Advisory Board

Having faced protecting intellectual property in China and quality control issues early on in his career, Mike decided to do something about it by creating the PassageMaker concept while an MBA student in the late ’90’s. Before organizing PassageMaker, Mike worked with The Brock Group, an international trade and investment consulting firm managed by President Reagan’s US Trade Representative Bill Brock in Washington DC.

Mike moved to Asia in 1994 and has structured sourcing investments in over 150 production classifications for US and European clients during his time in China. He received his double degrees in Diplomacy and Economics in Washington DC and later went on to gain an International MBA from the University of South Carolina which included a year of full-time graduate level courses at the Harbin Institute of Technology and University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

Mike is the author of “The Essential Reference Guide to China Sourcing” and has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNBC and profiled in the Financial Times’ feature “A Foot in Both Cultures”

Recognized as expert on sourcing in China, Mike has been a featured presenter for a number of high profile seminars and trade shows including Global Sources Asia Expo (HK, S. Africa, Miami, Dubai, Mumbai, Shanghai), Australian International Sourcing Fair (Melbourne), State Bar of California, Institute for Supply Management (ISM/ formerly NAPM), Boat Tech China, Rotary Foundation, US/French/German/British.

Before building a career in China, Mike spent 2 years as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar studying Japanese Factory Management in Tokyo and Osaka. Later he studied the Chinese language in Manchuria and Beijing. Mike reads, writes and speaks Chinese. Based in Shenzhen with his wife and daughters. Born in 1972.

In December 2013, Mike retired from the day-to-day management of PassageMaker. He remains on our board of advisors.