in love with the campus,” Miller said of the visit. “We all fell in love with the campus. It was beautiful.”
Diving right in to her accounting course load, she called it “a tough two years.” She said former accounting professor Dr. Febes Facey helped get her to the finish line.
“I’m really blessed to have had her as an instructor, and I’m sure every other accounting major feels the same,” Miller said. “She was an amazing woman.”
Miller interviewed with several “Big Eight” firms as a senior; however, she said she wasn’t sure accounting was her future career path. She said her decision to work for the State of Michigan was the right choice.
“I can use my degree in other ways. I’m the type of person who likes to be busy and I like to learn new things,” Miller said. “I was constantly asking for new things to do. Projects would come up, and I just kept working my way up the ladder.”
While on campus, she met her future husband in the basement of the Phi Sigma Epsilon fraternity, and they are celebrating more than 43 years together. Miller pledged the Pi Beta Phi sorority, which remains a big part of her life. In fact, for more than a decade, she has served as a regional officer for the organization. She is the finance and housing specialist for Region 2, which includes 17 Pi Phi chapters in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario, Canada.
“I’ve really enjoyed it,” she said of her role with the sorority. “I had no idea how much I would get back from doing this and interacting with the collegians. It’s so rewarding to know you’ve had a hand in helping these women. When I do retire (from the State of Michigan), I will continue to do this.”
She said she and her husband love to travel and play golf, and are active with a “network” of Hillsdale classmates. They also enjoy being around family, including her three sisters and his two brothers and their children.
“It’s been a really good group of people,” Miller said of her family and Hillsdale friends. “I’m glad they are part of our lives.”
Photo courtesy of Jason Gillman.
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in October 2023