Mike grew up in upstate New York where he fished and snorkeled around cold, dark lakes as often as possible. His dream was to work at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and spend time in and around the ocean. When his family moved to Colorado, he was forced to put his oceanic career on hold; Mike spent eight years in the military and graduated from Regis College with honors, beginning a career in technology where he became a Chief Information Officer and eventually General Manager for a large data company in Denver. He has traveled extensively for business and pleasure – his favorite land destination was Zimbabwe, and his favorite diving trip was to the Socorro Islands. Mike lives in Broomfield and now splits his time between management consulting, training students in his self-defense business, traveling and diving with his wife Erin and teaching scuba at Ocean First including middle and high school students in the TIDES program. He has been diving since 2009 and has been instructing since 2017 – all of his certifications and professional training were completed at Ocean First. Mike’s dive travels have taken him to Key Largo, Cozumel, Fiji, the Caymans, Roatan, the Socorro Islands, and Guadalupe Island where he got to see great white sharks up close and personal!