Truman State
University Foundation Board of Directors
Linda Miller
Linda
Miller retired as the manufacturing director, Powertrain
Operations, for Ford Motor Company in December 2006.
Following a brief stint in teaching, she began her career at
Ford in 1973 as a quality control analyst at Ford's Engine
Plant in Dearborn, Mich.
In only nine years, she became the first woman to be named
as a production superintendent. Miller was also the first
woman named quality control superintendent, supplier quality
assurance representative, and the first woman plant manager
at Ford. She held positions as the director of Ford's
world-wide Supplier Technical Assistance Organization and
director of the Global Manufacturing Business Office.
Miller was honored in 1997 by being awarded the Magnificent
Seven award by the Business and Professional Women/USA in
Washington, D.C., in recognition of her pioneering role as a
woman in the automotive industry. In 2000 and again in 2005,
Miller was recognized by Automotive World magazine as
one of the top 100 women in the automotive industry. In
2004, she was recognized by the Women’s Automotive Alliance
International with the Spirit of Leadership award. The award
cites a woman in the automotive industry for their
commitment to community service and family values.
She received her undergraduate degree from Truman in 1970
and was named Truman State University's Alumna of the Year
in 2002. Miller earned an M.A. from the University of Kansas
and has an M.B.A. from the University of Detroit. She and
her husband, Timothy Duperron, chief operating officer for
Focus: Hope, reside in Grosse Ile, Mich.