Heritage Community Foundation Presents
Alberta Online Encyclopedia
Canadian Petroleum Heritage
titlebar Home | About | Contact Us | Search | Sitemap | Sponsors spacer
Industry
Technology
People
hertiage community foundation, ckua, albertasource

Michael J. Miller

Michael J. MillerMike Miller is the president of Safety Boss, a world renowned company providing firefighting, well control, H2S, and other special services to the petroleum industry. His father K.J. “Smokey” Miller founded Safety Boss in 1956 when he was working in the oilfields of Drayton Valley, Alberta. In 1966, Mike Miller began his time at Safety Boss. He learned on the job from his father, both the business and the work of a firefighter. He left Safety Boss and worked with an energy company in various positions until he was promoted to Operations Manager. This took Miller all over the world from the North Sea to Indonesia. But the excitement in well firefighting brought him back to his father’s business in 1976. Mike Miller then succeeded his father as head of the company in 1979.

For some businessmen, sitting behind a desk at a site is the closest they get to the field work. Miller’s experience was the opposite. Throughout the 1980s Miller and the Safety Boss team took on blowouts all over the world, but focused in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. This established his international credentials and led to the selection of Safety Boss as one of a handful of firms chosen to control the fires of Kuwait at the end of the 1991 Gulf War. In 200 days, the Safety Boss team brought 180 wells under control. In the deserts of Kuwait, Miller demonstrated his superior leadership abilities and the expertise that led to an oilfield firefighting record one of the toughest proving grounds in the world that will not likely be matched again.

Mike Miller has received numerous awards for his outstanding leadership. He was made a member of the Order of Canada, and made the MacLean’s Magazine Honour Roll of Canadians. As well, Oilweek Magazine named him Oilman of the Year, and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Athabasca University. Today, Miller works from the offices of Safety Boss, which is based in Calgary, Alberta.

quicklinks
quicklinks
filler
bottom

Albertasource.ca | Contact Us | Partnerships
            For more on the oil industry in Alberta, visit Peel’s Prairie Provinces.
Copyright © Heritage Community Foundation All Rights Reserved