Maddison Miller
Community Foundaton CEO
the offices are on the front lines of helping people. That was my favorite part of the job— getting calls everyday from people that needed help and pointing them to services that could help them.”
Miller continued as an intern at the Indiana Statehouse until she graduated in 2011. She accepted her first full-time job as a legislative assistant for the Indiana Senate Majority Caucus.
“ I loved it. It was like an internship on steroids,” she said.“ As an assistant I got to actually meet people, not just talk to them on the phone. I got to meet with lobbyists and was in on meetings where decisions were made.”
While working full time, Miller earned her master’ s degree in public affairs and non-profit management from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
“ I had learned that there really is a partnership between the legislative branch and non-profits, and I wanted to capitalize on that partnership to make positive changes for communities,” Miller said.
From 2013 to 2016, Miller was a registered lobbyist with the Indiana Cable Telecommunications Association. Her role was to educate state legislators on telecommunications issues in relation to tax and regulatory policy.
In 2016, she took a job as an account executive with SAS, the largest privately owned software company in the world.
“ I worked with non-profit agencies across the state to learn about the issues they were trying to address, and what data they needed to better solve the problem,” Miller said.“ It really was incredible work. With the right data, you can learn so much more about the problems and initiate programs to help people.”
Miller was just two years into her work with SAS when her friend sent her the job description for the CEO of the Brown County Community Foundation.
“ I was not job hunting at the time,” Miller said.“ I read the job description and it said the right candidate needed skills to work with community leaders to make changes happen. It was about getting the right people at the table to help the community move in the right direction. I thought,‘ I have the skills to do that.’”
In addition to the job being a great fit, Miller said she was excited about the possibility of moving to Brown County.
“ I have been coming to Brown County State Park to hike for years,” she said.“ I love Brown County. And I had been looking for an opportunity to move to a place with natural beauty.”
Since taking the job in the fall of 2018, Miller said she has been amazed by the collaborative efforts of the community.
“ It really is extraordinary how much we are able to accomplish in this community without a mayor or a town manager,” she said.“ We do a lot with a little.”
Recently, the Foundation hosted a two-and-a-half day community development workshop led by Ball State University.
“ It was basically a graduate-level course in community development,” Miller said.“ We had all of the community leaders at the table learning about how we can better value each other and prioritize objectives that will meet the most needs in the community. We spent a lot of time talking about our goals and setting objectives to meet those goals.”
One topic that came up multiple times during the workshop was communication, Miller said.
“ Getting information out to everyone in the community is really challenging,” Miller said.“ We want to get more people’ s input and incorporate that feedback. Basically, we want to take the mystery out of the decision making process.”
Other issues that community leaders are currently focused on include:
• Broadband development
• Affordable, high-quality child care
• Affordable and accessible housing
• Recreational opportunities for young people
• Environmental issues
• Affordability and accessibility to preschool Continued on 57
March / April 2020 • Our Brown County 33