Michael graduated from Herzlia High School in Cape Town, South Africa in 1972 and obtained a BA (Honours) majoring in Economics,  at the University of Cape Town in 1977. He came to Vancouver in 1980, and obtained an MBA at the University of British Columbia in 1982. In 1985, he obtained the CGA professional accounting designation. He worked as Controller at the law firm of Bull, Housser & Tupper from 1983-93, and has operated his own accounting and consulting practice here in Vancouver since then. Between 2008 and 2011 he worked as a part-time, as the economist for the Rainforest Solutions Project, a project of a coalition of environmental organizations engaged with the BC Government, First Nations and industry in the advancement of collaborative, conservation economy solutions for the Great Bear Rainforest, a large relatively pristine area on the central and north coast of BC.  From 2011 to August of 2014, he spent four days each week providing the services of Director of Finance and Administration, under contract, to the Great Bear Initiative Society of the Coastal First Nations, an alliance of 7 First Nations with traditional territories extending from Rivers Inlet to Prince Rupert and including Haida Gwaii, and a major player in the Great Bear Rainforest collaborative agreements. 

Michael was one of the founders of the Adam va-Adamah Environmental Society and served as its Treasurer throughout its existence. He has served on the boards of numerous societies including the BC Mountaineering Club, the False Creek Watershed Society, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (BC Chapter) and the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics (CANSEE). He has served as secretary-treasurer for CANSEE for over 7 years. Earlier this year, he co-founded the Pacific Institute for Ecological Economics (PIEE), and he currently serves as President of PIEE. He also serves on the board of the Ahavat Olam Synagogue.

Since 1985, Michael has undertaken extensive self-directed study in ecological economics and has completed one Masters-level  distance learning course in the field through the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.  He was also the lead author on a peer-reviewed paper entitled The Economic Logic of Corporate Social Responsibility, published in 2006; and served on the organizing committee for the 2009 CANSEE conference in Vancouver.