Hi! I'm Mike. Thanks for checking out my website.
I'm a Midwest native who has called New York City home for nearly a half decade now, and I love every day of it. The energy, access and challenge make it a worthwhile adventure.
For work, I run an operations team that supports thousands of journalists at a global financial technology company, focusing on building better tools and workflows that offer a competitive edge when milliseconds matter.
On the side, I'm a passionate visual storyteller and tech enthusiast.
I live in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, a rapidly developing area of NYC that is a stone’s throw away from Manhattan. It was even named the No. 1 U.S. neighborhood in 2017 for the most number of new apartments since the recession. LIC is also home to one of the best views of Manhattan.
Love for still photography spawned from my early days in TV, where I worked as a photojournalist, capturing video for a local news station in West Virginia. For every story I covered, I worked tirelessly to shoot creative angles and ensure that both the imagery and sound supported strong storytelling.
One the weekends, you can usually find me city exploring with my camera and trying new craft beers (but not too hoppy!) at NYC's microbreweries.
I'm also a lefty, which I think propels me to dabble in the creative side of things, albeit with a bit of control. I strive to balance creativity with logic and direction.
I came to NYC in July 2013 for a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity and fell in love with the city. New York was never really on my radar, but I now don't want to be anywhere else.
Pre-NYC, I worked for TV stations in Cleveland, Ohio, and Huntington/Charleston, West Virginia. I served as a photojournalist, news operations manager, fill-in news producer and executive producer of new media during my 13+ years in those different newsrooms.
One of my favorite career moments happened when I persuaded city council to alter a traffic pattern, which not only helped expedite access to the TV station but improved the overall traffic flow in the downtown area.
I'm a proud alumnus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and a native of Cleveland.
“Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes and easy smile is your museum.”