Originally, from Columbia, SC, Mike was raised in a number of southern locales including North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida, thanks to his father Edwin, who enjoyed a 35-year career with Colonial/Big Star Stores.

After graduation from Jacksonville Terry Parker High School, Mike attended Florida Junior College in Jacksonville, followed by an additional year of studies in business management and business psychiatry at Florida Tech. [now University of Central Florida]. He spent two years with General Electric Credit Corp. as Credit Collections Manager, followed by a year with Murray Cookie Co. as Area Sales Manager He spent the next 23 years – until 1996 in the family-owned Premium Foods, Inc., a wholesale specialty foods distributor. Leaving the family owned company, he became Eastern Sales Manager for Cajun Injector. (Following a year with General Motors in 1999 and two years as North Florida Sales Manager for Adel Steel, a Jacksonville based builder of steel fabricated buildings.)

Mike and his wife Bandy live in Jacksonville where his hobbies include following both professional and college football, including Georgia Tech and the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars as well as playing golf.