Robert Miller

Robert Warren Miller (May 23, 1933, Quincy, Massachusetts) is a millionaire, entrepreneur, co-founder of DFS (Duty Free Shops), and sailing champion.

Education & Business Interests
thumb|400px|DFS’s Okinawa venue.
The concept of 'duty free shopping' - offering high-end concessions to travelers, free of import taxes - was in its infancy when, behind Chuck Feeney, Miller founded DFS on November 7, 1960.

Duty Free Shoppers (DFS)
DFS began operations in Hong Kong (where it retains its corporate headquarters), later expanding to Europe and other continents. DFS' first major breakthrough came in the early 1960s, when it secured the exclusive concession for duty free sales in Hawaii, allowing it to market its products to Japanese travelers. DFS has been recognized as the world’s leading luxury goods travel retailer.

Robert Miller is, by virtue of his limited contribution, a significant minority shareholder (38%) in DFS alongside LVMH, which bought out Feeney’s share. DFS was the first international retailer to game the emergence of Japanese economic elites travelling abroad in the 1960s. More recently, Miller targeted the emergence of mainland China’s economic elite following the Japanese experience as a category of shoppers in the Asia Pacific. Miller’s company changed with its market. DFS’s beginnings lay primarily in duty-free liquor, but is now the leading travel retailer of luxury goods in a variety of categories. To present its new merchandise, DFS moved beyond the airport liquor store venue and into store environments executed with an eye to style in order to market the broadest portfolio of brand names in the travelling marketplace.

DFS eventually expanded to off-airport duty free stores and large downtown Galleria stores, and became the world's largest travel retailer. In 1996, Miller's and Feeney's interests were acquired by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), the French luxury goods group, for $1.63 billion. Miller still retains a 31% share of the company to this day.

DFS Turns Fifty
In June 2010, Robert W. Miller was named November’s Personality of the Month by The Moodie Report in conjunction with the Dalmore Single Malt Scotch Whisky. The Personality of the Month program recognizes those individuals — who by their deeds, attitudes and behavior — advance the luxury goods industry’s cause. Miller’s primary entrepreneurial activity, Duty Free Shops (DFS) celebrated its 50th anniversary at the DFS Galleria Sun Plaza store during a star-studded 50th anniversary gala. with a star studded gala at the DFS Galleria Sun Plaza store. DFS was founded by Cornell alumni Robert W. Miller and Charles F. Feeney in 1960. The first store was at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport. As of 2010, the duty free luxury retailer DFS has stores in fifteen countries.

The half century gala on July 10, 2010 was attended by 2000 guests, who arrived at the Sun Plaza to a surprise. They were transported to a secret location, Hong Kong’s Kai Tak International Airport, the site of the original DFS. A domed clubbing space was erected on the Kai Tak site, hosting performances by disk jockey Emmanuel Santarromana and Grammy Award-winning musician Wyclef Jean. Designers supported the event. Burberry, Celine, Chloe, Fendi and Marc By Marc Jacobs offered limited-edition merchandise specifically for the gala, including Celine’s python luggage bag and Fendi’s sequined baguette bag. Said Robert Miller, “I couldn’t be more proud and confident of our company and our people’s future than I am today.” The afterhours event culminated in Haitian singer Wyclef Jean’s performance, whose appearance reflected DFS's commitment to Hand in Hand for Haiti, the design industry initiative to rebuilding a Haitian school after 2010’s earthquake.

Founder Robert Miller greeted the celebrants at Kai Tak. “A lot has happened in Hong Kong in the past 50 years, and the changes are unbelievable,' said Miller. 'DFS has been through tumultuous times, but it has persevered and done well. That’s due to our wonderful team of people, and to their dedication and loyalty.”

Search Investment Group Ltd
In 1973, Miller founded Search Investment Group Ltd, an international investment company of which he is CEO and chairman. The Search investment Group Ltd is a large shareholder in Ortelius Capital Partners, which is an investment firm founded by Miller's son-in-law HRH Prince Pavlos of Greece. He is also principal of SAIL advisors (Search Alternative Investments Ltd),global investors in hedge funds. Along with other assets, Miller is currently ranked the 68th richest person in the U.K., down from 22nd in 2003.

