The Board of Trustees for Salt Lake Community College was spending yet another meeting discussing one report after another that were very business oriented, when trustee Gail Miller piped in that perhaps the board would be better served if it gained a stronger understanding of what the students needed.

Ever since that suggestion, a student and faculty member has given a formal presentation to the board.

"Because of Gail, we have a much higher level of understanding of our students," said Salt Lake Community College president Cynthia Bioteau. "She is an extremely smart businesswoman."

It is because of that business sense that Miller is The Salt Lake Tribune 's Most Influential Sports Figure in Utah for 2009.

The image of Gail Miller as nothing more than a supportive wife was an easy one to believe while her husband was alive.

While he reigned over his empire and often made headlines with his sometimes harsh opinions, she remained in the shadows and rarely spoke in public.

Even now she remains out of the limelight, preferring that son Greg to serve as the family's spokesperson and declining to be interviewed for this story.

Greg Miller was named the chief executive officer for the family enterprise last year when his father's health was in decline and is regularly involved in business decisions.

However, those inside and outside the conglomerate of businesses that form the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies say the widow very much asserts herself in the empire which she now owns.

"She is one of the quiet heros in the organization," said Randy Rigby, the president of the Utah Jazz/Larry H. Miller Sports and Entertainment Group of Companies. "She is very strong, with a lot of good instincts and an excellent business mind."

Whether the dealings involve the Utah Jazz and personnel issues, the auto or theater businesses or the Larry H. Miller Charities foundation, Miller is a regular presence at meetings and doesn't shy away from making decisions she feels her husband would have wanted.

"It was always a partnership for them," Rigby said of the Millers' marriage. "She shared Larry's vision and direction and she continues to express her opinion. She has a great respect for Greg's role as CEO, but she does fill that role as a matriarch."

In addition, she has resumed her place on the Board of Trustees for Salt Lake Community College, a position from which she stepped down when her husband's health became critical.

Bioteau said she values Miller's participation because she listens carefully, analyzes the problem and then offers a solution, exhibiting a problem-solving manner that makes her as strong of a leader as her husband was even if she isn't as public.

"It's uncomfortable for her to be in the limelight and it was comfortable for him," Bioteau said. "But she is as much of a power as Larry was in the Larry H. Miller enterprises."

lwodraska@sltrib.com