Edward L. McMillan was appointed to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees by Gov. Pat Quinn in March 2009. McMillan, a 1969 graduate of the Urbana-Champaign campus with a BS in Agricultural Science, has served on the UI Alumni Association board, the UI Foundation board and is chairman of the board of managers of the UI Research Park. From 1999 to the present, McMillan has been the owner and CEO of McMillan, LLC, a transaction consulting firm which provides strategic consulting services and facilitates mergers and/or acquisitions predominantly to food and agribusiness industry sectors based in Greenville, IL.

From June 1969 to December 1987 he was with Ralston Purina, Inc. and Purina Mills, Inc. where he held various senior level management positions including marketing, strategic planning, business development, product research, and business segment management. From January 1988 to March 1996, Mr. McMillan was President and CEO of Purina Mills, Inc. From August 1996 to July 1997, Mr. McMillan presented a graduate seminar at Purdue University. From August 1997 to April 1999 Mr. McMillan was with Agri Business Group, Inc. Mr. McMillan currently serves on the boards of directors of Balchem, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCPC), Durvet, Inc., Newco Enterprises, Inc., CHB LLC., and Hintzsche, Inc. Mr. McMillan also serves as Chair of the University of Illinois Research Park, LLC and Greenville College Foundation Board.