Forty Under 40: Tina Miles

BioBased Technologies LLC chief financial officer Tina Miles will tell you she’s a perfectionist, and that trait plays well in her job.

“What we do is meticulous. We dot every ‘I’ and cross every ‘T,’” she said, and those details serve as infrastructure that props up the rest of the company.

“I tell my team we support every function of the business. We can allow everyone else to do their job better by supporting them the right way, by giving them the tools they need, the resources they need and whatever assistance they need,” Miles added.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Miles has been with the company since shortly after moving to Northwest Arkansas in 2006.

She and her husband moved to the area because of his job in retail. His career previously brought them to Jacksonville, Florida.

Miles said one of the upsides for a career in accounting is that she can work anywhere. The practicality of it was always a draw for her.

She started taking accounting classes in high school. It required her to give up another elective she loved, choral music, but the move turned out to be pivotal in her career path.

When choosing her major at Robert Morris University, Miles looked at several related fields and was advised to go into accounting. Even if it was not exactly what she wanted to do long-term, she’d have more options.

“They said, if you get your accounting degree, you can do marketing, you can do finance, you can do accounting, but if you get a marketing degree, you can’t do accounting or finance. And with a finance degree you can’t do accounting,” Miles said. It was a sensible choice. And from there, “I’ve just stuck with it.”

For fun, Miles likes to spend time with her husband and two children. As a family, they enjoy listening to music and get more excited about concerts than sporting events — even when its Miles’ hometown teams, the Penguins or the Steelers. Miles is also a certified STOTT Pilates teacher.