2009 Recipients

Ken V. Miller, B.B.A. '69, M.B.A. '70, is president/CEO of The Millennium Restaurant Group, LLC, which owns and operates several southwest Michigan restaurants. He is also a principal of Havirco, an investment-management firm he started in 1983.

A marketing and business major at WMU, Miller earned a Juris Doctorate from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1977.

After practicing law in Kalamazoo for several years, Miller began to shift his focus away from his law practice to a series of business ventures, many of them in partnership with his brother. Eventually closing his law office, Miller applied his business acumen to a wide range of venture capital opportunities, including Indiana-based Biomet, a manufacturer and marketer of orthopedic and surgical products and a Houston-based oil company.

As president/CEO of Radio Associates Group, he owned and operated radio broadcast properties in Michigan, Nevada and California.

Miller was a director and co-founder of TEAM Industries Inc., a manufacturer of expanded polystyrene in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Winchester, Va., and of AvTech Laboratories in Kalamazoo, a full-service contract research organization serving the pharmaceutical industry.

Appointed to the WMU Board of Trustees in 2002, Miller is currently serving his second term as its chair. He has a long history of serving in leadership positions on numerous community and corporate boards and is a driving force in the promotion of economic development in Kalamazoo.

Nancy J. Diehl, B.A. '75, retired this year after serving for 28 years in the Wayne County, Mich. Prosecutor's Office.

A political science major at WMU, Diehl went on to earn a Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University in 1975. She began her career as a staff attorney for the Misdemeanor Defender's Office in 1978 and two years later, was named assistant corporation counsel for the City of Detroit.

Diehl joined the Prosecutor's Office in 1981 as a trial prosecutor in Recorder's Court. She worked in several capacities, including director of the Child Abuse Unit and chief of the Projects and Training Division. In 2004, she was named chief of the Felony Trial Division, overseeing general trials, child and family abuse, homicide, auto theft and major drugs.

A sought after speaker and trainer, Diehl lectures on domestic violence and child abuse investigation, prosecution and related issues. She is recognized as a leader on issues concerning child abuse and family violence. She is also the author of several booklets focusing on children dealing with abuse and the legal system.

Diehl was the 70th president of the State Bar of Michigan and the third woman in a decade to lead that organization of more than 36,000. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Governor's Task Force on Children's Justice.

Diehl has been honored with many awards including the 2004 Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Champion of Justice Award, the 2003 Women’s Justice Center Outstanding Advocate Award and the 2000 Governor's Award.

Susan Martin Bunda was appointed executive vice president of content development and strategy for CNN Worldwide in 2007 and is responsible for program creation and development and leads the network's continuing integration of television and Web.

As a communication student at WMU, Bunda produced the 11 p.m. newscast at WWMT, a CBS affiliate in Kalamazoo, Mich., and continued working there after earning her bachelor’s degree. She began her career at CNN in 1987 where she was the executive producer of the network's legal analysis show, Burden of Proof and of CNN and Company, a talk show featuring a panel of female experts debating current events. Bunda later assumed responsibility for all talk shows/guest bookings, as a senior vice president.

She was an executive producer with the CNN Special Event Unit, the network's series of prime-time specials that provided same day coverage of breaking news. That unit produced CNN's extensive coverage of such significant world events as Princess
Diana’s funeral in 1997, and Great Britain’s handover of Hong Kong to China in 1999.

Named to senior vice president for CNN/U.S. in 2001, Bunda led the network's Atlanta-based programming which was instrumental in the network's coverage of major events, including Hurricane Katrina and the South Asian tsunami.

Bunda is the recipient of the 2008 Multi Channel News Wonder Woman Class. She is also an executive member of Women in Cable and Television and a founding member of the CNN Diversity Council.