Ed Miller reflects on 19-year tenure with Rubber Division

AKRON—Ed Miller vividly remembers what he told his wife back in early 2001 after his first meeting with the full board of the ACS Rubber Division, three months after taking on the job of being the association's first executive director.

"After that meeting, I called Diane, my wife, and said, 'Don't sell the house,' " he recalls. "She was still in Kentucky. I said, 'I'm coming home.' I was ready to leave."

But after some coaxing from a few of the board members, Miller decided not to leave. Now nearly 19 years later he's preparing for his final International Elastomer Conference, before retiring Jan. 15 and handing over the executive director reins to Lakisha Miller-Barclay, currently the division's director of finance and administration.

Miller said his near hasty retreat from the position so early in his tenure was prompted by a few surprises when he reported for work in January 2001. He said the association's Executive Committee didn't really have a clue about what the role of an executive director should be.

"They knew what they wanted, but they didn't know what they hired," he said.

That wasn't what Miller had expected, following a career in the Air Force with a second career as president and CEO of the Asphalt Institute. The asphalt group, though, had been run by an professional director before Miller's arrival.

For the Rubber Division it was the first time they'd had an executive director and then a professional, private staff. For the first 90 years of its existence, the Rubber Division had been run by its industry volunteers, with the aid of secretaries who actually were employees of the University of Akron, which also housed the association's headquarters until mid-2018.

"I knew the division was having problems financially and knew about some of their programs, because I did a lot research and talked to a lot of people. So that was fine," Miller said. "What I didn't know was that they did not put anything in place. They didn't have a staff when I came in. They didn't have the documents that are required to go with a private non-profit staff."

Such things as employee handbooks, a 401(k) plan, various insurances and other necessary documents were non-existent.

"There was an awful lot that they probably did not need in their first 90 years, but it had to change," Miller said.

And Rudy School, division chairman at the time Miller was hired, dropped a couple major tasks on him before the new executive could even get settled in.

On the first day of work, Miller said School handed him a hard copy email and told him he had two weeks to write the annual report for the previous year and submit it to the American Chemical Society, the division's parent organization.

So Miller handled that in the proper timeframe, only to be given an even more daunting task. School said he wanted the new director to analyze every aspect of Rubber Division, from top to bottom. School's marching orders to Miller were: "I want you to tell us what's wrong and how to fix it."

And, by the way, he was told he had to present it to the Board of Directors, who Miller had never met, at the association's spring meeting in three months.

Miller said ideas for such transformation from a new executive director normally wouldn't be tackled until after a year on the job. But he completed the assignment, and back then the Rubber Division had a large board, with double the number of rubber groups it has now, along with more officers and councilors.

And Miller said his nine-page report, summarized in a presentation, hit everything: Finance; budgeting processes; discussion about expos; talked about the division distancing itself from the ACS and why it needed to forge closer ties; what staffing needs were; and why the group was hurt by not having a real strategic plan.

"I presented it and they were very quiet," Miller said. "They didn't say a word. Then I asked for questions and it got dead silent. After the silence, finally one of the older councilors yelled out, 'What the heck does this guy want us to do?' And it got silent again. And then all hell broke loose. And I just listened."

It was after this meeting that he made the call to his wife to not put the house on the market.

But something else happened after the meeting. School and a couple other board members approached him and said: "Ed, you knocked our socks off. Give us a chance. We're an older group. We've got to think about all this, and we'll do the right things."

School also had been understanding with Miller's home situation, allowing him to travel between Akron and Kentucky for the first five months on the job. Besides having two young children at home, the family's house had caught fire three weeks before Miller reported for work.

So he had to see to getting the house rebuilt, which meant working Monday through Thursday in Akron, making the 320-mile drive to Lexington late Thursday night. After getting things handled in Kentucky on Friday and Saturday, he turned around on Sunday afternoon and drove back.

"(School) understood and he let me do it, which was good," Miller said. "Otherwise, I couldn't have done this job."

In the end, everything worked out well. Miller stayed with the Akron-based association and within two years he said everything he outlined in his report to the board was implemented.

From the ground up

While the Rubber Division had built much during its history of being mainly run by volunteers, there wasn't much in place that could be used to run the organization the way Miller knew it needed to be done.

So he said he basically built everything in the report from scratch. That meant writing full charters for every committee, which still are in place today. It included writing an employee handbook and putting in place a workable budget, not one like he inherited that had 310 line items but didn't detail how much was paid to the University of Akron employees, other than a bulk amount.

"It took me three weeks on the side to rebuild that and put in a realistic non-profit budget," Miller said. "I cut the line items in more than half, and put in categories you could understand, starting with staff salaries and benefits. The things you need to know as a board to make decisions."

Miller also had to learn that the rubber industry was more than just tires. His whole work life to that point had been the Air Force, where he dealt most with pavements, and then the Asphalt Institute and more pavements. He was familiar with rubberized asphalts, made with recycled tires, and that's what he thought he was getting into.

So one of the first things he did was read a primer on the rubber industry that had been a staple of the sector for decades. "That was an awakening for me, to understand how much rubber and other elastomers are involved in this world," Miller said. "Not just tires, but the consumer products, automotive, energy, the health sector and many others."

The one nice thing about his background was it enabled him to get the major rubber and asphalt associations to collaborate on the first Rubber Modified Asphalt Conference, a meeting that continues today, but under the direction of the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association.

