Message from Gail Miller
Introducing Steve Starks, CEO,
Larry H. Miller Management
A
fter a long and intense search that included
both internal and external candidates, Steve
Starks was named the fourth CEO of the
Larry H. Miller Management Corporation. While
Steve is familiar to many of you living and working
in the Utah market, I would like to introduce him
to all of our employees.
Steve Starks, the son of a long-haul truck driver
and former LAPD cop, is a self-made man who grew
up in an old farmhouse in Huntsville and paid for his
education by driving bread trucks, working on golf-
course maintenance crews, and hanging siding.
Steve comes from a humble background in
which he learned a solid work ethic. Because of
financial difficulties, his family moved nearly a
dozen times before he reached his 12th birthday,
living for a few years in a mobile home. His parents,
Steve Sr. and Debbie, literally met by accident.
She witnessed a car accident, and he was the first
patrolman on the scene. He asked her for her
number to wrap up his report, which led to their
courtship and eventual marriage. After deciding the
stressful life of an LAPD beat cop was not for him,
Steve Sr. moved his young family from California
to Utah. They settled in Huntsville, and Steve Sr.
became a long-haul trucker. As a boy, Steve would
occasionally accompany his father on these trips to
spend time with him.
“Our circumstances weren’t great, but we had
a very loving home and a close family,” says Steve,
who, during a two-hour discussion, frequently
mentions his hardworking parents who raised
seven children. “I take a lot of pride in making
them proud.”
After graduating from Weber High School,
Steve completed a year at Weber State University
in Ogden, Utah, before leaving to serve a two-
year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in Mississippi, which he calls a
“transformational experience.”
After his mission, with less than $100 in the bank,
he held down several jobs and applied for grants to
pay for school. He returned to Weber State University,
planning to teach seminary for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, he got involved
in student government through a friend and became
one of two finalists to be vice president of the student
body. When the other finalist was disqualified on
a technicality, Steve argued for his reinstatement
in front of a school court. Impressed by this noble
gesture, his VP rival urged him to run for president as
a write-in candidate and pledged his support (which
consisted of making signs and planting them around
campus). Steve, a sophomore, won the election.
He completed several internships and did a
study abroad program at Cambridge, and then
graduated with a degree in integrated studies. The
student government experience, which exposed him
to the legislative process of approving budgets and
working with trustees, led him to politics.
Steve worked as an intern for Senator Orrin
Hatch in Washington, D.C., and then was hired by
Nolan Karras to direct his campaign for governor of
Utah. As soon as that campaign was finished, Steve
was hired to manage a congressional campaign for
Rob Bishop. Jon Huntsman Jr., who had seen Steve’s
work, then hired him as one of the managers of the
governor’s transition team.
The job required Steve to meet with government
and business leaders throughout the state to make
recommendations on how to improve the efficiency
and effectiveness of state government. Steve presented
the governor with two large, three-ring binders of
recommendations. Huntsman was so impressed
that he decided to continue utilizing Steve and the
transition team as an outside advisory group even
after he took office. Steve and Jon Huntsman Jr.
personally invited Larry Miller to serve as chairman
of The Utah Policy Partnership (UPP).
After 18 months at UPP, Steve was eager to
move on again. He was riding with Larry Miller in
an elevator to a meeting when he told Larry that
he planned to go to business school and asked if
he would write a letter of recommendation. Larry
paused and thought about it for a moment. He had
observed Steve while serving at The UPP and, like
so many others who had seen him in action, he
was impressed. “I’ll write you a letter,” he began,
“but I would also like to talk to you about another
option that would include you coming to work for
me full time.”
Later, during a three-hour lunch, Larry offered
him employment without giving him a specific
job, explaining only that he would work with Steve
personally for a while. “Over time, the right role will
emerge,” he said. This was typical of the intuitive
way Larry did business, and Steve bought into it.
That first day of work, Larry took him to his office,
and Steve became his shadow. “I just followed him
around,” says Steve. “I went to meetings with him.
He would make calls, and I would listen. He was
so open. I heard everything he was dealing with.”
They talked about their mutual interests in business
philosophy, baseball, history, great leaders, but
mostly, Steve received a crash course in business
from a master.
Looking back now, Steve recalls, “It was such a
great learning experience watching him put together
deals. If I had to pick any single thing I learned
from Larry, it was this: You can approach a business
transaction with transparency and honesty and with
the goal of both parties benefiting. When I started
doing deals for the organization, I discovered our
reputation was so strong that people wanted to sell
to us instead of other companies. They would seek
us out. I know of several situations where they sold
to us even though we weren’t the highest bidder. It’s
because they cared about the type of organization
that will acquire their life’s work, and they want their
employees taken care of.”
Larry told Steve he needed to have a broad
range of experiences to complete his education and
to perhaps uncover hidden abilities, so he was given
a wide variety of assignments.
Steve organized Larry’s Teach the Teacher
program, which took high school teachers to
various historical sites to inspire their teaching and
eventually included a collaboration with Pulitzer
Prize-winning author David McCullough. Steve
oversaw the publishing of Larry’s biography, Driven,
and produced several analyses of business projects
Larry was considering. On his own initiative,
Steve sold cars on the showroom floor of Miller
dealerships for a month on weekends and weekday
nights just to learn that side of the business.
When Greg Miller took over as CEO for his
father, he reorganized management and turned two
divisions into four. During a meeting with several
executives, Steve was promoted to executive vice
president and put in charge of Landcar Insurance
Companies. Hearing this, another of the Miller
executives entered the room and said, “I wonder if
you ought to rethink that. He’s so young. I’m not sure
he’s ready for it.” Steve replied, “I appreciate that, but
I think I’ve got this one.” Landcar had record profits
that year and continued to grow annually.
“He’s a very gifted person, very low
maintenance, very results-oriented, very
collaborative and communicative, and he has a great
perspective on life,” says Greg Miller. “His values are
where they ought to be.”
Steve married Camilla Lutz in 2006, and they
now have three beautiful daughters, and make their
home in South Jordan, Utah.
I can speak for our family, executive team,
and board of directors in saying that I’m sure you
will enjoy getting to know our new chief executive
officer as we welcome him to his new position.
Portions of this article were taken from an interview
by Doug Robinson, a writer for the Deseret News,
and used with permission of the author. ◆
LHMWSM.com
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