Wayne Miller

Wayne Miller, executive director of the Venture Center in Little Rock, attributes his success to his team and his diverse background.

“If we can build great people, great businesses here, then people will come here and people will stay here. And people will want to come back here. So that’s what we really, truly try to do every day,” he said about the entrepreneurial support organization he leads.

Before joining the center in May 2017 as managing director of its FinTech Accelerator, Miller was CEO of Enovative Technologies LLC, a private equity-backed medical device manufacturer in Bishopville, Maryland.

He has also worked with two startup technology companies in the health care and cybersecurity markets and has taught entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland.

Other positions he has held include director of business development for Proxicom in Reston, Virginia; national director of business development for Deloitte in Washington, D.C.; director of national accounts for Hill-Ro in Batesville, Indiana; and marketing manager for Kraft Foods. Miller has owned and operated a national multiunit automotive franchise and the New Orleans Emporium, a restaurant in Washington, D.C., as well. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in marketing.

“I’ve always felt like certain people look at that, the diversity of my background, some with a jaundiced eye,” Miller said. “What it’s provided me with is the ability to look at things differently.”

He also said he’s worked with and for “extraordinary people” who have helped him get better at what he does and make his businesses more successful.

That’s one reason he took the job at the center. It’s a way for him to pay it forward, by helping others be successful in business.

Listening is a big part of how he goes about doing that. “I think it begins with listening, understanding what it is we’re trying to accomplish,” Miller said.

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