Michael brings more than 35 years of governance, strategy and ethics expertise to every keynote speaking engagement, meeting facilitation and workshop. With his colleagues and staff, Michael regularly works with the Boards and C-suite executive leadership of credit unions, nonprofits and organizations of all shapes and sizes to improve the effectiveness of their governance, strategy and leadership. Michael and his colleagues at Quantum Governance have worked closely with more than a third of the credit unions in the U.S. with assets of $1 billion or greater and more than 75 percent of his clients are credit unions. Michael has spent the last decade developing a battle-tested methodology for assessing governance and strategy which includes a proprietary survey tool that informs the biennial research study The State of Credit Union Governance.
Michael has also worked closely with a number of corporate clients to develop cutting-edge community involvement, philanthropic and leadership development programs centered on the training of executives and employees to more effectively execute their roles as members of nonprofit boards. His workshops and seminars for corporate executives have been extremely well-received.
Michael is a nationally-recognized speaker, having presented at conferences including: The Credit Union Executives Society, Board Source, The Conference Board, The Ethics Officers Association and Independent Sector, among others. He is an expert on topics such as governance, ethics and strategic planning for credit unions, businesses, nonprofits, associations and governmental entities. He has published articles on these topics for a wide variety of trade journals and magazines, including: CU Magazine, CU Update, Association Management, The Audit Report, BoardMember Magazine, Catalyst and Executive Update, to name a few.
Previously, he served as President of the Ethics Resource Center (ERC) – the nation’s oldest, independent ethics center. During his tenure, the organization launched the ERC Fellows Program; developed ethics centers in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Colombia; and spearheaded the rebirth of the National Business Ethics Survey. Additionally, the organization worked with leading institutions including Lockheed Martin Corporation, the Society for Human Resource Management and the World Bank Group.
Prior to becoming the President of the ERC, Michael was the Founder and President of Ethics, Inc.– a private consulting and training firm specializing in business ethics for the private, nonprofit and public sectors. Previously, Michael lead the American Inns of Court Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the skills, ethics, civility and professionalism of judges and lawyers.
Michael is a three-time graduate of Georgetown University, holding a B.A. from the College in Philosophy where he was the top graduate in Philosophy; a J.D. from the Law Center; and a Master’s Degree in Law from the Law Center. He was the first person to graduate from the Law Center with a Masters in Law and a concentration in Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Michael is always working to expand his own learning of contemporary governance, strategy and ethics issues, and recently completed Columbia Business School’s Corporate Governance Training program.
