His more than three decades as a chief public affairs officer and counselor to chief executives and boards includes deep expertise in issues and crisis management, strategic communications, global strategy and positioning, media relations, stakeholder engagement, government relations and policy advocacy.
Prior to joining Brunswick in 2022, Michael was chief communications officer and vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke University for 14 years. As Duke’s principal spokesperson, he led communications and advocacy initiatives for education, research, health care and sports in the U.S., Asia, Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. He previously served for more than a decade as vice chancellor for public affairs at Vanderbilt University.
Earlier, Michael was senior vice president for policy and public affairs at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and held news reporting and executive public diplomacy roles at the Voice of America and U.S. Information Agency.
Michael graduated from Duke and received a master’s degree in public policy from Stony Brook University. He serves on a number of civic, cultural and professional boards, including The Seminar, Mary Baldwin University, Shakespeare Theatre Company and PBS-North Carolina. He is also a visiting professor of the practice of public policy at Duke, where he teaches a course on media, politics and policy.