Service through The Asia Society
[Green Tara Bodhisattva 14C Detail.jpeg|thumb|200px|left|Green Tara Bodhisattva from the Asia Society Collection.]
Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller III, the Asia Society exists to promote better understanding and appreciation in the United States of the peoples of Asia. The Society has been a leading interest of Miller. The Society conducts public affairs programming for members and the business community, in addition to historical and cultural activities. It was thought that a rapidly changing Asia required better understanding by Americans. The Asia Society, through its programs, still stimulates responsible analysis of the major issues confronting Asian-American relations in an attempt to gain more understanding and cooperation by the peoples on both sides of the Pacific.

This Society of which Miller is a Trustee has approximately ten thousand members. The Asia Society Hong Kong Center was established in the early 1990s ago by Hong Kong community leaders. It was the Asia Society's first overseas office, and remains the largest overseas office. Miller was important in that effort. The Hong Kong Asia Society hosts approximately one hundred events per year in Hong Kong and mainland China. Programmes include lectures, exhibitions, tours, seminars, films and conferences.

An example of the presentations supported by Miller is 'Vietnam Behind the Lines: Images from the War 1965 - 1975', an exhibition which at the Hong Kong Museum of Art during the first half of 2004. It was organized and presented by the Asia Society, the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and the British Museum. The exhibition presented an unfamiliar aspect of the Vietnam conflict: works created by North Vietnamese artists engaged in the creation of propaganda, between 1965 and 1975 in the collection of the British Museum. Combining traditional and contemporary techniques, the works revealed an extremely diverse range of media including hand-painted posters, pen and ink sketches, watercolour and ink paintings, drawings in crayon and chalk, acrylics on cardboard, and printed compositions. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Asia Society organized a series of lectures, films and other events about Vietnamese history, culture, politics and contemporary affairs.

Sailing Records
In October, 2003, Miller's monohull yacht, the Mari-Cha IV, set a new world record, becoming the first monohull ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean in under seven days. During the same crossing, the yacht also broke the 24-hour distance record, by sailing in just 24 hours. Both he and his son-in-law Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, son of King Constantine II of Greece were crew members. In 2005, the Mari-Cha IV competed in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge and broke the 100-year-old record for a West to East transatlantic crossing by 2 days, 5 minutes and 56 seconds.T he Mari-Cha IV was moored at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, which is also home to Frank Pong’s Pyewacket. Pong won the St. Barth Around-the-Island Race a few years ago with his R/P 77 Jelik. Pong bought the R/P 94 Pyewacket from the late Roy Disney. Pyewacket shared the moorings with the 140-ft Mari-Cha IV, which Miller raced in the Pacific Cup. Eventually, Miller down sized his fleet and decided to keep the older Mari-Cha III at the Royal Hong Kong YC. In 2010, the Mari-Cha III was listed for sale.

The Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, 2005
On Apr. 30, 2005, Robert Miller’s 140-foot (43m) Mari-Cha IV transited the four-mile-long gate off the Lizard, winning the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge and breaking the century-old record established by Charlie Barr on board Wilson Marshall’s 185-foot (56.4m) Atlantic. Miller’s state-of-the-art Mari-Cha completed the 2,925-nautical mile passage, across the North Atlantic between New York and the Lizard, England in a time of 9 days, 15 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds—a full 2 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes and 56 seconds faster than Atlantic’s record-breaking voyage 100 years ago.
As Mike Hanlon reported, “’It is a great feat,’ commented Mari-Cha IV’s owner Robert Miller. ‘For a record to stand 100 years, and we’ve had the honour to make an attempt and be successful at it--I am over the moon, overjoyed. It is fantastic. This was a very tough trip. We had six days of weather on the nose. We crossed the Gulf Stream, saw some very rough seas there and again had headwinds and steep short seas on the nose, and the boat and the crew took a beating.’”
During the record breaking crossing, Miller pushed the Mari-Cha III beyond its limits. The mainsail headboard and the headboard cars on both mainsail and mizzen broke. The chance of breaking the century-old record was endangered. As Miller recounted, ’[i]f the ship or the crew were in danger then we would have had to retire, but we did a very good damage control assessment and the question of retirement was never an option. We have a very versatile crew, and we can be really self-contained here, so any type of problem we have been able to overcome this time. We were very fortunate and it all worked out well for us, I’m very happy to say.”

