Michael supports CVI’s mission because humans and Earth’s natural systems are interdependent. He spent early years living in a small college town along the Erie Canal surrounded by family-owned farms producing dairy, cabbage, apples, sweet corn, tart cherries, peas, and melons west of industrial Rochester, NY, home of Eastman Kodak. In 1969, he can recall thinking something was wrong about the Cuyahoga River catching fire in Cleveland, OH, and the nearby Great Lake Ontario not being fishable or swimmable due to human impacts. In contrast, camping and hiking in Letchworth State Park, the Adirondacks, and parts of the Appalachian Trail with his dad and brother seemed natural, healthy, rewarding, and peaceful. 

Michael’s career highlights include teaching ethics, responsible business, and sustainability in the Department of Management, College of Business and Economics, Boise State University; serving as global Director of Compliance and Ethics and regulatory counsel for environment, chemical process safety management, water rights, land use, and certain transactions at Micron Technology, Inc.; and serving as Senior Attorney/Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Environmental Enforcement Section, Washington, D.C. His nuclear family of three have become avid hikers, sometimes river floaters, and dark sky gazers in Idaho.