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Michael is Interactive Creative Director for Gage. He’s worked in Interactive for over 10 years, focusing mainly on portal and community development. His award-winning projects include interactive strategies for companies like Symantec, Microsoft, Hormel, US Bank, Wells Fargo, Sony and Cargill.

Mike’s advice to aspiring interactive types is to “Understand all aspects of your craft—creativity, analytics, technology, copywriting and branding. Even if you’re not a master in every area, you’ll learn to appreciate the other components and how they fit in the larger program to drive results.”

When Mike gets a decent chunk of time to himself, he likes traveling to the most remote places he can reach—Guatemala and Burma are two of his recent destinations—and photographing his adventures. Not surprisingly, his dream job would be Interactive Creative Director for National Geographic. Eventually, however, he’d quit and become a travel writer who would simply “wander the earth looking for hidden gems.”

Mike’s travels have led him to believe the Web is on its way to fostering global transparency, with positive and far-reaching political implications: “Once you have Google,” he says, “the world is at your fingertips. Information wants to be free.”

When travel’s out of the question, you can find Mike tinkering with his newly-purchased vintage car. He’s not yet a bona fide gear head, but he’s working on his mullet. Stay tuned.