Biography

Throughout his career Michael has grown his skills to adapt the constantly changing tech industry. A self-taught programmer, he started in multimedia development just as the CDROM boom began. He reinvented himself with the birth of the Internet, leveraging his experience and multimedia skills to Flash development. For a while Michael’s focus switched to IOS development, creating apps for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Most recently Michael time and efforts are in Voice Development, working, learning, and helping to define a new frontier of interactive media.

As part of the Chicago tech for over twenty years Michael has been involved with wide spectrum of projects ranging from games and interactive activities for the Internet to award-winning commercial and educational CD ROMs. He has built projects for corporate training, simulations and marketing presentations.

 In addition to development Michael has created curriculum and taught programming and multimedia development for major corporations, several area colleges and training centers. He has also been a featured speaker at several technology meetings and conferences.

A recognized leader, from early on Michael has been active in the Chicago tech community as a way of keeping on top of the industry while at the same time helping cultivate the talents and skills of the community. He co-founded and led a successful multimedia user group, planning and running monthly meetings for 17 years. Michael teamed up with representatives from Microsoft and Adobe to found RIApalooza, a multiday, platform agnostic conference, aimed at exploring and promoting the development of Rich Internet Applications. Riapalooza sold out each of the three years it ran.

Michael was a running coach for Chicago Endurance Sports for close to fifteen years helping hundreds of amateur athletes of all levels achieve their goals, ranging from 5k to marathon. Michael holds coaching certifications in running, ultra-running, and sports nutrition.