Michael earned bachelor’s degrees in history and accounting from the University of Wyoming where he also studied law. He is a certified public accountant. Although Michael started his career in public accounting in Casper, Wyoming working for a CPA firm that had many farm and ranch clients, his career changed dramatically when he began to focus in the areas of forensic accounting and fraud investigation. In fact, it was a fraud he uncovered at the National Potato Promotion Board in Denver that ended up tying him inextricably to agriculture. He was subsequently hired to be the Director of Finance for the Almond Board of California and later became the CEO of the largest dairy producer trade association in the US at Western United Dairymen in Modesto. After consulting for a few years in the areas of litigation support and complex financial transactions in Federal District Court, Michael returned to his true passion advocating on behalf of America’s farmers and ranchers at NCAE.