The Mari-Cha IV’s 2005 voyage followed in the wake of an October 2003 passage between New York and Lizard in which Miller set a monohull record of 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds. In the 2003 effort, Mari-Cha IV had the advantage of being able to choosing a sailing time during optimum weather conditions. In 2005, their voyage coincided with a race start with a fixed time. Said Miller’s helmsman, “[p]retty much for the first 1,500 miles we were battling away against everything…the elements, Maximus…and we’ve still got a big battle on our hands now.” After clocking at the Lizard gate, the Challengeyachts continue to the finish line at the Needles, off the Isle of Wight, as in 1905 the record-setting yacht Atlantic did. “From a record standpoint it is very exciting, especially it being such an old record. It is not every day you break a 100-year-old record. It is incredible that a record like that stood for so long, and it was the outright record for so long, too. So obviously it was an incredible achievement back then, and they’ve made us fight for it this time as well,” continued Miller’s helmsman.

The boat-to-boat competition during the Challenge was tight, down to the finish On the Lizard approach, Mari-Cha IV cut between Land’s End and the Scilly Isles, while 40 miles astern, the New Zealand entry Maximus passed outside of the Scillies. Off the Lizard, Mari-Cha IV was engulfed in thick fog reducing visibility to just 330 feet. “We can see the bow of the boat, so it’s not true English fog, and we are VMG running down the Channel in 14 knots of wind doing 15.5 knots,” said Miller’s helmsman. Despite Mari-Cha’s lead, there was a possibility of Maximus hunting them down. “We are very concerned about the breeze shutting down, and if that happens they’ll bring it up from behind, so we have realised we have a race on our hands still,” said the helmsman. The tides were relatively weak, removing a potential tactical advantage for Maximus, which passed the Lizard at 13:18:55 UTC, 3 hours 13 minutes and 32 seconds in Mari-Cha IV’s wake. As Mari-Cha IV and Maximus reached the Lizard, A. Robert Towbin’s Sumurun, the on-the-water and handicap leader in the Classic division, was 1,653 miles off the Lizard. “We are the back of the pack, and it is pretty discouraging when you hear that the first boat has finished and you still have halfway to go,” conceded Armin Fischer, the Sumurun’s skipper. “We are about 170 miles ahead of the other two boats, but that can change very rapidly if you hit a weather system in the wrong way.”

High Society

Miller’s sense of style has set him apart on occasion. For his daughter Marie-Chantal Miller’s rehearsal dinner prior to her wedding to Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, Miller engaged renown event planner Robert Isabell to conjure a Greek temple on a London estate which hosted the event.

Family & Home Life
Miller, who is now a British citizen, remains based in Hong Kong but has houses in London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong,and Gstaad. He also owns the convert|32000|acre|km2|0|sing=on Gunnerside Estate in Yorkshire, one of the largest country estates in Britain.

Miller was born at Quincy City Hospital, Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts and is a son of Ellis Warren Appleton Miller (Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, February 7, 1898 - bef. May, 1986), a bookkeeper, salesman, and descendant of several Mayflower passengers; and the former Sophia 'Sophie' June Squarebriggs (Prince Edward Island, June 10, 1899 - Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, March 20, 1998), a Canadian-born former governess. They were married at 32 Bates St., Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, on September 15, 1923 by George E. Heath, Minister of the Gospel.

Associations
Miller attended Cornell University School of Hotel Management. He graduated in 1955, having obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Administration. While attending Cornell University, Miller joined the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, and through that organization, the Irving Literary Society. Other positions held by Miller include Trustee of the Asia Society, Independent Non-Executive Director and Member of the Remuneration Committee of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd. and Presidential Councilor and Trustee Emeritus of Cornell University.