BIA of Northern Kentucky executive becomes one of only seven in history to earn both the National Association of Home Builders Executive Officers Council Career Achievement Award and Executive Officer of the Year Award
ERLANGER, Ky. — September 2026 — Brian A. Miller, Executive Vice President of the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky, has received the Seldon Hale Career Achievement Award, the highest recognition bestowed by the National Association of Home Builders’ Executive Officers Council.
Miller was recognized during the 2026 NAHB Association Management Conference, held Aug. 25–27 in St. Louis, as the recipient of the 2025 Career Achievement Award. NAHB identifies Miller as the 2025 Career Achievement honoree among its four national individual Association Excellence Award recipients.
Named for former executive officer Seldon Hale, who also served several years as an NAHB field representative, the award represents what NAHB describes as the “highest level of dedication, loyalty and commitment” and is the highest recognition that can be awarded in the Executive Officers Council. Candidates must have served at least 10 cumulative years as a full-time executive officer of an NAHB-affiliated state or local association.
The honor also places Miller in an exceptionally small group in the history of the Executive Officers Council. A review of NAHB’s official individual award records shows that only seven executive officers have received both the Seldon Hale Career Achievement Award and the Gary Komarow Executive Officer of the Year Award: Jim Wahlbrink, Pat Sullivan, Renee Zentz, Paul Kane, Tim Minton, Dave Nielsen and Miller. Miller received the Gary Komarow Executive Officer of the Year Award for 2017.
Miller is the only Kentucky executive officer among those seven. The combination of those honors and his national leadership record makes Miller the most nationally recognized and decorated builders-association executive officer in Kentucky history.
“Brian has a rare ability to give volunteer leaders clear information, put difficult decisions into long-term context and keep the Board focused on what matters most without pushing a personal agenda,” said Matt Mains, Vice President/Secretary/Treasurer of the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati Land Director with Drees Homes. “Across multiple boards, his steady leadership has strengthened our governance and financial and operational stability while helping move the association toward advocacy, workforce development and greater member value. The organization is stronger and better positioned for the future because of his leadership, and our Board was unanimous in supporting his nomination.”
That assessment reflects the BIA Board of Directors’ formal recommendation, which credited Miller with providing continuity as volunteer leadership changes, preparing board members with clear information, encouraging meaningful discussion, strengthening community relationships and keeping successive boards focused on long-term direction. Mains separately cited Miller’s financial stewardship, transparency and ability to balance the roles of professional staff and volunteer leaders.
Miller has led the BIA of Northern Kentucky since 2009. His career history describes a transformation from a traditional dues-, events- and shows-based association into a diversified, workforce-centered enterprise built around advocacy, education and member value. During that transformation, the association directed more than $5.8 million in strategic investment toward expansion of workforce-training capacity, while organizational assets grew from approximately $1 million to $7 million. At the time of the award presentation, the BIA had earned 46 NAHB Association Excellence Awards during Miller’s tenure.
His national service has been similarly extensive. Miller served two terms on the EOC Board of Directors and two consecutive terms as EOC president, in addition to service as secretary, vice president, immediate past president and chair of the Nominating Committee. He chaired the EOC Workforce Development Committee and previously spent seven years leading the EOC Professional Development Committee, helping establish structured onboarding for new executive officers and later serving three years as national onboarding coordinator. His list of achievements also credits him with overseeing and coordinating the relaunch of the Association Management Conference after its discontinuation during the Great Recession.
Workforce development became a defining element of both Miller’s local and national work. His leadership helped expand the BIA’s Enzweiler Building Institute and position workforce training as a major component of the association’s long-term business model. His career record also credits him with advancing construction career pathways extending from secondary education into apprenticeship and postsecondary training.
In Kentucky public policy, Miller’s work has extended well beyond association management. His record includes advocacy to expand the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship program to qualified proprietary trade schools, establish dual-credit licensed-trades pathways for high school students, improve infrastructure and utility policy, modernize planning and development regulations, and protect housing affordability. His land-development work has also included extensive involvement with zoning, subdivision regulations, sewer and utility policy, comprehensive planning and environmental regulation throughout Northern Kentucky.
BIA Immediate Past President Mitchell Deaton of Ashley Builders Group described the result of that work as follows: the association is “stronger, more stable, and more relevant” because of Miller’s leadership. Deaton specifically cited Miller’s focus on determining what members need, identifying what the association does best, and moving the organization toward education, advocacy and workforce development rather than dependence on traditional association revenue models.
“To receive the highest recognition our Executive Officers Council can confer is deeply meaningful to me,” Miller said. “I have always believed my responsibility is to leave the association, our industry and the executive officer profession stronger than I found them. Whatever impact I have had belongs equally to the volunteer leaders who trusted and challenged me, the teammates who turned ideas into results, our members and partners, and the executive officers across the country who have taught me and given me opportunities to serve. I am extremely proud that work originating in Northern Kentucky has had an impact well beyond our region, and I am profoundly grateful for this honor.”
Miller’s receipt of the Career Achievement Award represents the culmination of a national EOC leadership path that began years before his presidency. The Gary Komarow Executive Officer of the Year Award recognized his performance during a specific year; the Seldon Hale Career Achievement Award now recognizes the cumulative record of a career devoted to association leadership, the Executive Officers Council and the building industry.
About the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky
The Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky represents the construction and development industry in Northern Kentucky and is affiliated with the Home Builders Association of Kentucky and the National Association of Home Builders. Through advocacy, education, member services and workforce development, the association works to strengthen the construction industry and the communities it serves. Its workforce-development programs include the Enzweiler Building Institute and a growing network of secondary, postsecondary and industry partnerships.
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PHOTO: Paul Kane, Executive Vice President/CEO of the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County, presents the Seldon Hale Career Achievement Award to Brian Miller, Executive Vice President of the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky, during the 2026 NAHB Association Management Conference in St. Louis. Kane and Miller are two of only seven executive officers in EOC history to have received both the Gary Komarow Executive Officer of the Year Award and the Seldon Hale Career Achievement Award. Kane received NAHB’s Executive Officer of the Year honor in 2012 and later received the Career Achievement Award
