Faculty Profile

Degrees

EDD, University of Pennsylvania; MSED, Univ Toronto; MDIV, Univ Toronto; BA, Univ Waterloo

Bio

Michael is currently Vice President, Diversity and Health Equity for Northwell Health.  He joined the system in August, 2014.

Prior to joining Northwell Health, Michael was Vice President, Learning and Development and Chief Learning Officer for Shaw Communications, based in Calgary, Alberta.  Shaw Communications is Canada’s largest cable & entertainment company.  In this role, Michael was accountable for the identification, development and implementation of talent strategies to enable, engage and inspire each of Shaw’s employees to achieve extraordinary business and personal growth.

Prior to joining Shaw Communications, Michael joined Starbucks in November 2010 as their global Director of Leadership Development.  As part of Starbucks management team, he was responsible for codifying and leading the enterprise leadership development strategy, ensuring that the company is building a pipeline of talent to achieve its future leadership growth needs and business strategy.  In this role, Michael leveraged the iconic company brand and a leader-led approach to drive innovation in the leadership development arena while supporting new designs in developing global leaders at Starbucks.

Prior to joining Starbucks, he headed Microsoft’s China University in Beijing, where he designed, implemented and led the company’s first corporate university with responsibility for the learning and development strategy of the Greater China Region.

Michael joined Microsoft in 2008, leading the talent management, learning, and development strategy for its Entertainment and Devices division, before moving to the Sales and Marketing team in China. Prior to his time with Microsoft, he was Director of Learning, Organizational Development and Change Management for Constellation Energy, a Fortune 125 energy company based in Baltimore, MD.  In this capacity, he led a seasoned team of professional learning and OD consultants building a best-in-class centralized learning function.  Constellation Energy was named an ASTD Best Company in 2008 and a Training Top 100 company in 2007.

Michael’s earlier experience includes having served as Director of Organizational Effectiveness at Invensys, a London-based automation, controls and manufacturing company, and as Manager of Change Initiatives within the Electronic Financial Services division of Bank of Montreal in Toronto, Ontario Canada where Michael originates.  He also has held teaching and counseling roles.

Michael holds a BA from the University of Waterloo and both a Masters of Divinity and Masters of Education and Counseling Psychology from the University of Toronto. He completed his Doctorate in Work-based Learning Leadership, a joint program between the Wharton School of Business and the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael received the medal of the Order of St. John from the Governor General of Canada for his contribution to community leadership and has served on the Board of Director’s for Leadership Tomorrow, a Puget Sound Region leadership development program.   Michael has also served on the Leadership Council for the PENN CLO program.  Michael sits on doctoral dissertation committees as part of the PENN CLO program and is currently adjunct faculty at Hofstra University (Executive MBA program) and formerly adjunct business faculty at the University of Maryland, University College.

Recent Courses Taught