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Dennis Miller, the Founder & Chairman of DCM Associates, is a stalwart figure in the realm of corporate real estate development, boasting extensive experience across various facets of the industry. With a career spanning over two decades, Miller has cultivated a diverse skill set, from real estate site selection to franchisee approvals and market development studies. His proficiency extends to contract negotiations, strategic presentations, and property management, underscoring his status as a seasoned leader in the field.
Currently serving as Chairman at DMC Real Estate Associates/MKIEZI PROPERTIES, LLC, Miller continues to leverage his expertise to drive innovation and growth in the real estate sector. Prior to his current roles, he held key positions such as Director of Real Estate at Art Van Furniture and Assistant Vice President at Flagstar Bank, where he played pivotal roles in managing corporate portfolios and executing strategic plans with precision. Miller’s track record of success includes spearheading multimillion-dollar property sales and implementing efficiency-enhancing systems that have significantly reduced impaired asset portfolios.
Miller’s dedication to excellence, strategic vision, and meticulous attention to detail have earned him the respect and admiration of colleagues and peers throughout his career. His contributions have not only shaped the trajectory of the organizations he has served but have also left an indelible mark on the corporate real estate landscape. As he continues to lead with innovation and inspire with his vision, Miller remains committed to driving sustainable growth and fostering collaboration in the dynamic realm of corporate real estate development.
DMC Associates demonstrates a high level of expertise in corporate real estate development, covering site selection, construction, and approval of franchisee real estate, resulting in excellence throughout various industry sectors. By conducting thorough market assessments, delivering strategic presentations, and managing properties seamlessly, they provide customized solutions that closely match their clients’ goals. Their dedication to effective contract negotiations, streamlined property management, and collaborative pipeline supervision ensures they consistently attain top-notch outcomes and operational excellence across a broad range of projects.
Laura Siclari: Welcome to the Think Factory podcast. I’m Laura Siclari, a partner at Outside General Counsel Solutions and the hosts of today’s episode. I have with me today Dennis Miller, who is a nationally recognized nonprofit board and executive leadership coach and CEO and C-suite executive search consultant. With more than 39 years of experience working with nonprofit board leadership and chief executives across the country. Dennis is a former health care executive who is the president and CEO of a major medical center and foundation in New Jersey. He’s also the best selling author of five books, a nonprofit organization, success and one autobiography. Dennis is also a sought after speaker who just last week was the keynote speaker at the FBI Spring Leadership SAC conference on the topic of leading with resilience. Dennis, welcome to the show.
Dennis Miller: Laura, always happy to be here.
Laura Siclari: Alright. So, Dennis, tell me first about this FBI conference and your speaker topic leading with resilience.
Dennis Miller: Well, I was pretty excited, obviously. I spoke once before to the FBI Leadership Conference in Houston, but this was the SAC stands for Special Agent Charge so all the special agent charge around the country with this conference in Huntsville, Alabama. There’s a massive campus made of literally hundreds of thousands of acres Park, FBI, national intelligence, everything. That is a pretty impressive place. So I was asked to speak at the conference and I was introduced by Christopher Wray, the director, and that follows by him. And the scene really was about, as you can imagine, the FBI. Resiliency in the face of adversity when you would have had our situation bounce back and that same time keep your integrity and optimism. So it’s sort of part of my life story about resiliency and adversity and bouncing back. So I was honored to speak with them and I enjoyed it and I’m proud to have done it. And I think the FBI does a great job protecting our lives and protecting the Constitution.
Laura Siclari: That’s fantastic. Now, I had mentioned that you’re the author of five books on leaderships and boards, but your sixth book is actually an autobiography with a really eye catching title called Mopping Floors The CEO. So I got to ask you, how did you go from mopping floors to become a CEO?
Dennis Miller: And I’m still trying to figure that out. But the truth of the matter is, and I would argue it all the way, but I truly was a kid. I had difficulty growing up. But all the details, abusive, bad. They do well academically and high school at all. Even though I was an athlete, football player, lead in a play, social butterfly, class clown, etc. I was 24. My father, threw me out of the house literally. I don’t know why I came home in a bad mood and I had to stay in a friend’s house when I got a room in the YMCA and a nearby town and got the job. And I had this funny laugh because the ad was for a house man and ran my head and I went and I thought the house that was the guy with the gold trim around the shoulder pads, bringing in luggage and getting tips like Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners. You know, when I got the house was that it was it was you know, they know how to use a vacuum cleaner and a mop and everything. I said, I guess so. I had a tough time, so I provided for a year. I got to a room with the boarding house. I was embarrassed to go to my high school reunion because of my lot life, and then I truly believed in divine intervention. And finally, I did not have a four year college degree. I got rejected by every cause I applied to, but to get into County College because they had to take you as it fairly well. And then I said, Dennis, you know, you can dream about being this or being that, but you don’t get education at all anywhere. How am I going to get education? Dennis Because, you know, I got rejected, but I wrote a letter to every state public school in New Jersey. I got into all that. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa Rocket University.
Laura Siclari: Fantastic. That’s amazing. You use that degree and move down into what state at that point?
Dennis Miller: Yeah, I think I used that. Eventually I got I went to grad school coming to Columbia, which was a massive achievement myself. And I got involved first sort of in health care, finance, health care consulting. And from that was, I said when it became arts in Young and then I became the CFO and then CEO of Major Catholic Medical Center, and then for seven years, presidency of another medical center foundation. And I started my firm back in 2007. So and I think everybody in life, everybody in life, certainly members of the FBI, my own life about resilience. And we all face adversity and the challenges to bounce back. And I think the answer to your question specifically about how do I do it even though I was provided to life, certainly is very negative image of myself from my dad or whatever, you know, been a loser or whatever. I knew I wasn’t. And so I think to have resilience, you’ve got to have a feeling that you got to believe in yourself, you have a faith in yourself, and that when you get pushed down, you have the feeling that you can get back up again. So I the few exceptions I’ve always had that sense of resiliency of getting back up and I get knocked down so much I lost my hair in the process.
Laura Siclari: So it sounds like you’ve known your identity throughout this and although it sounds like you have known your identity throughout this and the identity was not of a loser, but was of somebody who could, you know grow, finish school, get a degree, be successful.
Dennis Miller: Yeah. And one thing that I should share with you and your listeners is this here. I should share this when I was 20 years old. I was beyond distraught. This depressed, despondent, just scared to death. I really had no parenting. I had no personal connection. Everybody. I was scared to death. And I got so depressed, I sold myself to a private psychiatric hospital while I was there, the priest from my parish in to visit me and I just admired him. His is such a calm demeanor, which I wasn’t used to. And so like one day when I got out, I developed the same feelings of despondency and I knocked on the door and I finally opened up to him and credible man, credible person, human being. And he got me. And as I was 21 at the sort of his day hospital program, I went, Wow, this is funny. And that program was probably the biggest positive impact in my life up until married my wife. And so I felt people cared about me. I began to like myself. I began to develop a voracious appetite to read and to learn. On the library is all preclinical and but that stuff allows me to be resilient throughout the rest of my life.
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