Michael offers 25 years of housing development, innovation, and policy experience, including co-founding a construction technology company, developing over 2,000 units of multifamily housing, and serving as an advisor to two San Francisco mayors. 

Prior to launching Black Oak in 2023, Michael was managing director of MX Studio, a division of Lendlease Digital.  At MX, Michael cultivated product development partnerships with a diverse array of global supplier-manufacturers in the industrialized construction space.  His role included managing an R&D team, sourcing new business, and developing internal testing processes.

Michael was cofounder at Social Construct (SoCo), a venture-backed multifamily construction tech start-up, from 2018 to 2021.  The SoCo platform combined a prefab kit-of-parts system with software-enhanced logistics to achieve on-site labor and schedule savings.  In three years, SoCo raised $17M, designed its own suite of hardware, established an independent supply chain, and delivered a proof-of-concept apartment building in Oakland.

From 2012 to 2017, Michael was a partner at San Francisco-based Build Inc., leading a 7-person team responsible for entitling and delivering a 2,000+ unit pipeline of multifamily projects.  He also founded PlaceLab, a public-private partnership incubator, and was an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley, teaching land use law and economics.  

Michael was a senior advisor to San Francisco Mayors Gavin Newsom and Ed Lee from 2008 to 2012.  He secured legislative reforms to streamline the City’s development processes during the Great Recession, passed the city’s first Infrastructure Financing District, and negotiated several public-private development agreements, including the $7B, 152-acre, 5,600-unit Parkmerced project.  

As Development Director at Martin Building Company from 2005 to 2008, Michael secured entitlements and financing for hundreds of housing units and created the first Mello-Roos-financed street-to-plaza conversion.  

From 2001 to 2005, he was an attorney at Farella Braun + Martel, a San Francisco law firm, providing land use and real estate counsel to private developers and local governments.  

Michael’s passion for purpose-driven work began in Peace Corps Niger, where he helped launch women-owned micro-credit banks and plant over 5,000 trees to combat desertification.  He holds a JD and MCP from UC Berkeley, and a BA from Williams College.