Brendan Miniter

Scaling What He's Learned

Brendan Miniter (EMBA '16) has a simple idea that has led to a rewarding career. If we believe in a free society, we should embrace ideals that unlock the potential embedded within all of us.

As an undergraduate history major, Miniter recalls studying the American Revolution and realizing the importance of unleashing latent human potential. To do that, he first turned to journalism.

Within three years of starting as a reporter in rural Virginia, Miniter was living in New York City and working on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. His time there included such globe-shaking events as the September 11 terrorist attacks, which destroyed his office near the World Trade Center, the wars that followed and the 2008 financial crisis.

“It wasn’t lost on me how important the work was,” Miniter said. “Telling the stories of courageous people was always rewarding.”

Miniter used a few book projects — he edited two bestselling political books — to make a career pivot. By 2011, he was leading the team that built the permanent exhibit for the George W. Bush Presidential Museum in Dallas, Texas, where he worked closely with George and Laura Bush. “I got to ask them the question everyone should ask,” he said. “You spent eight years in the White House, what should we draw from that?” Then, he said, “I translated their answer into a 14,000-square-foot museum.”

The experience sparked a desire to lead a mission-driven organization. But first, business school.

“Darden was the only school I applied to,” Miniter said, “because it offered what I wanted: A rigorous education built on an ethical foundation.”

Miniter said the experience gave him a calmness and an ability to see patterns that aren’t apparent to others. After Darden, he helped The Dallas Morning News editorial page more than double its digital page views as editorial page editor and general manager of the “ePaper.”

Then, in 2021, he widened his leadership scope to become superintendent of Great Hearts Texas, a public charter school network. Miniter inherited a system facing financial and academic challenges, but again turned to his Darden experience.

In two years, Miniter increased the district operating budget by 50% to $120 million and earned an “A” academic rating from the state. He recruited a new senior leadership team, raised $50 million in the public bond markets and found millions in annual savings. Now he is thinking more broadly, and recently accepted the position of CEO of the North Texas-based Center for Nonprofit Management. He’ll start in that role in July.

“It was rare to come across a problem that I hadn’t first encountered in a Darden case,” Miniter said. “People ask me if I can name a Darden case that stuck with me. I can name 50.”