Named one of the "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century" by Esquire
magazine, Mike Milken has pursued three main professional passions: medical
research, education and finance. In each, he has been uniquely successful in
creating value whether measured in saved lives (Fortune magazine called him
"The Man Who Changed Medicine"), inspired students or job creation. Between
1969 and 1989, he financed more than 3,200 companies creating millions of jobs
and helping to revolutionize capital markets. His philanthropy began in the
1970s and paralleled his business career. In 1982, he co-founded the Milken
Family Foundation, whose support of the teaching profession has led to
significant innovations in education and whose medical research programs have
contributed to major clinical breakthroughs. Separately, Mike heads
FasterCures, a Washington-based think tank that works to remove barriers to
progress against all life-threatening diseases. He is also chairman of the
Milken Institute, which is focused on improving the lives and economic
conditions of people around the world.
Mike and his wife, Lori, have three children and three grandchildren and
celebrated their 40th anniversary this year. Details are at www.mikemilken.com.
In a dynamic and remarkably uplifting multimedia presentation, Milken weaves
together what he calls the "three great democratizations" of the 21st century:
access to capital, to knowledge, and to health.
Philanthropist and financier Mike Milken believes that expanding access to
financial capital, education and the breakthroughs produced by medical research
worldwide is the best way for nations, cities, companies and citizens to more
fully reach their potential.
Milken is best known for having revolutionized modern capital markets,
making them more efficient, dynamic and democratic by innovating a wide range
of financing techniques previously unavailable to most companies. This financed
much of the early growth of cable television, homebuilding, cellular phones and
other industries. But his philanthropic career, beginning in the 1970s, has
paralleled his business accomplishments. These are not separate endeavors -
Milken has always believed that the process of creating value is the same,
whether that value is measured on a company's balance sheet, on a student's
report card, or on a patient's clean bill of health. In all cases, the process
involves empowering people in ways that expand human capital.
In a 2004 speech, Sir Harold Evans, author of the book, They Made
America, said "Michael Milken is a formidable innovator and we'll all be
in his debt for a long time." Writing in The New York Times, author
Charles Morris said that Milken "helped blow away a corporate old-boy network
that had proved unable to cope with competitive challenges from Asia and
Europe." Without this, says Morris, "it is hard to imagine how America could
have become the lean, mean, competitive machine that dominated the industrial
world of the 1990s." A Washington Post column said Milken "helped create the
conditions for America's explosion of wealth and creativity" in the late 20th
century, a process that Business Week said, "shook America's defeatist
establishment out of its gloom." The London Sunday Times said, "The
restructuring job started by Mike Milken has been completed by the
globalisation of many markets."
Starting in 1969, when he joined the firm that would become Drexel Burnham
Lambert, Milken helped finance thousands of companies. By 1976, the financial
theories he developed in the 1960s had been proven in the world's markets and
now are considered mainstream. The Economist said his financial innovations
"are credited with fueling much of America's rampant economic growth by
enabling companies with bright ideas to get the money they need to develop
them." His use of equity-based securities, bonds, and hybrids to build the
right capital structure for his clients helped to create millions of jobs,
leading a Time bureau chief to write, in 1997, "Milken was right in almost
every sense." This view was echoed by a December 2001 article in The New
Yorker, which concluded, "In the end, Milken was right." A Wall Street Journal
editorial referred to "Mr. Milken's contribution to the explosive economic
growth experienced by the U.S. in the past 20 years." Canada's Globe and Mail
called it "one of the greatest achievements of modern capitalism."
The Milken Family Foundation, now in its 27th year, has worked closely with
more than 1,000 organizations worldwide in supporting extensive programs in
such areas as youth services, inner-cities solutions and medical research. Mike
often relates the inspiring lessons he has learned through his efforts with the
Milken National Educator Awards, the Foundation's most acclaimed program, which
is now the largest teacher-recognition program in the U.S. His belief in
education extends beyond teachers and the profession. The Milken Scholars
program has assisted more than 220 extraordinary students who have overcome
dramatic life challenges.
Since his mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer 36 years ago,
Milken's commitment to finding ways to accelerate medical solutions has been
unwavering. His uncanny ability to bring diverse groups of researchers,
government officials and business leaders together in collaboration has
transcended any single disease, leading Fortune magazine to call him "The Man
Who Changed Medicine".
The Milken Institute, an economic think tank, help cities and regions
develop stronger economic programs; and the Institute's annual Global
Conference brings together thought leaders from 60 nations to focus on
solutions.
Milken travels extensively to meet with world leaders in dozens of
countries, giving him a unique perspective on the global competition for human
capital. He passionately weaves together changing demographics and economics,
accelerating technology and the need for expanded access to education and
health resources into an inspiring vision of a more prosperous world for all
people.
