Richard M. Millard was born in Athens, Tenn. During World War II he served in the Army Air Forces in the South Pacific. After graduating from DePauw University, he earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in philosophy from Boston University. He started his career in education teaching philosophy at Boston University in 1949 and became the dean of its liberal arts college in 1961.

From 1969 to 1981, he was the director for post-secondary education at the Education Commission of the States, a not-for-profit organization in Denver that promotes education policies. He was chancellor of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education from 1967 to 1969 and was a leader in the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.

Millard was the president of the Council on Post-Secondary Accreditation, the national organization that coordinates the accreditation of all public and private educational institutions, in Washington from 1981 to 1987. The council includes all organizations that accredit primary and secondary schools, as well as those that accredit colleges and universities.