About Mike
Mike was born in the UK and grew up in East Anglia on the North Sea coast. He moved to Yorkshire and Edinburgh for college and post-graduate study where he trained as a research engineer and data scientist. He spent most weekends in, or under, the hills and mountains of northern England and Scotland, with occasional trips to the Alps and Himalaya. In the late 1990's Mike joined Stanford Research Institute at their Cambridge, UK office before transferring to their Silicon Valley headquarters. After a time in California he relocated to the East Coast to work at several technology start-ups in the Boston area. He holds over a dozen patents in the field of speech recognition and worked on the development and launch of the iPhone's Siri.
Mike started planning his move to Alaska in the early 2000's and eventually made it to Girdwood as a full-time resident in 2015 with spouse Kalie, who was relieved to return to Alaska after time on the East Coast. Early in their time in Girdwood, Mike got involved with researching local policing solutions after the Alaska State Troopers announced their withdrawal, and was appointed to the first Public Safety Committee where he helped draft the initial contract with Whitter Police. He was elected to the Girdwood Board of Supervisors in 2017 and 2020.
When they first arrived in Girdwood, Kalie and Mike rented a home but after a year they were forced to find new housing when it was turned into a short-term rental - a very familiar story to many. They were lucky enough to eventually purchase a house in Alyeska Basin where they live with a rotating cast of friend's dogs and a fostered cat. Their adult sons both also moved to Alaska, in Girdwood and Anchorage.
Mike and Kalie have been heavily involved in the community, serving on boards or volunteering with many Girdwood non-profits, including Girdwood Health Clinic, Girdwood Rotary, Friends of Girdwood Trails, Girdwood Bear Aware, Forest Fair, Alyeska Climbathon, Girdwood Marathon, and Four Valleys Community School.
Before the pandemic they hosted StoryWood - a regular story telling event at their home to raise money for local non-profits. They look forward to restarting that tradition soon.