Michael manages our land conservation program. He has spent over 15 years in the non-profit land conservation industry with another 10 years working as a consultant to private landowners for conservation and natural resource management strategies.
Michael is a licensed real estate professional with over 12 years’ experience transacting farm, ranch, and conservation lands. In addition to his work in land conservation and real estate, he also has nearly 20 years’ experience in geospatial technologies with an emphasis on land and community planning. He has worked to conserve directly and in partnership over 200,000 acres of land in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina.
Michael has direct experience in conservation funding and planning for parks, greenspaces, green infrastructure, residential developments, large estate properties, and landscape scale conservation efforts. Through his conservation work, he has secured well over $200M in funding for conservation and transacted over $500M in land and other real estate. Through his geospatial work, he has produced thousands of mapping and design assets over his professional career. Michael focuses on creating information that is accurate, effective, and useful over time and is inspired by developing content and tools that enable people to become more engaged and informed. Examples include helping design green infrastructure planning for the Hill Country of Texas and discovering affordable housing opportunities in Los Angeles County.
Michael also gives back to his community and currently serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the New Mexico Land Conservancy and is a Board Member of the City of Albuquerque Open Space Advisory Board.
Michael received a Graduate Certificate in GIS from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon and a B.S. in Environmental Science from Western Washington University, Huxley College of the Environment in Bellingham, Washington. Michael also holds a second-degree black belt in Shoshin Ryu Martial arts and is an avid tennis player. Michael hails from rural Arizona and Eastern Washington State. He and his wife currently live in beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico.
