Before joining Episcopal Relief & Development, Mike was a journalist working for The New York Times from 1997 – 2009, first as deputy director of photography and then as senior editor in news administration. Mike was director of photography at the Detroit Free Press from 1987 –1997, and before that worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Dallas Times Herald, and Dallas Morning News.
 
He directed and edited work that won four Pulitzer Prizes in photography, two in New York and two in Detroit.
 
Mike is married to writer Susan Stewart Smith. They have two daughters, Taylor, an English andChinese teacher in Haverford, Pennsylvania, and Winnie, who is associate rector at Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Mike and Susan have two young grandchildren, 3 year-old Salka and one-year-old Baxter.
 
Mike grew up in Dallas and attended the University of Texas at Austin. He is an avid golfer and obnoxious fan of the Hokies, Yankees, Cowboys, Longhorns, and the PGA Tour. Mike and Susan are also the permissive parents of two standard poodles, Beatrice and Bernadette, who sometimes answer to Bea and Bernie.