2009 Public Service Alumnus of the Year, Lowell Milken is an innovative business leader and pioneering philanthropist in education reform, who serves as chairman of two global corporations, chairman of the renowned Milken Family Foundation, and founder of several nonprofit initiatives impacting education reform across the country.

Named by Worth magazine as one of America’s most generous philanthropists, Lowell is also an international businessman who chairs National Realty Trust, the largest property owner of early childhood centers in the U.S., as well as London-based Heron International, a worldwide leader in property development. His experience in business at the global level informs his strategic vision for the high-caliber educational opportunities vital to equip future generations to compete on the world stage and to secure America’s heritage as a democracy.

In 1985, Lowell developed the Milken Educator Awards to recognize the importance of outstanding educators and to encourage talented young people to choose teaching as a profession. Often called "the Oscars of teaching," the Milken Educator Awards recognize exceptional early to mid-career teachers with unrestricted $25,000 prizes during surprise ceremonies surrounded by students, faculty, dignitaries and media. First presented to 12 outstanding recipients in California in 1987, the Milken Educator Awards’ coast-to-coast network now numbers nearly 3,000 strong and is dedicated to strengthening education from local to international levels.

As chairman and co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, Lowell Milken’s dedication to education reform has been informed by more than three decades of education research, policy and practice, as well as firsthand visits to thousands of classrooms. In 1985, Lowell developed the Milken Educator Awards, which today is the nation’s most prominent teacher-recognition program.

Determined to expand the focus beyond recognizing excellence among the few, Lowell determined to create a system to generate excellence among the many. A system to attract, develop, retain and motivate the best talent to the teaching profession. In 1999, he introduced the TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement—a comprehensive approach offering educators powerful opportunities for career advancement, professional growth and competitive compensation.

Demand for TAP System reforms compelled Lowell to establish the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) in 2005. NIET partnerships have impacted nearly 300,000 educators and 3 million students in more than 1,000 school districts with sustained and meaningful improvement in teacher practices and student learning. Twenty years and hundreds of independent research studies later, NIET/TAP rubrics are being integrated into teacher preparation programs at over 75 colleges and universities.

Founded in 2011 with Lowell’s record-breaking gift to the law school of ten million dollars, the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law extends greater opportunities to UCLA law students, faculty, young law practitioners and alumni. Building on UCLA School of Law's already outstanding programs, the Lowell Milken Institute (LMI) provides expanded studies in business law and policy, clinical experience and additional research opportunities for faculty, along with faculty fellowships, student scholarships, awards and business law conferences. The Lowell Milken Institute-Sandler Prize for New Entrepreneurs is a business plan competition offering a substantial financial prize to propel the winning business plan forward. The knowledge, skills and experience gained through LMI prepare students to assume leadership roles not only in the practice of law, but also in business, government and philanthropy.

UCLA also is home to the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. As North America’s first permanent academic home for the study of music of American Jewish experience, the Center drives curriculum, scholarship, performance and the creation of new works that build upon the historic award-winning recording project The Milken Archive of Jewish Music: The American Experience, which Lowell founded in 1990.

Another transformative educational organization—the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC)—discovers, develops and communicates the stories of Unsung Heroes who have made a profound and positive difference on the course of history. Through student-driven project-based learning, students and entire communities learn that each of us has the responsibility and the power to take actions that "repair the world" by improving the lives of others. Founded in 2007 in partnership with Milken Educator Norman Conard (KS '92), LMC has reached over a million students in all 50 states, with growing global reach. The Hall of Unsung Heroes opened in 2016 at LMC’s Fort Scott, Kansas, headquarters, as a state-of-the-art museum and hub of research and discovery.

The Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena honors the legacy of Leah Hoffmitz Milken, a letterform expert known for unique logotypes and typefaces and a legendary professor for two decades. The Center is dedicated to setting the global standard of excellence in typography and design education at a time of rapidly changing visual communication methods and devices.

Lowell Milken is a graduate of the California public school system, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley, where he received the School of Business Administration’s Most Outstanding Student award. At UCLA School of Law, he earned his degree with the distinction of Order of the Coif and UCLA Law Review. In 2009, he was UCLA School of Law’s Alumnus of the Year and in 2017 the Education Commission of the States named Lowell the recipient of the James Bryant Conant Award based on his lifetime of contributions to improving education.