Born and raised in New England, Michael had long envisioned a career as a lawyer, but it was while he was a student at Harvard University that his future aspirations became less conventional. During summers he worked for an upscale catering company, which often found him prepping in the kitchen, bartending, waiting tables or whatever might need to get done. It was the energy and satisfaction in executing elaborate events with finesse and skill that led Michael to enroll in the Culinary Institute of America after completing his degree in Sociology with honors.

While at the CIA, Michael finished in the top five of his class, earning his degree in Culinary Arts with high honors and spent many formative hours in some of Boston’s best kitchens, learning from Boston culinary legends Gordon Hamersley, Frank McClelland and Geoff Gardner. However, sensing that professional cooking was not his long-term career path, Michael set off for Australia, stuffing his life into two severely overweight bags and called South Australia his home while pursuing a Master’s degree in Gastronomy at the University of Adelaide.

It was between classroom sessions, touring some of Australia’s great vineyards, tasting rooms and restaurants that Michael realized that the world of wine was luring him closer. He completed his academic requirements with a thesis focusing upon screw capped wines and the perceptions they elicited from winemakers and sommeliers in the United States, which was published in the Journal of Culinary Science and Technology.

Upon returning to Boston, Michael returned to restaurant life in the front of the house as a sommelier, working in the award winning wine programs at Sel de la Terre, L’Espalier, BOKX109 and Café Escadrille. He spent time working for Vineyard Road, a boutique wine distributor in Massachusetts, and was most recently employed at two international wine suppliers in multiple capacities, most notably as Education Manager and Prestige Portfolio Manager with Treasury Wine Estates and as an Educator and Regional Sales Manager with Jackson Family Wines.

Michael finished Third at both the 2010 and 2011 Top|Somm Championships, and won the Best Young Sommelier Competition in 2010. As the representative for the United States at the International Best Young Sommelier Finals in Santander, Spain in October 2010, he placed second in the world. Additionally, Michael founded the Boston Sommelier Society in 2009 and currently serves as Chairman Emeritus.

Throughout his journeys, Michael kept himself immersed in continuing his education, and in 2015, Michael’s experience and studies paid off, as he became one of only 230 people in the world to achieve the title of Master Sommelier. He is currently the Principal/Owner of Sommelier On-Demand Hospitality Services, LLC and currently resides in Groton, MA with his wife, Carolyn, and son, William.