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. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

. Carolyn Miles is currently sitting 4 boards, Spoon, RICE, Bucknell, and Bayer.

Personal life

Miles was born in 1962 in

Canton, Connecticut Canton is a town, incorporated in 1806, located in the Farmington Valley of Connecticut in the United States. It is part of Connecticut's Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region and the population was 10,124 as of the 2020 Un ...

, to Edison and Nancy Speer. She attended

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

and received her bachelor's of science degree in

Animal behavior Ethology is a branch of zoology that studies the behaviour of non-human animals. It has its scientific roots in the work of Charles Darwin and of American and German ornithologists of the late 19th and early 20th century, including Charle ...

. 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) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

at the

University of Virginia Darden School of Business The Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business Administration (branded as the Darden School of Business) is the graduate business school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. The school offers ...

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

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

. She moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, 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 Tom Coleman, a highway worker and part-time deputy sheriff, in Hayneville, Alabama, while in the act ...

Award from the

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

References

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 {{US-CEO-stub

Personal life

Career

Awards

Further reading

References