Charles Miller

Biographical Information
"Charles Miller was appointed to a six-year term of The University of Texas System Board of Regents by Governor George W. Bush in February 1999. Mr. Miller served as Chairman of the Board from April 30, 2001, until June 2, 2004.

"He is Chairman of Meridian National, Inc., a private, family investment partnership based in Houston. He retired in 1992 as president and chief executive officer of an international investment management company he founded and built under the name Criterion Group, before its merger with a large financial service firm. He was instrumental in developing the company's worldwide investment management activities. Under his direction, the firm was involved with the investment management of mutual funds, large pension and endowment funds, and venture capital funds...He is Chairman Emeritus and a member of the board of directors of the Greater Houston Partnership, the largest business organization in Texas. He serves on the board of directors of the Governor's Business Council, the James B. Hunt, Jr., Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, the Texas Medical Center, the Financial Foundation for Charter Schools of Texas, and the Texas Water Foundation.

"Mr. Miller has been active in numerous other civic, educational, and business organizations. He has been a member of the Board of Visitors of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, an advisory committee of the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the boards of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; St. John's College; the National Wildlife Federation Endowment; National Center for Policy Analysis; the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute; Just for the Kids; Central Houston, Inc.; the Congressional Human Rights Foundation; Downtown Houston Association; Houston Grand Opera; Houston Museum of National Science; National Center for Genome Resources; Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; Texas Prepaid Higher Education Tuition Board; JP Morgan Chase of Houston; and the Santa Fe Institute.

"He also was a member of the Council of Overseers of the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School at Rice University; advisory trustee of the Houston Ballet Foundation; and a member of the Governor's Task Force on State Trust and Asset Management.

"He is a former Chairman of the Texas Educational Economic Policy Center; the Governor's Select Committee on Public Education; the Capital Formation Committee of the Governor's Task Force on Texas Business Development and Jobs Creation; the Texas State Pension Review Board; the University of Houston Foundation; and the Downtown Houston Management District.

"Mr. Miller was the founder and Chairman of the Charter School Resource Center of Texas; the Center for the Study of Community; and the Sol y Sombra Foundation.

"Mr. Miller has been recognized for his civic and business activities by the University of St. Thomas and the Center for Business Ethics; the American Leadership Forum; Downtown Houston Association; Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts (MECA); National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine; Neighborhood Centers, Inc.; Texas Monthly magazine; and the United Negro College Fund.

"Mr. Miller earned a degree in Mathematics in 1959 from The University of Texas at Austin and is married to Beth Miller."

John Denver Connection
Jose Luis Stevens writes: "During the 1990's I was invited to perform as the staff Psychologist at Sol Y Sombra, a beautiful twenty acre estate in Santa Fe, once owned by Georgia O'Keefe. It had been bought by Charles and Beth Miller of Texas and turned into a showcase for sustainable living. Sol y Sombra became a salon for many famous people who would come to Santa Fe to visit the Miller's. During my time there, politicians, statesmen, actors, entertainers, movie stars, directors, and producers all found their way there, some on a regular basis. To my surprise, Beth Miller would insist that these folks attend my weekly class, usually on some aspect of the Michael Teachings, personality styles, or some related metaphysical topic. At first, I was very self conscious, but after a number of years it became normal to have such luminaries as John Denver, the former President of Mexico, The late Ann Richards, the former Governor of Texas, Journalist Bill Moyers, and many others in my classes. Some came only once but others were regulars and participated in an animated way. Sometimes, they would book private sessions with me to find out more on a personal level. The late John Denver, singer and songwriter, was a regular and we would often talk privately after a class.

"In 1994, John Denver wrote a song called, Love is the Answer also known as The Wandering Soul. It was the last song he ever wrote before his untimely death from an accident in an experimental aircraft. I was very fortunate to hear him play a few bars of that song when it first came to him. John was fond of Santa Fe and would come periodically to Sol y Sombra for board meetings of his Wind Star Foundation..." 

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