[1] Miles attended Woodrow Wilson high school in Washington, D.C., and Northwestern University, where he was president of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
Miles began his career at Leo Burnett & Co. in 1961 as a Media analyst, and progressed to the position of VP Account Supervisor.
[2] Through a re-evaluation of corporate strategy and a new marketing campaign declaring "We Do Chicken Right", Miles sparked a turnaround of the struggling KFC, reestablishing the company's relationship with founder Colonel Harlan Sanders and restoring trust with franchisees.
At Kraft, Miles became well known for his mentorship of up-and-coming managers, and established a development program called the "Leadership Corridor," featured in the Harvard Business Review, which fostered current executives of companies including Gillette, CVS, and Sears Roebuck, among multiple others.
Following his executive career, Michael Miles served as a director on the board of numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Dell, Time Warner, Sears, Morgan Stanley, and American Airlines.