Born in White Plains, New York to a German culinary family, Michael moved to Germany when he was 6 years old. His education, as well as military service, took place in Hamburg, Germany.
Michael began working in his parent’s restaurants at a young age and after high school graduation, he served a 2.5-year apprenticeship with Canadian Pacific Hotels in Hamburg, followed by an 18-month military service in the German Army. After this he started his hospitality career at the Four Season’s Hotel in Hamburg in food and beverage, soon realizing that his passion was in the rooms division. This is when a 29-year run with Marriott International started.
Michael joined the Hamburg Marriott hotel front office team and then transferred to the Marriott Orlando World Center where he started in night audit and then moved back to the front desk. His next step was manager on duty for Marriott’s International Drive property in Orlando. His next transfer took him to the Munich Marriott where he oversaw the front office, reservations and then was promoted to the sales department as Director of Group Sales.
Michael also assisted with the opening of the Bremen Marriott Hotel and the Ramada Munich Airport.
During his time in Munich, Michael graduated from the American Hotel and Motel Association with a diploma in Hotel Management. From there he moved to the west coast of the US where he worked at the Monterey Marriott in Group Sales. Michael’s next promotion took him to the pre-opening sales office for Grande Lakes Orlando, where he was a Senior Account Executive handling both the 1000 room JW Marriott and 582 room Ritz-Carlton hotels. His broad market experience included Florida’s State Association as well as West Coast Corporate and Association accounts. It was at Grande Lakes when Michael began handling the HPN Account as the single point of contact.
After a decade at Grande Lakes, he joined Starwood and the sales team of the 1500 room Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort where he also worked West Coast Corporate and Association accounts as well as the Midwest market. In April 2018 Michael retired from Marriott and joined the HPN Global team.
Michael has been married to his wife Sharon since 1994. Michael and Sharon reside in Orlando, FL where they raised their two daughters, Ashley, 22 and Evelyn, 20.