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John Douglas Miller was born, raised and educated in the Quad Cities region of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. Mr. Miller began his career as an usher at the award winning RKO Orpheum Theatre in his hometown of Davenport, Iowa. He also served as a production assistant for the Broadway Theater League and GMT Productions, the leading theatrical promotion companies in the Quad Cities at the time. Mr. Miller then entered the United States Army and among other duties served as an administrative assistant to the Adjutant General of Support Command Headquarters in Qui Nhon, Vietnam and as a production coordinator for the Bob Hope Christmas Show while assigned to the Commanding General of Support Command Headquarters in Da Nang, Vietnam. Upon his honorable discharge from the military, he attended the Palmer Colleges in Davenport, studying chiropractic, the basic sciences and media.
Mr. Miller then began working as a production assistant at the WOC Broadcasting Company, a pioneer radio and television property in Davenport which was affiliated with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). WOC was the first radio station to broadcast west of the Mississippi River as well as being one of the original six stations associated with NBC. It was also the first radio home of President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Miller eventually became a producer and the director of community relations at the broadcast group and was later promoted to director for corporate development of WOC's parent company, Palmer Communications Inc. (PCI) in Des Moines, Iowa. While in this position he assisted the communications company with community and governmental relations on a local and national level. He also co-founded Signal Hill Communications Inc. which acquired the WOC AM and KIIK FM radio stations from PCI and he developed a video production unit known as Signal Hill Productions. These properties were eventually sold with the radio properties ultimately joining I Heart Radio/Entertainment.
As a production management service provider, Mr. Miller has been involved in numerous projects through the years in a variety of production capacities with such clients and or associates as the former Iowa Film Office, Produce Iowa - Office of Media Production, the Illinois Film Office, the former Quad Cities Film Coalition, the Quad Cities Production Coalition, Shell Oil, ADM, Union Pacific, I-Wireless, John Deere, QVC, ABC, Disney, VH1, RAI, Filmauro, Medusa, the State of Illinois, the Library of Congress and the White House. He also served as a production director and or manager for the award-winning Italian production company, Duea Film srl, which produced nine motion pictures in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois, some of which have been "in competition" at the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals.
Mr. Miller was responsible for the commission of and produced the first public performance of the symphonic suite" Rhapsody for Bix" in collaboration with composer, conductor and motion picture scorer, Lalo Schifrin, of "Mission Impossible" fame, the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. He also served as a field producer for the documentary series "The Mississippi, River of Song" for PBS and the production of "Sugar" for the award winning production company Journeyman Pictures and HBO. Mr. Miller served as an advisor to the Senior Executive of the Los Angeles Office of Telepool, the rights acquisition arm of ARD, the state broadcasting network of Germany. He provided similar services to the Managing Director of Global Media for the Dresdener Bank. Mr. Miller served as a strategic planning consultant for the development of The Creative Arts Academy of the Quad Cities, the first of its kind in the State of Iowa focused on visual, performing and communication media arts.
Through the years Mr. Miller has worked for and or with many politicians, public figures, musical performers, entertainers and actors, a brief sampling of these include Presidents Reagan and Clinton; Senators Harkin, Grassley, Kennedy,Simon and Cranston; Congressmen Mezvinsky, Leach, Grandy, Evans and Braley and Governors Hughes, Branstad and Vilsack; as well as Mark Russell, Bruce Williams, Dick Clark, Sonny and Cher, The Beach Boys, The Yardbirds, Steely Dan, Rare Earth, Leon Russell, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jimmy Dean, Eddy Arnold, Liberace, Pearl Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Burl Ives, Franco Nero, Brooke Shields, Anthony Quinn, Milton Berle, Arthur Fiedler and Cary Grant.
Serving as a member of the board of directors of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, Mr. Miller was instrumental in advancing the efforts of the state film commission, otherwise known as the Iowa Film Office as well as being elected as the founding president of the Iowa Motion Picture Association and receiving one of the first Iowa Film Awards. He has also been a member, served on the board of directors of and or been an officer of numerous organizations including the Quad City Development Group, Quad City Labor Management Council, Quad City Arts, Quad Cities Better Business Bureau, Quad Cities Film Coalition, Quad Cities Vision for the Future, Davenport Convention and Visitors Bureau, Davenport and Bettendorf Chambers of Commerce, Future Davenport, Downtown Davenport Association, Scott Community College Foundation, Living History Farms, Open Cities Film Society, Visiting Artists, Inc. and the Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts Advisory Board.