Key to helping steer the Rubber Division in the proper course was getting its financial house in order. He said getting a proper budget in place was the first step to understanding where the money was going, whether it was being spent wisely and discovering if the organization was missing any opportunities.

Next was to concentrate on the "value of the division," according to Miller. Was it meeting the industry needs and if not, how that could be changed.

"We determined those value programs and services that would turn the division around and bring the members, attendees and exhibitors back," he said. "That's not something you do overnight."

One thing they found was the industry still was paying for most of the memberships, along with putting up money for exhibits and sponsorships. So the team focused on what was of value to industry, and started looking for better venues for the expos. Then there was a marketing push to bring in end customers that, in turn, would lure the rubber product manufacturers.

The division also looked at what the education needs were in the industry and if it could offer education not being offered elsewhere.

Other areas of focus included publications, ramping up student programs and finding other ways to bring new blood into the industry.

"By 2007, the finances had completely turned around," Miller said. "We were doing great. Attendance increased, as did exhibitors and sponsors."

Then came 2008 and the Great Recession.

Dealing with adversity

During the turbulent period, the Rubber Division lost about 40 percent of its reserves, Miller said. Attendance at the major fall expo in 2009 in Pittsburgh was 60-70 percent of what it should have been.

Everything was going down, but rather than panic, Miller said the division took a different approach. By this time, Miller had his private professional team in place. During the financial crisis, all business and enterprises were letting people go, and the rubber industry was no different.

"I know one of our board members suggested we let go four of our eight people on staff, give everybody else a 20 percent pay cut and get rid of a couple other things."

Instead Miller was asked to brief the board about what his suggested course of action would be. He met with the staff before that board meeting, and they put together a plan that included a voluntary pay cut and suspension of the 401(k). The team also put together a plan to stage an Advanced Materials in Health Care Conference in 2011, given the ties Northeast Ohio had to that industry.

"All of this was to give a boost instead of burying our heads and firing people," Miller said.

The board approved the plan, and a year later, the conference and expo were successful. "Everything worked out and we were able to get our pay back and the 401(k) reinstated," he said, "all because we looked at the future instead of panicking and basically putting ourselves in crisis."

The "team," as he calls it, is more like a family, having watched each other's kids grow up and spending time together outside of work. He said the current team is the best he's had in his 19 years. "They all are very professional, they know their jobs and they're very friendly," Miller said. "And it makes my life a lot easier because I don't believe in micro-managing. Leading is not that, and I think they appreciate it because they do their jobs and they come up with some great ideas."

New headquarters

The Rubber Division had been leasing space from the University of Akron to house its offices since the 1920s, Miller said. During his tenure alone, the association moved to three different buildings, because the school kept taking away parking.

But when the lease price started going up on the last building it occupied on the UA campus, he said it began to make economic sense to look for an off-site home.

"The team and board felt that not only could we spend our money better, but we really needed to break away from the university and be our own non-profit," Miller said. "We still have some of the ties with the university—that won't go away—but not at the same level as if we're part of that. We're not part of the university. We're a separate non-profit."

Leonard Thomas, a past division chair, was the one who put it in a motion to have Miller and Miller-Barclay begin looking at possibilities.

The process started in early 2017, with the division purchasing the new building on the outskirts of Akron at the end of that year.

Then there were six months of renovations allowing the two main floors to house offices by June 2018, with work on the bottom floor to house its new training center with a smart classroom offering its first classes this past spring.

Finances also have rebounded from the Great Recession. He said Miller-Barclay negotiated a low-interest line of credit—rather than a traditional mortgage—to finance the purchase and renovations. The division already has started to pay off the line, and should have the building completely paid off in five years.

And while the professional staff does much of the heavy lifting, there always will be a need for volunteers from within the industry. And he's glad to see younger people starting to volunteer in such positions as committee chairs. The division also is having sessions called "Get Involved" at the International Elastomer Conference in Cleveland, where volunteers will tell how they got involved and how it has benefited them.

"The association will never run just on staff. It can't," Miller said. "In the non-profit world, most of the executive directors and staff are not experts in their field. That's true here. We're not rubber experts here and you rely on (the volunteers') expertise, even for teaching."

Ushering in a new era

Miller looks at his final IEC as a chance to say goodbye to the many friends he's made in the Rubber Division, some he may not see for a long time and others he may not see again.

"I'm also looking forward to everyone meeting Lakisha and welcoming her as the new executive director," he said. "We will see the reins passed over to a very competent individual who will now help lead the division to its next level of evolution."

Miller said his successor knows the Rubber Division, knows finances inside and out, is an IT expert and has learned much about HR issues. "Through the years, I've worked with her on doing more decision making," Miller said. "She's absolutely shown good leadership qualities. She's well-liked by both our team and the members."

The board looked both internally and externally for potential candidates, which Miller said was the right plan, but he was happy with the final decision to promote Miller-Barclay.

"I'm glad they went with a female executive director," he said. "That shows a huge change in the Rubber Division and the industry, and I'm really glad to see that. I think it was the right thing to do. It wasn't done because she was female. She just happens to be female. It was done because she was qualified."

His advice to Miller-Barclay is to keep the evolution going by recognizing the industry needs not just for today, but five to 10 years ahead. Look at things with her vision, not just that of the board's, and continue to build relationships with the Rubber Division team, the board, rubber groups and the association's members.

"If she does all that, I think that will make her very successful in this position, and she'll be the right kind of leader that we need," Miller said.