4 minute read
The One Who Started It All: Spotlight On Tyler Miller
Written by Natalie Jackson
When Tyler Miller first arrived at Indiana University, his original plans never included starting a business fraternity from the ground up. However, when the opportunity to build a brotherhood presented itself, Miller took action to establish the business-orientated community he felt was missing. Within three years, Tyler Miller and his executive board transformed a newly founded business fraternity into a top Kelley organization, growing exponentially from eight members to 100 by the time they were seniors. “I felt like there wasn’t a business fraternity where I found my fit,” Miller said. “I wanted one where I felt like I could control the narrative.” Miller recalls research led him to choosing to start a chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon at Indiana University. In the fall of 2017, Miller and friends went all out to recruit enough members for an official chapter. This first recruitment was a success, according to Miller, and they were able to meet the 25 member requirement.
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Steven Meyers, recent IU grad and former Vice President of Professional Development at PSE, recounts how Miller’s fraternity, from the get go, set out to be different. “One thing that made PSE successful was they [the founding executive board] were really strategic with their marketing,” Meyers said. “Since PSE was in the starting stages, they had to market the organization in a different way compared to all the other business fraternities at Kelley. They made sure to emphasize that in New Member Ed, PSE doesn’t have pledges. Once you join PSE you are welcome to chapter and a part of this family. They were also really good at keeping people motivated and reiterated the potential growth that PSE has.”
The hard word and dedication displayed by Miller and his executive board paid off. In 2019, PSE won the “Top New Chapter” award at nationals. According to Miller, he was studying abroad in London, England when he found out that PSE won, and to this day is one of Tyler’s proudest moments in his college career. “When we won the Top New Chapter award at nationals, that [felt like] validation for all the hard work that my team put into PSE”, Miller said. As much as he would have loved to celebrate with all his PSE brothers, studying abroad was by far his favorite semester in college. While in Europe, Miller was also able to travel to many other countries such as France, Northern Ire land, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and Portugal. This allowed him to gain a new cross culture perspective and deeper appreciation for the world around us. “I firmly believe that if you have the financial ability to study abroad, there’s no reason not to go”, Miller said. “Things worth doing are not necessarily easy. Studying abroad was not easy. You’re moving to a new country across the world. And then you have to learn how to go to school in a country with a completely different educational system. There are a lot of new adjustments at once, but the reward is so much greater in the end.”
According to Miller, he graduated from Kelley with a degree in Operations Management, Marketing, and International Business. Miller loved the complexity and creative problem solving aspects of Operations and Marketing. However, Miller is not your stereotypical business student and there’s more to him than case competitions, late study nights at Hodge Hall, and professional business suits. Miller said he always knew that he wanted to work in aviation since freshman year. “[After joining], I learned ROTC was a much bigger commitment than I originally thought”, Miller said. “Once I joined, I really enjoyed my time at ROTC and thought I wanted to become a pilot in the Air Force. However, I realized that being a pilot is not the best thing for my career at the moment. I thought I could be more successful [at] Kelley and I realized I could always get my pilot license later.” Miller was able to take his passion for aviation and travel and combine it with his Kelley skills in Operations and Marketing to obtain a position at American Airlines as a commodity manager at the Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic toll it caused for the airline industry, American Airlines was forced to let go of all their new hires. Miller, however, adopted a helpful mindset. “Two things that I have learned from this experience is that it’s okay not to be okay. I think people don’t give themselves enough credit. This is a bad time and it’s okay to be upset, that’s valid. Everything happens for a reason.”
