Carla Walker-Miller is the Founder and CEO of Walker-Miller Energy Services (WMES), a 20-year old values driven company that changes lives through energy. Her high performing firm helps electric and gas utilities achieve mandated energy reduction goals that reduce energy waste, create local jobs, decrease the energy burdens on families, and reduce harmful greenhouse gases.
Started in 2000 after an 18-year corporate career in technical sales, Carla reinvented her company during the height of the recession, successfully pivoting from electrical transmission and distribution equipment sales to the rapidly growing energy efficiency industry. With 7 times revenue-growth since 2014, and average annual revenues of $25 million, Carla has molded WMES into one of the largest African American and woman owned energy waste reduction companies in the country.
Determined to create positive change, Carla is a visionary who leads with both empathy and tenacity. In 2018, she made three transformational decisions in the life of the company. She instituted a $15.00 per hour minimum wage, resolved to only recruit team members who embrace the company’s culture of kind excellence, and adopted second chance policies that give people with criminal records fair opportunities for employment.
A long-time Detroit booster, Carla champions diversity, inclusion and equity in the energy industry by aggressively recruiting and training a workforce that reflects the rich diversity of the communities her company serves. Carla is a tireless advocate for the representation of women, people of color, and historically underserved communities, believing that the inclusion of all voices elevates business, drives sustainable policies, and creates equitable opportunities for all. She is a sought-after speaker on issues relating to entrepreneurship, diversity, inclusion & equity, energy efficiency, workforce development, utility affordability and sustainability. She is a well-recognized figure in the Detroit entrepreneurial ecosystem, generously donating her time and resources to mentor smaller businesses.
An alumnus of the 2014 Detroit Inaugural Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program, Carla has twice shared the stage with Warren Buffet representing the Goldman Sachs 10KSB program.
In 2019, Carla was honored to receive the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion’s Humanitarian of the year award along with the Distinguished Business Leader award by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (Great Lakes Chapter). In addition, her company received the Michigan Energy Innovators Business Council’s (MiEIBC) 2019 Business of the Year award. In 2017, Carla received the Ernst & Young, Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Michigan and Northwest Ohio Region. Additionally, the company received both the Small Business of the Year, and the Woman-Owned Business of the Year award by the Michigan Small Business Administration in 2015. Over the years, WMES has received other numerous awards, including the Women Presidents Organization 50 Fastest Growing Woman Owned Companies, The Michigan Chronicle Newsmaker of the Year, the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) Inner City 100, and Fortune Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Businesses.
Carla’s work has been acknowledged in Crain’s Detroit Business, The Detroit Free Press, The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Energy Perspectives, DTE EnergySmarts Magazine, Essence Magazine, Forbes, Black Enterprise, MSNBC and other media outlets.
Driven by her giving spirit, Carla founded the Water Access Volunteer Effort (WAVE) Fund in 2003, while serving as a Commissioner for the City of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. The 501(c)3 non-profit has distributed more than $2 million dollars to help nearly 10,000 vulnerable Detroit families maintain access to safe water and sewer services.
Her commitment to diversity and inclusion in the energy industry has led to the planned 2020 renovation of the company’s 31,000 sq. ft. headquarters to one of fewer than 600 Verified Zero Net Energy (ZNE) buildings in the country. A ZNE building is one that generates as much energy as it consumes in the course of a year. Dubbed the “Emerald Corner”, the New Center Detroit headquarters will serve as a neighborhood energy innovation hub to help provide an on ramp for residents of Detroit to pursue careers, create businesses and thrive in the energy industry.
Carla serves on various Board of Directors as apart of her community engagement efforts. Board memberships include TechTown Governance Committee, the Mayor of Detroit’s Workforce Development Board, the Michigan Gaming Control Board, the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, the Michigan Energy Innovators Business Council, the Michigan Chapter of the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE), the Neighborhood Defender Service, the Water Access Volunteer Effort (WAVE) and several others.
Carla received her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Tennessee State University. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Oak Grove AME Church in Detroit, Michigan.