About Us

Miller Center has been a leader in the global social entrepreneurship movement for more than 25 years.

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Advancing Business for Good 

Social entrepreneurs around the world are innovating solutions to tackle our most pressing social problems and address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We believe that social entrepreneurship is leading the way in transforming markets for good and ultimately propelling us to end poverty. Further, we believe that scalable and replicable social enterprises led by local leaders are in the best position to provide lasting solutions.

In supporting social entrepreneurs, our proven model unites the talents and expertise of our executive mentors, world-class programs, the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley, and Santa Clara University’s heritage of social justice, community engagement, and global impact. 

As we advance our mission, we are focused on social enterprises working in the areas of women’s economic power and climate resilience for their disproportionate potential to eliminate poverty and the opportunities they provide to achieve outsized impact. By accompanying social entrepreneurs on their journeys to impact, we are committed to being part of the solution to end global poverty.

KEY FOCUS AREA

Women’s Economic Power

Women are significantly more likely to invest back into their families than men. Advancing women in all aspects of business — as leaders, customers, staff, and value chain suppliers — improves outcomes for entire communities.

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KEY FOCUS AREA

Climate Resilience

The climate crisis hits people living in poverty the hardest, with fewer resources to adapt and recover. Addressing the nexus between environmental degradation and vulnerable communities — through renewable energy, clean water and sanitation, and regenerative agriculture — moves the needle on poverty.

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OUR COMMITMENT

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Our mission of accelerating social entrepreneurship to end global poverty leaves no room for exclusion or discrimination on any kind. We believe that diverse experiences and perspectives create better results. We aim to create an inclusive community of belonging for all of our stakeholders.

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Our Network of Support

Jeff Miller Chair of Miller Center Advisory Board, CEO and President of JAMM Ventures

Radha Basu Emeritus Member, Regis and Dianne McKenna Professor of Science, Technology, and Society Dean’s Executive Professor, School of Engineering

Ben A. Bisconti Private Investor and Not-for-Profit Advisor

Luis Calero, SJ Jesuit Community Rector, Santa Clara University

Josefina (JJ) Card President and CEO, Sociometrics Corporation

Aarti Chandna Impact/Angel Investor & Advisor

Howard Charney Investor & Board Member, Spectrum | Founder, 3Com & Grand Junction | Former SVP, Cisco | Trustee, Santa Clara University

Jon Freeman Founder, Principal Owner, and President, Stonecrest Financial

Reyad Fezzani Chairperson & Director Carbon Collect Limited

Brigit Helms Executive Director, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Ex Officio Member

Manoj Jain Strategic Advisor

Louis Jordan Senior Vice President of Global Finance, Starbucks (Retired)

Prabhakar (PK) Krishnamurthy Advisor/Mentor/Consultant

Holly Levow Founder and CEO, Philanthropic Reach | Co-founder, Equitas Entertainment Partners

James Lyons Vice President for University Relations, Santa Clara University, Ex Officio Member

Bob MacDonald Technical Program Manager, Google

Kate Morris Acting Co-Provost, Santa Clara University, Ex Officio Member

Sayuri Sharper Impact Investor and Social Venture Mentor

Julie Sullivan President, Santa Clara University, Ex Officio Member

Doug Tsui Board Member/Advisor at Transparent Fish Fund/Chao Foundation

Winnie Wan Board Director, Executive Advisor, Mentor

Agnieszka Winkler Public & private boards of directors, CEO, innovation, a focused entrepreneur with a global perspective

Arvind Deogirikar Executive Fellow

Cynthia Lang Executive Fellow

Dan Halabe Executive Fellow

Dolly Parikh Executive Fellow

Ed Callan Executive Fellow

Greg Starbird Curriculum Consulting

Jim Koch Founding Executive Fellow

Jitendra Mudhol Executive Fellow

John Kohler Executive Fellow

John O’Keefe Executive Fellow

Linda Keegan Executive Fellow

Menekse Gencer Executive Fellow

Michael Greco Director of Strategic Partnerships, Santa Clara University

Naheed Islam Executive Fellow

Pamela Roussos Executive Fellow

Peter Gardner Executive Fellow

Rhonda Brauer PR Consulting

Susan Pohl Executive

Lucy Ashman | Founder Tierra & Lava

Sonali Mehta-Rao | Co-founder Awaaz.De, Founder Ahaana Ventures

Antonio Nuño | Co-founder & CEO Someone Somewhere

Manoj Sinha | Founder & CEO Husk Power Systems

Matt Wallace | Managing Director & Co-founder ONOW

Galen Welsch | Co-founder & CEO Jibu

Our Commitments in Action

We believe that diverse experiences and perspectives create better results, and that our team, mentors, students, faculty, investors, and other partners should reflect, whenever possible, the diverse lived experiences of the entrepreneur communities we are supporting.

We aim to create equitable access to the resources we manage as well as an inclusive community of belonging for all of our stakeholders to engage with our mission and the success of our social enterprise partners.

We believe that local leadership is the most effective approach to creating lasting social change by offering successful business solutions to end poverty because they have a deep connection to the communities they’re working in, an intimate understanding of the problems they face, and profound insight into viable solutions to those problems.

We commit to helping shift the status quo in the social enterprise ecosystem toward one that prioritizes investment in local leaders through capacity-strengthening programs, access to networks, and the distribution of capital. We will continue to explore and discuss, internally and externally, overcoming bias and inequities so that locally-driven models may reach their full potential.

We commit to improving our credibility and transparency when it comes to impact measurement through an iterative learning process to adapt more standardized procedures that measure and report the value of our programs and the impact of our social enterprise partners.

We commit to being a learning organization that listens deeply to our stakeholders and continually evolves to better serve them. We employ feedback loops across our work, pay attention to happenings in our sector, and empower all team members to be innovators.

A Santa Clara University Center of Distinction

Santa Clara’s three Centers of Distinction serve as major points of interaction between the University and local and global communities. Each focuses on a theme that is central to SCU’s mission as a Jesuit university and integrates rigorous inquiry and scholarship, creative imagination, reflective engagement with society, and a commitment to fashioning a more humane and just world.

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