Carolyn Speer Miles (born 1961) was the president and C.E.O. of

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

. Carolyn Miles is currently a professor at University of Virginia.

Life

Miles was born in 1962 in Canton, Connecticut, to Edison and Nancy Speer. She attended

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

and received her bachelor's of science degree in

Animal behavior Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and objectiv ...

. She attended University of Virginia Darden business school and received her MBA. She is married and has three children.

Career

After graduating from Bucknell University, Miles chose not to pursue a career in her field. After joining a veterinary team post-college, she fainted during a surgical procedure and decided to rethink her career choice. Instead, she went to work in the sales department of a large chemical company, where she was responsible for sales in a large part of the Midwest. After working there, Miles decided to pursue a

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as account ...

at the

University of Virginia Darden School of Business The Darden School of Business is the graduate business school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Darden School offers MBA, PhD, and Executive Education programs. The school was founde ...

, and majored in marketing. She then moved to New York and went to work for American Express. She moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

with her family as part of her work. Afterward, she worked with a classmate from Darden University, Tom Neir, to build a coffee chain in Asia named the

Pacific Coffee Company Pacific Coffee (formerly known as Pacific Coffee Company; abbv. "PCC") is a coffee house chain from Hong Kong, with outlets in China, Singapore and Malaysia. The group is owned by computer distributor Chevalier Pacific, formerly Chevalier iTech. ...

. While there, she became interested in volunteer work and decided to do nonprofit work as soon as she returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, after witnessing poverty in Southeast Asia. Once she returned, she joined

as the Associate Vice President in 1988. In 2004, she became Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. While as Chief Operating Officer, she doubled the number of children that Save The Children reaches, and greatly increased its budget. In 2011, she became the first female to lead the organization, as she became the first female President and CEO of Save the Children.

Awards

In 2011, Miles received

's Distinguished Citizen Award. In 2015, Miles was named one of the World's Greatest Leaders by Fortune magazine. In 2019, Miles was the first woman to receive the

Jonathan Daniels Jonathan Myrick Daniels (March 20, 1939 – August 20, 1965) was an Episcopal seminarian and civil rights activist. In 1965, he was killed by a special county deputy, Tom Coleman, who was a construction worker, in Hayneville, Alabama, while i ...

Award from the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Carolyn 1962 births Living people People from Canton, Connecticut American women chief executives University of Virginia Darden School of Business alumni Bucknell University alumni American chief operating officers 21st-century American women

Life

Career

Awards

Further reading

References