For over three-quarters of a century Miller-Motte has been a reputable leader in private career education. Judge Leon Motte founded the school in 1916 in Wilmington, North Carolina. The school provided the Wilmington legal community with a small training center for courtroom stenographers. Over the years the college established other campuses in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

In 1929, Phillips Business College, then known as Phillips Secretarial School, was founded in Lynchburg, Virginia by the late Marjorie Green Phillips. In 1954, Virginia Commercial College, which had been established in 1909, merged with Phillips Business College. The college continued to operate under the Phillips Business College name until the late 1990's when through a change in ownership the school became a member of the Miller-Motte family of colleges.

During the past 20 years, the colleges have added several key programs that have served the needs of the business and health care communities and provided even better employment opportunities for their graduates. Miller-Motte schools are in a continual process of reviewing, assessing, and revising their curriculum in order to keep pace with improvements in technology and the increasing needs of business and industry.