Educational Nonprofit Leaps to Early Success

Written by Jan Jaben-Eilon Thursday, August 04 2011

Snapshot: Gene Miller
Gene Miller is COO and director of institutional advancement at Boston-based Families United in Educational Leadership (FUEL). FUEL educates families in underserved communities about the college process and encourages them to save for college through a matched savings program. The initial success of the FUEL program has demonstrated that low-income families do not lack the drive to graduate high school and attend college. Instead, they lack insight into the college application process and financial aid system, which can make the path to college seem confusing and unattainable.

Building on her senior management experience in finance, commercial real estate, and the nonprofit sector, Miller has helped FUEL grow in its first full year as a charitable organization and game-changing educational program. For example, FUEL was recently awarded a $300,000 grant from the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, thanks in part to Miller’s role in establishing key partnerships and grant opportunities. Miller also played a primary role in the development of the unique and groundbreaking Chelsea Compact program – an aspirational scholarship program in partnership with Chelsea High School, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Bunker Hill Community College – which offers up to 25 full scholarships annually to qualified FUEL students in Chelsea, Mass.

Miller has senior-level and board of director-level management experience in finance, commercial real estate, and the nonprofit sectorr. She was executive vice president of Sterling Bank and spent seven years as a managing director for regional investment banking firms. She holds an MBA from Boston University. Miller is the mother of three and lives in Weston, Mass.

Womenetics: Articulate why FUEL’s mission is inspiring to you – why are you a leader in this organization?
Gene Miller: The mission of Families United in Educational Leadership (FUEL) is to provide economic incentives and programming to illuminate the pathway for low-income families to send their children on to a higher education. We are a high profile startup with an innovative but pragmatic family-centered model. As a result, our impact is far reaching even though we are a young organization.

I love what we are accomplishing. Through Fuel, low-income families achieve higher education for their children and break the cycle of poverty for themselves and their communities. I am in charge of strategy, fundraising, and building FUEL’s partnerships, a position that surprisingly draws from all aspects of my career in banking and finance, as well as my previous board and volunteer roles. In many ways, I feel that I have been preparing for this role all of my professional life.

	Gene Miller

Womenetics: What has been your biggest challenge?
Miller: Most education reform efforts are either student- or school-based, while FUEL’s model is centered on the family. Our belief, which has been bolstered by recent research, is that families are the essential ingredient for a student’s success in entering and then persisting in higher education. So it is surprising to us that it can be a challenge to get funders and thought leaders in the field thinking in this direction, but we are making headway. A recent research report published by The Boston Foundation has drawn more attention to the family’s place in the educational equation, and FUEL is being included in more and more conversations in the educational and philanthropic communities.

Womenetics: Where did the funding come from to start FUEL?
Miller: FUEL was founded in January 2009 by social entrepreneur and economist Bob Hildreth who had long had a passion for higher education. Through his personal experiences in philanthropy, Bob saw that, contrary to popular belief, low-income families do save money. And so, with an eye toward U.S. education reform, Bob created a matched savings program for first generation-to-college families that became the basis for FUEL. I had worked with Bob in my prior capacity of establishing and chairing a unique athletic fundraising effort in our community. After consulting for him in the set-up stage of FUEL, I eventually joined the organization as COO.

Womenetics: How do you market your program?
Miller: We have a partnership-driven model so we promote our initiatives through the after-school programs and community-based organizations with which we partner. Because FUEL is a unique model with a dynamic founder, we have received a significant amount of press coverage, including one article that was picked up in over 200 news outlets around the country.

Womenetics: How have associations you belong to helped you with your business?
Miller: Unfortunately, association memberships have had to take second place to making personal connections to introduce and promote the organization. I have found that my past and current board and trustee roles (Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Grove Bank, The Charlesbank Homes Foundation, The Greater Boston YMCA, HEARTH, and the Planning Office of Urban Affairs) have brought significant experience to draw upon, as well as a wealth of contacts among high caliber leaders who are influential within our community.

Womenetics: Are there any previous business failures you care to share?
Miller: As the former executive vice president of a bank in charge of real estate (among other areas), I was responsible for keeping the bank afloat during a deep real estate cycle. There were no guidebooks to lead the way so it was an immense personal challenge. I was glad to have made it through to the other side, but that experience led to a deep desire for the next chapter of my career to be outside of finance.

Womenetics: Who has inspired you/mentored you the most?
Miller: Throughout my career, there have been many individuals who were an inspiration or mentor to me. Bill Congleton, who was a founder of American Research and Design and among the first venture capitalists in the country, stands out as my most inspirational role model. I was lucky to have known him for 20 years during the sunset of his professional and volunteer career and the start of mine; he was one of the most wonderful successful individuals I have ever met. He had an immense gift for directing attention toward others, making them feel so crucial, yet at the same time providing great leadership. He and his family achieved great wealth because he was the original venture capitalist behind Digital Equipment Corp., yet they viewed themselves as custodians of these assets and quietly, behind the scenes, spent a lifetime giving it away to charitable causes without expecting recognition.

Womenetics: What have been the lessons learned; in other words, what would you have done differently?
Miller: One thing I have learned from FUEL is the major benefit of partnerships with other organizations. Our partners set the platform for our organization and our constituents and allow us to rise up and succeed. The sum is so much better than going it alone.

Womenetics: And last, do you take time for yourself, and if so, what do you do?
Miller: I have an active sports family so much of my free time is spent on a ball field or at a hockey rink. When I am truly doing something for myself, I am at the gym or on early morning walks.

Jan Jaben-Eilon was a founding staff writer of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Since then, she has been the international editor of Advertising Age magazine and has written for such publications as The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Washington Journalism Review, and Consumer Reports. She is the author of soon-to-be-published (There is) Life After Cancer. Jan and her husband have homes in Atlanta and Jerusalem.