Lillian Mills

Lillian Mills, an internationally renowned expert in tax and accounting, serves as dean of The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, a leading business school in one of the country’s largest public research institutions. She is recognized as a top-ranked scholar whose policy-relevant research influences accounting, economics, and law; an inspiring and committed strategic leader; and an award-winning educator and champion for instructional innovation in multiple, diverse settings.

Mills is responsible for the development and execution of long-range strategic planning for Texas McCombs, launching comprehensive rebranding, facility expansion, and operational oversight; innovating curriculum; and engaging the business community for faculty thought leadership and student experiential learning. Mills took the helm at the height of the pandemic, successfully transitioning McCombs’ 600 faculty and staff members and 6,000 students to online learning and executing a safe return to in-person education. She oversees a more than $170 million budget and in two years has raised more than $120 million to endow critical facilities, scholarships, and programs. Prior to becoming dean, she served as chair of the school’s Department of Accounting from 2011 to 2015, continuing its decades-long rank at No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report.

Mills is known for her passionate teaching and for creating a successful learning environment, receiving high-profile teaching awards during her career. Most recently, she received the prestigious 2023 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award from the American Accounting Association. In 2019, Mills was the first to receive the McCombs Undergraduate Amplify Award, a student-managed award to recognize faculty members who foster highly inclusive classrooms. A dedicated mentor for junior colleagues and doctoral students, Mills received the national EY Ray M. Sommerfeld Outstanding Educator Award in 2014 from the American Taxation Association. She serves as the board chair of UT Austin’s Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute.

Prior to joining McCombs in 2006, she worked on tax reform at the U.S. Treasury Department as the Stanley Surrey senior research fellow in the Office of Tax Analysis. She consulted for the Internal Revenue Service for 20 years. She was on the faculty of the University of Arizona from 1997 to 2005, and she practiced professionally with two national CPA firms from 1981 to 1989. Mills served as an editor for both The Accounting Review and Contemporary Accounting Research. She received the McCombs Career Research Award in 2019 and the 2005 Wildman Medal from the American Accounting Association for significant contributions to the practice of accounting.

Mills earned a doctoral degree in accounting from the University of Michigan and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Florida.

Outside of McCombs, she serves on the board of advisors for the School of Business and Technology at Huston-Tillotson University, a historically Black college in Austin. She also performs service in the addiction and alcoholism community. She and her husband, Jim, enjoy walking with dog Reacher, golfing, and especially visiting their grown children and grandchildren in Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and Mexico.