Michael joined Renaissance Philanthropy as Director, Fund Strategy and Regional Innovation, in June 2026. He supports multiple family foundations, including The Shapiro Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, on investment and innovation-based work.
Prior to joining Renaissance Philanthropy, Mike spent 8 years at the intersection of philanthropy and investment as a strategist, builder, and investor with Atento Capital and the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF), a Tulsa-focused foundation with assets of over $5 billion.
After moving to Tulsa in 2018, Mike co-founded and launched Atento Capital, a venture capital and talent strategy firm funded by GKFF. Mike and his team at Atento, which grew to 30 people, invested in 66 companies, 31 venture funds, and 4 venture studios. One of Atento’s goals was to generate sustainable jobs in Tulsa, and of the 66 companies Atento invested in, about a quarter were based in or relocated to Tulsa. Many of these Tulsa startups are still thriving and growing, including Bioeutectics, Boddle, Medefy, and Volt.
Alongside their investment work, Mike and his Atento colleagues partnered with GKFF to attract talent to Tulsa and develop local talent and entrepreneurial infrastructure. Atento identified gaps in the Tulsa market, then designed, developed, and launched initiatives to close those gaps. Some of the largest initiatives Atento developed include Tulsa Remote, Tulsa Innovation Labs, Tulsa Responds, and Build in Tulsa. Through Tulsa Remote, the most successful remote worker relocation program in the world, more than 5,000 people from across the US and 25 countries have moved to Tulsa since 2018. Thousands more have benefited from workforce and entrepreneurial ecosystem initiatives Michael and Atento created in Tulsa. These initiatives continue to thrive in Tulsa.
Prior to moving to Tulsa, Mike worked for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign as part of the Technology and Innovation Policy team and as a full-time organizer in Madison, Wisconsin.
Before his pivot out of the private sector, Michael spent 15 years building companies across coffee shops, product manufacturing, and mobile advertising. Mike has a B.A. and M.B.A. from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, and an M.P.A. from The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Mike is married to Romi, and they have three children together, Leo, Olivia, and Sofia.