Michael is best known for his highly practical, “use-it-immediately” approach and entertaining and engaging teaching methods. Successful Meetings magazine searched nationwide and selected Michael as one of two “unique, exceptional speakers who provide real entertainment value with important messages that listeners can apply to their jobs immediately.” Corporate Meetings & Incentives magazine identified Michael as one of 15 “sure-thing speakers.”

Michael is one of the highest rated keynote speakers for SOCAP, the national organization for customer service directors of the best known Fortune 500 companies in North America. He has provided training for large and small organizations and businesses including Nordstrom, Mercedes-Benz, Gillette, Motorola, International Paper, Zurich Kemper, Frito-Lay, Choice Hotels, Kodak, and many others. He has presented for organizations that work in environments of the highest pressure and accountability. For example, he has served for over five years on the faculty of the management training academy at NASA and has worked for the JFK School for Special Operations and Warfare where they train Delta Force, Rangers, and other special forces.

Michael’s Juris Doctor degree is from the University of Chicago. He served nine years as a trial lawyer and partner in a firm in Chicago until he left the practice of law in 1989 to pursue full-time his true passion of teaching and speaking. His undergraduate degree in Speech Communication is from the University of Illinois at Urbana, where he graduated summa cum laude as a Bronze Tablet Scholar, the highest academic distinction awarded by the University.

Michael’s presentational skills have been enhanced from a diverse variety of creative experiences, including graduating from the famed Second City improvisational theater school in Chicago, writing and performing in a live production with Jim Henson’s Muppets for HBO and the American Library Association to encourage young people to read, and performing as a professional magician for over 25 years.