At the time he joined the Washington-based Federal Reserve Board of Governors in 1978, Miller had been a Class B director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston for about eight years (Textron's headquarters is in the Boston Fed's district), and he was on the board of several corporations. He was also a member of the Business Council and the Business Roundtable, and he was Chairman of both the Conference Board and the National Alliance of Businessmen. He also served on two bilateral international economic councils: the US-USSR Trade and Economic Council and the Polish-US Economic Council.