Michael, a native of Weston, CT, received his BA from Hamilton College and his Master's in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School. While at Hamilton, Michael played basketball for and captained the Continentals, and while at Harvard he was a Manager of the Mens Basketball Team when they won their first Ivy League title in school history.

Full Court Peace was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. For four years, the organization worked to unite at-risk, teenage Catholic and Protestant boys on the basketball court. By forming high school teams out of an equal number of boys from each side of the community, the organization learned the important lesson that small, cohesive units of youth who compete together can form lasting bonds and leadership skills, and can go on to be agents of change in their community. We are currently accepting applications for our Ambassador Trip to Belfast in the summer of 2012.

Every year, FCP sends teams of Basketball Ambassadors to foreign countries, where they organize basketball clinics for youth, and compete against local professional teams. In addition, they bring basketball supplies for local sports communities, repair courts in order to reinvigorate the basketball scene, and work with local coaches to help them continue the work once the Ambassador Team has left. FCP's first Ambassador Trip was to Cuba in 2010, which was repeated on a much larger scale in 2011.

In 2010, FCP, in partnership with the US Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, started a campaign to curb the rising tide of violence caused by the drug war in the border city. Although extremely difficult, FCP managed to see a rise in the attendance of their monthly basketball clinics, which are held at the Lupita Community Center, in the Lupita section of Juarez. FCP organizes "Mini Dribbler Teams," a model founded by FCP Board Chair Steve Yellen, wherein young boys and girls perform the tricks of the Harlem Globe Trotters in front of large crowds of their peers and community leaders.