Michael was the original Founder of CEO Ventures and serves as Chairman for a number of companies within the CEO Ventures portfolio. He also serves as the original Founder and 2011 Chair of AngelPool, which is a syndication of most of the top 120 angel groups in the U.S.

His first technology venture was eTrain in 1998, which was sold for a high multiple and since then he has earned one of the best track records in the angel community for getting new companies built. Michael is a former military officer. He started his career at an IBM/Diebold joint venture advising and providing systems to commercial banks. He served over 7 years as an executive within the Risk Management Association (RMA) which advises banks on commercial lending best practices and risk management, and is a John Wiley published author in banking with books translated into multiple languages.

His undergraduate studies were at THE Ohio State University and University of Akron, and his executive studies include leadership at Stanford’s Advanced Management College and competitive strategy at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business. Michael is active in numerous volunteer leadership positions to help steward technology-based entrepreneurship, frequently lectures and provides key resources to help entrepreneurs, and has served in a number of volunteer leadership positions such as President of Atlanta’s main technology CEO association, TER. He is active in philanthropic activities, serves on the board of Lekotek which helps children with disabilities, and contributes to funding inner-city minority scholarships, autism and children’s disabilities research through his charitable-giving foundation.