Miller, David W. 1957- (David Ward Miller)

views updated

Miller, David W. 1957- (David Ward Miller)

PERSONAL:

Born January 16, 1957; married: wife's name Karen (a former attorney and law school professor). Education: Bucknell University, B.S., B.A., 1979; Princeton Theological Seminary, M.Div., 1998, Ph.D. (magna cum laude), 2003. Hobbies and other interests: Tennis, bridge, tandem cycling, and spending time with his nieces.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, educator, Presbyterian minister, consultant. International Business Machines (IBM), NJ and New England, marketing representative, 1979-1982, advisory regional marketing representative, 1983-84, marketing manager, large accounts, 1985-86, regional marketing manager, New England, 1987; State Street Bank and Trust Co., London, England, managing director, State Street London, Ltd., 1987-89; HSBC Holdings (previously Midland Bank, PLC), London, head of client relations and trust services, Midland Securities Services (MSS), 1989-1990, director, MSS, 1991-92; Peter Wostke and Partners, LP, London, partner, investment banking, corporate finance, and investment management, 1993-95; Yale Divinity School and Yale Business School, New Haven, CT, executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, adjunct professor of business ethics, 2003—.

MEMBER:

National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Avodah Institute (cofounder, 1999; president), National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society.

WRITINGS:

God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to various periodicals and online journals, including Ethix, Theology Today, and Life@Work.

SIDELIGHTS:

David W. Miller is a writer, educator, consultant, and Presbyterian minister. He earned his undergraduate degree at Bucknell University, where he studied business administration and minored in German language and literature, graduating in 1979. He subsequently worked in business, marketing, and finance for nearly two decades, first for International Business Machines (IBM) in New Jersey and New England, and later for State Street Bank and Trust Co. in London, England. He also worked in London for Midland Bank, PLC, which is now known as HSBC Holdings, and for Peter Wostke and Partners, LP, in investment banking, corporate finance, and investment management, where he was a partner. Then in the mid-1990s, Miller returned to the United States and entered Princeton University for graduate study. He received his master's of divinity from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1998 and then went on to earn a doctorate in social ethics in 2003, graduating magna cum laude. He accepted a position at the Yale University Divinity School, where he is an assistant professor of business ethics and also the executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. In his work Miller melds the two worlds of business and religion, thanks to his unique perspective and career history. According to a post at the Yale Divinity School Web site, the purpose of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture is "to promote the practice of faith in all spheres of life through theological research and leadership development," and Miller contributes to this goal by sharing his knowledge and expertise in business leadership, as well as working to help people translate that knowledge into their own everyday lives. He is in charge of a program at the center called "Ethics and Spirituality in the Workplace," which is designed to help facilitate this process. Miller also founded the Avodah Institute in 1999, while he was still in graduate school, with an eye toward this same purpose—helping leaders to incorporate faith into their business or political lives.

In addition to his duties at the Yale University Divinity School, and his own interests in the Avodah Institute, Miller is a consultant and a writer. He is often asked to speak at academic conferences, business gatherings, and for church programs. In addition, his ideas and thoughts are frequently referred to in the media, including articles in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Dallas Morning News, and on television and radio news programs on the major commercial networks and National Public Radio. He has also contributed to periodicals and online journals, such as Ethix, Theology Today, and Life@Work.

Miller's first book, God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement, was published by the Oxford University Press in 2007. In it he extends the work he does for the Avodah Institute and the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, offering readers a practical guide to ways in which they can combine spirituality and faith with business. He feels uniquely qualified to offer this advice, more than typical religious leaders, because he spent so many years working in management and corporate finance, and because he has the added benefit of his current work at Yale. Lawrence Wood, reviewing the book for the Christian Century, wrote that "as an argument for a broader concept of lay ministry, Miller's book is persuasive. As a history of a movement, though, it rambles." He notes that the connection between spirituality and business is not quite complete, and that he does a better job illustrating the clergy's understanding of the need to link these two areas of life than of showing the same realization to parishioners. However, Miller himself stresses the importance of this connection in an interview for Christianity Today, noting that "we've lost a whole generation of people who either go through the motions when they go to church or just don't go to church anymore." He stresses that making faith work with business life is the way to turn the tide of this issue, by making faith relevant to modern reality.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Christian Century, June 12, 2007, Lawrence Wood, review of God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement, p. 36.

Christianity Today, November, 2007, "Scripture and the Wall Street Journal: David Miller Wants Us to Think More Deeply about Integrating Faith and Work," p. 33.

Harvard Business Review, May, 2007, John T. Landry, review of God at Work, p. 34.

Incentive, August 8, 2007, "Religious Rights: Q & A with David W. Miller, Ph.D."