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Tom Miller worked for former Gov. Robert Orr before forming his own consulting firm. (Photo courtesy of Thomas P. Miller & Associates)Revenue Growth FY 2013 to 2015: 116%
Its clients: Consulting firm Thomas P. Miller & Associates typically works with three kinds of clients. Miller said work for states and cities accounts for a third of its clients. Educational institutions and organizations that are significantly affecting education are another third, and public-private partnerships like Central Indiana Community Foundation are the other third.
Its responsibilities: Clients typically come to Miller for one of two purposes: exploration or affirmation. “They might say, ‘We’re thinking about X and Y. We’re not sure, and we’d like you to help us figure out if there’s an opportunity,’” Miller said. Or they think they want to get into a field, but they want a third party to analyze whether it’s the right thing to do.
For example: When Indiana State University wanted to pull together a public-private partnership with the city of Terre Haute, Miller & Associates provided fiscal and other analysis.
“We received some attention in the Legislature, and ISU got some funding to pull off their vision to create a partnership to handle renovation to the Hulman Center and to propel some downtown and other kinds of development forward.”
His background: Miller had been a state employee under Gov. Robert Orr. After Evan Bayh was elected, Miller decided to form his own consulting firm. He said what spurred its growth in recent years has been a focus on talent and quality clients. “We are an edgy firm in that our client profile is people who are looking around the corner, trying to move to where the next opportunity is. They’re innovative and looking to where they need to be going.”
The future: Miller said he’s talked for years about getting into international work.
“It looked like a fond dream, but now we’ve got international clients,” he said. “So things look bright. We’re going to continue to grow, and some of that growth will be attributed to what we do in international arenas.”•
Check out more of IBJ’s ranking of Indy’s fastest-growing companies.
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