Michael began his career as a newspaper journalist, enjoying a 17-year career, much of it at the Times Union, the Capital Region’s major newspaper. Through his reporting, he became interested in the built environment and enrolled in the Building Conservation program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he earned a master’s degree. 

He joined Troy Architectural Program in 2001 because the non-profit organization used architecture as a tool for neighborhood betterment. In his time there, he managed a program that assisted low-to-moderate income homeowners fix their homes and, in some cases, helped people become homeowners. He took on preservation and urban planning initiatives as well, introducing the best practices for stabilizing the increasing number of vacated houses of worship, for example, or strategizing ways to rehabilitate the many vacant lots that plague most cities.

Michael had another career shift in 2018, when he joined a major developer that rehabilitates and reuses historic schools, hotels and office buildings, chiefly for workforce apartments. Michael oversees the rehabilitation of these buildings to ensure the work meets federal preservation standards, allowing developers to access lucrative historic tax credits.

As an agent, Michael has a pay-it-forward philosophy. He strongly believes in the power of homeownership, particularly for first-time homebuyers.

Michael is an accomplished painter whose work has been shown in regional galleries and in major online exhibitions. He lives in a 1968 split-level home, signifying his love of Modern architecture. He is a dog lover, having rescued many, especially greyhounds.