A native of Seattle, Washington, Mike’s family relocated to Jacksonville, Florida in the early 1970s when his father Mike Sr. took a position at an Atlas Van Lines agent to build their DoD business. Mike’s upbringing as a 2nd generation mover involved working the trucks and the warehouse while in grade school and college.
After graduating from college in 1992, Mike took a position in the sales and marketing department of Jacksonville, Florida based Suddath Van Lines. He transitioned into other roles including national account move coordination, van operator training and long distance dispatch before being relocated to the Pensacola, Florida branch office. Here he began his journey in local dispatch and warehouse management. After three years in the Florida panhandle, he was transferred to New Jersey where he managed the local operations for Mayflower offices in the NJ/NY market that were acquired by Suddath. After a short stint in the northeast, Mike was moved to run the local and regional dispatch operations in Atlanta, Georgia for Suddath Van Lines.
Mike’s career shifted to the freight forwarding part of the business when he accepted a job at Orange Park, Florida-based Senate Forwarding in 2000 where he currently serves as the Vice President over the International DP3/OTO program. During his time at Senate, he has been involved in all phases of the forwarding business including rate filing, operations and claims/quality control management. Under Mike’s leadership, Senate was an active participant in the re-engineering three state pilot, the Navy SAM program and the Full Service Moving Project.
In 2003, Mike was elected to the board of the HHGFAA (now IAM) and has chaired various committees including the Accessorial Services Committee and Carrier Relations Committee, as well as serving as a past ISA (International Shippers Association) Chairman. Mike was elected the Chairman of IAM at the Annual Meeting & Expo in October of 2020 and served in that role until 2023. He continues volunteering for IAM as a committee member of the Government, Congressional and Regulatory committee (G.C.R.) and the Ethics Council.
After thirty-three years in the business, Mike still values the time he spent in the “trenches” of the moving and storage industry and applies that experience every day in trying to make the relocation process better for all our customers. He resides in the Jacksonville, Florida area with his wife Julia and has two children. He enjoys being outdoors, whether attempting to catch a fish or chasing a little white ball around on the golf course.
Mike is a proud inductee to the Hall of Honor alongside many legends in the industry including his father, who was inducted in 2009.