Two alumni appointed to Board of Trustees
Oct. 28, 2002
LANSING, Mich. -- Two WMU alumni were appointed Oct. 22 by Gov. John Engler to eight-year terms on the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees.
Kenneth V. Miller of Kalamazoo and Bill Martin of Battle Creek will take office in January, replacing two trustees whose terms expire Dec. 31. Martin will replace Richard Y. St. John, chairperson of the board, who has served on that body since 1987. Miller will replace Richard Chormann, a board member since 1994.
Martin, a 1993 alumnus who earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts, currently is chief executive officer of the Michigan Association of Realtors. The Army veteran served as a Michigan State Police trooper for eight years before being elected as a state representative, representing the Battle Creek area from 1986 to 1994. In 1995, he was tapped by Engler to be the state lottery commissioner. Then in 1999, Engler appointed him director of the Michigan Corrections Department, a position he held until January of this year when he resigned to accept his current position.
Miller is vice president and chief operating officer of Havirco, a Kalamazoo investment management firm, which he has co-owned since 1983. He is also owner of the Millennium Restaurant Group, which owns and operates restaurants in Southwest Michigan, including The Union Cabaret and Grill, a WMU theme restaurant on the Kalamazoo downtown mall. He earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree in business administration from WMU and a Juris Doctorate from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. A director of the WMU Foundation since 1999, he will resign that position effective with his appointment to the Board of Trustees.
Media contact: Matt Kurz, 269 387-8400, matt.kurz@wmich.edu