Nonprofit nobel: Dennis McMillian: in more than a decade of service to Alaska nonprofits, McMillian has taken the next step.

• Author: Campbell, Melissa
• Position: Foraker Group

Dennis McMillian sinks into the chair in the lobby outside his cramped offices, a cup of tea in hand, tie slightly askew. He looks tired and a little drawn, but his eyes possess a certain intensity, an energy that you see only in a select few.

He'll need it. The 51-year-old McMillian is one of the busiest, most traveled men in the state. Since June 2000, he's been the president of the Foraker Group, an organization that works to help nonprofits around the state operate more efficiently. To help these organizations, travel is one of the main requirements of the job. McMillian said he's expecting to rack up more than 100,000 Alaska Airline miles again this year, all in in-state flying. He's been to more than 50 communities in the last two years.

"When all the Alaska Airline agents know you by name, you know you've been traveling too much," he said.

McMillian first traveled to Alaska in 1992 to serve as president of the United Way of Anchorage. He did that until last April. For nearly three years, he headed both United Way and Foraker, each major nonprofit organizations. And, since 2001, he's also served as the CEO of the Alaska Community Foundation, an endowment fund that offers scholarships and community grants.

And traveling is the best way to communicate with those in the community. But that's really the key to his success, said Fred Jenkins, executive vice president of United Way of Anchorage.

"He's always gone; he's rarely in the office," Jenkins said. "One of the questions he was asked by the committee that hired Dennis was what were his plans for the first three months in the office. His response was that he wouldn't be in the office. He knew he would be out in the community. And that's where he was, and where he's been ever since."

McMillian grew up in an "Ozzie and Harriet" lifestyle in Birmingham, Ala., the second of four boys making up a middle-class Irish family, where mom stayed at home and dad worked. In his youth, McMillian was involved in the YMCA and Boy Scouts, and volunteered at church and school activities.

His education is in child psychotherapy at Cornell University and educational administration at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. During the 1970s, he managed two separate programs for emotionally disturbed children and adolescents, as well as ran a private practice as a child therapist.

McMillian was on track to go to medical school, he said. Then he saw an ad in the newspaper looking for a fund-raising...