International businessman and education visionary Lowell Milken has dedicated time, energy and resources to a wide range of innovative programs and organizations. An active and ardent supporter of the Jewish community in the U.S. and Israel, Lowell established the Jewish Educator Awards in 1990 to honor the most exceptional teachers, principals and specialists in BJE-affiliated day schools across Greater Los Angeles.
Over 150 JEA recipients have been honored at a unique annual luncheon that draws representation from the most Orthodox to the most secular Jews, all united in appreciation for the role of educators in the Jewish future.
In 1982, Lowell co-founded the Milken Family Foundation, which he leads as chairman with a mission to lead advances in education. Among MFF’s signature initiatives is the nation’s preeminent teacher recognition program, the Milken Educator Awards, which was the model for JEA. First presented to 12 outstanding recipients in California in 1987, the Milken Educator Awards’ coast-to-coast network now numbers more than 3,000 strong and is dedicated to strengthening education from local to international levels.
With the goal of an effective teacher for every classroom in America, Lowell Milken developed TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement in 1999, designed to attract, develop, retain and motivate talented educators through powerful, sustained opportunities for career advancement, professional growth, meaningful feedback and support, and competitive compensation. Exponential demand for TAP compelled Lowell to launch the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) in 2005 to operate TAP and partner with states, districts and schools to implement related educator effectiveness best practices. NIET’s proven reforms have impacted over 350,000 educators and 3.5 million students in more than 1,000 school districts.
In 1990, Lowell created the Milken Archive of Jewish Music: The American Experience to explore the vast panorama of sacred and secular works reflecting 350 years of Jewish life in America. This historic, award-winning recording project has grown to encompass over 600 newly recorded works—500 of them world-premiere recordings—and more than 800 hours of oral history videos. The Milken Archive’s “virtual museum” website makes this content accessible to people of all faiths and cultures.
Established by Lowell Milken in 2020, the Center for Music of American Jewish Experience at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music is North America’s first permanent academic home for the study of American Jewish music. It builds upon the historic work of the Milken Archive with unprecedented university-level support for Jewish music research, scholarship and programs at undergraduate, graduate and faculty levels. The Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience fosters artistic creativity, scholarship, performance and other cultural expression to advance and advocate for the field of American Jewish music in order to engage and educate the community.
Conceived by Lowell in 2018 and with the support of the leadership of Stephen Wise Temple, the Aaron Milken Center at Wise—opened in 2025—embodies a transformative vision for early childhood education. Inspired by Lowell’s experience as a parent of four children within the Wise School community and the chairman of the largest early childhood education company in the world, Lowell is passionate about ensuring that children have an outstanding foundation that fosters a love of learning. The Center at Wise provides a connection to Jewish values and a deep sense of community as it prepares students for lifelong success by combining world-class facilities with a nurturing environment. The Center embodies Wise Founder Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin’s dream of providing lifelong Jewish education to all those who seek it. The Aaron Milken Center will also serve as a living tribute to the late son of lead donors Lowell Milken and Sandra Salka Milken.
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes discovers, develops and communicates the stories of Unsung Heroes who have made a profound and positive difference on the course of history. Through student-driven project-based learning, students and entire communities learn that each of us has the responsibility and the power to engage in tikkun olam, actions that “repair the world” by improving the lives of others. Founded in 2007, the Lowell Milken Center has reached over three million students from all 50 states and around the world. The Hall of Unsung Heroes opened in 2016 at the Lowell Milken Center’s Fort Scott, Kansas, headquarters, as a state-of-the-art museum and hub of research and discovery.
ARTEFFECT extends the learning around Unsung Heroes as role models by inviting middle and high school classrooms to interpret these stories through the visual arts. The initiative offers opportunities for annual art competitions for middle and high school students worldwide, exhibitions, and online professional development—all to celebrate the positive difference one individual can make in the lives of others and society. The award-winning ARTEFFECT Ambassadors fellowship provides a framework for educators nationwide to learn alongside other high-level practitioners through visual-arts-focused, project-based learning.
Created by Lowell in 2014 as both a tribute to his late wife, Leah Hoffmitz Milken, and as a center to advance the research, teaching and understanding of letterform design, the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena is setting global standards of excellence as an influential force in the field of visual language in an age of rapidly changing communication methods and devices.
By setting new standards in business law education, the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy (LMI) prepares students for outstanding careers and leadership in law as well as business and government service. Established in 2011 by the UCLA School of Law and Lowell Milken, the Institute serves as a dynamic hub of research and strategy for practitioners, scholars and experts across a variety of disciplines. Conferences and scholarly events promote solutions to some of the nation’s most pressing challenges. The Institute treats law as an integral part of an entrepreneurial economy. This is exemplified by the Lowell Milken Institute-Sandler Prize for New Entrepreneurs—a cross-disciplinary business plan competition offering financial prizes.
Established by Lowell Milken in 2023, the Lowell Milken Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofits (LMPN) at UCLA School of Law serves as a central hub for education, thought leadership and scholarship at a time when the generational wealth shift is transforming philanthropy and giving. Building on the mission of the Program on Philanthropy and Nonprofits, formed by Lowell and the UCLA School of Law in 2021, LMPN is poised to become the national destination in the field. It engages leading scholars, practitioners, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, and policymakers to address important issues in this area of society, and in the process, provides essential training for the next generation of nonprofit leaders and advisors.
Lowell Milken’s historic efforts to strengthen education were recognized by the Education Commission of the States with the 2017 James Bryant Conant Award for significant individual contributions to American education. Additional awards have been presented by organizations including the National Association of State Boards of Education, Horace Mann League, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Jewish Theological Seminary, Kappa Delta Pi international honor society in the field of education, and UCLA School of Law. At UC Berkeley, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, receiving the School of Business Administration's Most Outstanding Student Award. At UCLA School of Law, he earned distinctions of Order of the Coif and UCLA Law Review. In 2009, Lowell was named UCLA Law Alumnus of the Year for Public Service. Both Chapman University and Hebrew Union College have presented Lowell with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
