Google executive speaks at Purdue summer commencement

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Jim Miller, a Purdue alumnus and vice president of operations at Google, provided the keynote address at the university's summer commencement on Saturday (Aug. 6).

About 1,403 students were eligible for degrees, with 277 undergraduates, 463 graduate students and two students from the professional programs, participated in the morning commencement ceremony in Elliott Hall of Music.

Miller received a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Purdue. At Google, he is responsible for global operations, planning, supply chain and new product introduction for the company's IT infrastructure and Google Fiber. He also runs Google Energy, where he oversees investments in renewable energy for Google's data centers.

Miller also is in charge of sustainability and corporate and social responsibility, and serves as an adviser to Sidewalk Labs. He was the founder and executive sponsor of Google Genomics, which is now part of Verily.

Before joining Google in 2010, Miller was executive vice president of Sanmina-SCI Corp., one of the world's largest electronic manufacturing service providers. He led the company's industrial, clean tech, multimedia and automotive businesses.

In addition, Miller has served as vice president of product operations for Cisco's worldwide supply chain organization as well as vice president of the company's manufacturing technology group, supply chain and logistics organization. He also was vice president of Cisco's Midrange plant, where he was responsible for new product introduction and manufacturing for one-third of the company's hardware and all of its software revenue.

Earlier, he was Amazon's vice president of Supply Chain and assisted with the inception of the company's supply chain organization. He also has held technical and production positions at IBM, Intel and Teledesic, a Seattle-based telecommunications startup.

 Miller earned his master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a master's degree in management from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

"I am honored to go back to my alma mater and talk to the graduates about how my education, particularly my time at Purdue, has helped me in my career," Miller said. "It is an exciting time for these students as they embark on the next part of their lives. Having a Purdue degree will be a great plus in whatever they decide to do."

The student responder for the ceremony was Shaina C. Riciputi, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, who earned a Master of Science in health and kinesiology.

Commencement videos are available for $30 per DVD. Order forms can be obtained at the Loeb Playhouse box office, online at http://www.purdue.edu/commencement/documents/DVD_Form.pdf or by calling 765-494-3933. Forms may be submitted within two weeks of the event.  

Writer: Greg McClure, 765-696-9711, gmcclure@purdue.edu 

Source: Christine DeHahn Pass, 765-494-6163,dehahn@purdue.edu