Pillars
The Most Important Day in Our Lives What does Halliburton, a $30 billion company located in 80 countries and ranked 106 th on the Fortune 500 list, share in common with McNeese State University? The answer is McNeese alumnus and Halliburton executive vice president and chief operating officer, Jeffrey Allen Miller, and family. Ever since he was a toddler, Jeff loved rodeo. He used to dress up in chaps, vest and boots and pretend he was a cowboy. At age 11, he began working toward that goal by volunteering at a day camp and by age 13 was working at a ranch in Celina, Texas. His passion for rodeo was outside the norm as a student at St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas where lacrosse, water polo, tennis and track were among the athletic offerings. A rodeo scholarship brought Jeff, a calf roper, to McNeese and Lake Charles. Before technological advances, registration meant standing in line for hours on end to get an index card that would outline the semester’s schedule. Jeff ’s roommates, both bull riders, stood with him. Also standing in line that first day of school was Rhonda Sue Lee, a 1980 Sam Houston High School graduate. “That registration line in the Ranch turned out to be the most important day in our lives,” said Jeff.
not only opened the door for Rhonda but also pushed her through it. Rhonda pursued secondary education and paralegal studies while working full time as an aerobics instructor. Jeff followed an agriculture and business track and traveled for rodeo. He graduated from McNeese in 1986 and went on to complete his Master of Business Administration degree at Texas A&M University in College Station in 1988. After continuing one more semester at A&M to study accounting, Jeff qualified to sit for the certified public accountant exam which he passed. At McNeese, Jeff had turned pro with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He had one more year of eligibility remaining so he continued to rodeo at A&M. Rhonda joined Jeff in College Station after they married in May 1987. The Millers moved to Dallas where Jeff took a position with the accounting firm of Arthur Anderson. Rhonda enrolled at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton to finish her studies. In 1997, after eight years of service and on a clear path to the partner track, Jeff left the accounting
firm to join Halliburton - one of Arthur Anderson’s largest clients - as a director of financial reporting. Halliburton moved the Miller family nine times including the international destinations of Caracas and Maracaibo, Venezuela, Luanda, Angola, and Jakarta, Indonesia. “Moving outside the United States with two young boys could be lonely,” stated Rhonda, “but I have always supported Jeff in everything. When he would come home to tell me that we would be moving again, it would take me about two weeks to process it. After that, I was fine. It was a different lifestyle, but we loved where we went and the people we met and our children were enriched by the experience.” Jeff spoke fluent Spanish and the boys picked it up quickly while living in Venezuela. In fact, Case was fluent in kindergarten. He did, however, tend to talk very loudly which concerned Rhonda. One day she was visiting his class and heard the instructor holler out a phrase. The children would just as loudly parrot the phrase – the root of why Case spoke so loudly was now understood.
With registration over and stomachs growling, Tony’s Pizza was in order. Before the meal was over Jeff and Rhonda had exchanged phone numbers. Unlike Jeff who entered McNeese directly from high school, Rhonda entered the workforce first. Through a connection with her church pianist, Lena Reeves, Rhonda got a job with Bechtel Corporation, which built the Gulf States Utilities Power Plant (now Entergy). Rhonda felt secure as the tenured employee among her peers until Lena, also with Bechtel, told her that she was being laid off. Lena’s pronouncement was strategic. She recognized that Rhonda had what it took to succeed in college. Lena 4 Fall 2013
Rhonda and Jeff Miller