With over 25 years of investment experience, Michael combines the knowledge depth of an analyst, the broad perspective of a portfolio manager and the leadership mindset of a business owner to focus on actionable insights.

Michael is Principal of Simon Venture Development, providing strategic capital consulting to entrepreneurial founders and investors in private businesses. He is a partner at Holt Capital Partners, serving as co-chief investment officer for large and complex multi-manager investment portfolios of families and charitable institutions. Michael serves on the investment committee of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. He is an Independent Trustee of The Oberweis Funds and chairs the Audit Committee. Michael is a Director and member of the Asset-Liability and Risk/Technology/Compliance Committees for Southwestern National Bank, a community bank serving Asian immigrant communities in Texas and California.

Michael is a seasoned value investor. Between 2001 and 2010, he served as Senior Portfolio Manager and Global Partner with Invesco. As a senior leader of the top-performing value equity team with $15B assets under management, he was directly accountable to the mutual fund board of directors. He served as head of financial sector research and regularly provided perspectives to such groups as the JP Morgan Bank CEO Conference, Bank of America’s senior leadership team, and the FASB Strategic Focus Group.

At Luther King Capital Management from 1996 until 2001, Michael was an Equity Analyst supporting investment decisions in the financial and consumer staples sectors. Michael started his career in banking, implementing the newly introduced risk- based capital guidelines and performing acquisition due diligence.

Michael holds a Master in Business Administration from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago where, having graduated with high honors, he is an Amy and Richard F. Wallman Scholar. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in finance from Texas Christian University. Michael is a CFA charter holder and a member of the CFA Society of Houston.

Having traveled extensively, Michael is interested in international relations and has been active with the World Affairs Council of Houston and the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations. He is an executive volunteer for the Prison Entrepreneurship Program and mentored a graduate in founding UXD, a successful art agency focused on commercial murals. Formerly, Michael served as Occasional Faculty in the Finance Department at Texas Christian University and is regularly asked to guest lecture, most recently at the University of Houston, Washington & Lee University, the University of St. Thomas, and the University of Florida. He served as a Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee for Heads-Up Technologies, Inc.

Michael lives in Houston with his wife of 25 years. They have two sons, a high school senior and a recent college graduate from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in Physics.