Michael grew up in New York City, studied the History of Ideas at Williams College, Human and Organizational Development at Fielding Graduate University, and “unlearned” in a small rural community in Sierra Leone, in Findhorn and other spiritual communities in Scotland, Ireland, France and the USA. He is relearning papermaking, paper marbling, letterpress printing, poetry and Tai Chi.
Michael designs and facilitates cooperative learning, capacity-building and social justice efforts and helps build collaboration networks. He worked in education, community development and social justice since the mid 1970s in Asia, Africa, Latin America and low-income areas of the USA. He was director of agricultural training for the US Peace Corps worldwide after serving as a volunteer in Sierra Leone in the 1970s, and served as country director and education advisor for Save the Children in the 1980s-90s. Over the last 20 years, Michael has led global grantmaking programs advancing children’s human rights and the right to education at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund and Banyan Tree Foundation. Michael is a Scholar in Residence at American University and has been teaching courses in dialogue education, systems thinking and social transformation since 2000. He is a founding member of The Alternatives Project (TAP) https://www.thealternativesproject.org building a global critical voice to advance new forms of regenerative education and social transformation. He serves as a board member of the Child Rights Violence Prevention Fund – East Africa, the African Child Policy Forum based in Addis Abeba, Schools for Salone (Sierra Leone), is an advisor to The Rights Studio in Berlin, and a certified member of the Global Learning Partners network.