After 25 years, MILLERCO is still family-owned and family-run, even though that “family” now exceeds 80 employees.
Jimmy and Tonia Miller founded MILLERCO in 1997 after Jimmy retired from Southern Company, where he played a large role in building out the Southern Linc wireless network in the Southeast.
The company started in their house in Gulfport, MS with only one employee. Some of the first employees they had were firemen because they knew they were not scared of the climb. The company has grown significantly since then and now has nine remote locations and one main office. MILLERCO’s footprint spans from New Mexico to Georgia and from Kentucky to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Jimmy and Tonia have two daughters, both of whom have joined the company, Jordyn Ladner, Operations Manager, and Amanda McGuire, Human Resources Manager. The daughters never planned on working for the family business but somehow, they both ended up at MILLERCO right across the hall from each other and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
MILLERCO offers a wide range of services for the telecommunications industry. They offer complete installation and integration of all tower obstruction lighting systems and their related monitoring devices, as well as line and antenna and even generator services. These services range from upgrades to maintenance of systems, including DAS, small cell and microwave.
MILLERCO’s growth has always been organic. “Much of the growth early on was the result of our employees moving to a different state, but they still wanted to work for us. We expanded our service area to keep them as part of the company,” McGuire said. Through referrals from satisfied customers, their customers now include tower owners, carriers, utilities, local municipalities, counties, and two-way radio companies.
MILLERCO has been a primary voting member of the association dedicated to tower safety — NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association — since 2002. Jimmy was elected to the association’s Board of Directors in 2009 and just ended his four-year run as Chairman of NATE. Amanda Stegall, Director of Lighting Operations, has served on the NATE Tradeshow Committee for 13 years and is the current Chairwoman. Ladner has been on the Member Services Committee for eight years and is the current Chairwoman.
Ladner said she values being a NATE member because of the relationships and the camaraderie she has developed with other members, many of whom struggle with the same day-to-day issues as MILLERCO. “It’s helpful to be able to connect with those people and talk about how we can do better,” Ladner said. “We elevate each other and it really is empowering.”
One of the perennial issues discussed at NATE UNITE is workforce development, a challenge for many companies in the industry. “One of the key things that’s a hurdle to expansion is having enough qualified people.”
McGuire believes that NATE’s efforts to raise the profile of jobs in the tower technician field, such as producing the Vertical Freedom documentary and its spinoffs, are having a positive impact. “We’ve seen an uptick in interest in the industry,” she said. “The more we can do to highlight the industry and what we do, collectively, the better off we will be.”
MILLERCO understands the importance of safety. It is ingrained in the culture of the company at all levels of operation. They also understand the importance of training and elevating the Tower Technician career, so they actively participate in the National Wireless Safety Alliance, which certifies telecom technicians. MILLERCO has their own NWSA approved testing tower where they conduct NWSA Practical exams for technicians nearby and Ladner also serves on the NWSA Written Exam Committee.
Training for employees gives them a career path within MILLERCO and within the industry, helping both the company and the industry as a whole retain professionals who know how to do their jobs safely and efficiently. Even as the company has grown, it maintains a family feel, partly because a handful of the employees have worked there for more than ten years and a number have been there 20 years.
MILLERCO will always understand the importance of the employees’ families, especially when it comes to the importance of having their loved ones come home at the end of the work day. No matter how big the company gets.
For more information, please visit https://millercoinc.com/.
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