Bio

A recognized leader in the hospitality industry, Michael has led major restaurant chains, created and successfully exited a restaurant start-up and innovated a restaurant brand for a luxury retailer. Michael is currently a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School where he teaches "Challenges and Opportunities in the Restaurant Industry." Previously, Michael served as President of Metromedia Restaurant Group, comprised of Bennigan's, Steak and Ale, Bonanza and Ponderosa, led the creation and implementation of a multi-unit luxury restaurant concept for Saks Fifth Avenue, co-founded, operated and sold a restaurant group to Centerplate, Inc., and established Pond Hill Ventures LLC to advise and invest in hospitality ventures. Michael also served as a managing director of the acquisition arm of Metromedia Company completing acquisitions in the restaurant, software, motion picture and automotive parts segments, and as a corporate and mergers and acquisitions lawyer with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton and Garrison in New York City. In addition to his deep operational and advisory experience, Michael has served on various boards within the industry including as Chairman of the Board of the National Restaurant Association and the NRA's Educational Foundation and as a Trustee of Northern Westchester Hospital, and is a Trustee emeritus of the Culinary Institute of America, and has served on the Boards of Benihana, Inc., Culinary Concepts by Jean-Georges, and the Chappaqua School Foundation (including as its President) . Michael is also a member of the Consumer Executive Advisory Board of Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco private equity firm. His awards include the Cecil B. Day Ethics Award, FTA Hospitality Award for Leadership Excellence, and the Golden Chain Award. A graduate of Harvard College, magna cum laude, and Harvard Law School, cum laude, Michael lives in Chappaqua, New York.