Mike is the Chairman and CEO of  The Sunlight Foundation, which he co-founded in December 2005, through which he and his colleagues are trying to improve the transparency and thus the accountability and performance of the Congress.  The Sunlight Foundation takes its name and raison d’être from the observation of Louis Brandeis:  “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants, electric light the best policeman.”  The foundation seeks to apply this principle - that people behave better when they believe they are being observed - by using 21st Century information technology to make accessible, online through the Internet and open source software, a raft of information about the members and work of the Congress and those who seek to influence the Congress.  Sunlight has vastly increased the ability of the working press, bloggers and ordinary citizens to access and use a vast and growing amount of information, and new software tools to make that information intelligible.  This includes information about lobbying and lobbyists, political contributions, entertainment of our Senators, Representatives and the Staff of the Congress, the revolving door involving Congressional staff, lobbyists and members, all federal contracts and grants, the sponsorship of earmarks, and other similar information.

Mike is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Shakespeare Theatre Company.  Since its founding in 1985, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has earned a reputation as the nation’s leading force in the presentation and preservation of classic theater, presenting Shakespearean and other classics in an accessible, imaginative American style that honors playwrights’ language and intentions while viewing their plays through a 21st-century lens.  At its two venues, the Harman Center for the Performing Arts and the Landsburg Theater, both in the center of the nation’s capitol, STC presents productions of its own and provides affordable, state-of-the-art venues to other outstanding local, national and international performing arts companies.  STC encourages synergy among sister arts organizations, and stimulates an ongoing artistic dialogue that embraces all of the performing arts, and offers education and accessibility programs to engage diverse audiences in the arts.

Mike is also the Chairman of the Board of CoStar Group, Inc., a public company (CSGP on NASADQ), he co-founded in 1987 that provides 24/7 internet access to information about over 70 billion square feet of commercial, retail, industrial and multi-family structures throughout the United States, Great Britain, France and elsewhere, together with software tools that render that information useful to its subscribers.  It was his experience at CoStar, providing real time online access to the real estate industry that enabled Mike to envision The Sunlight Foundation, as a way to use the same information technology to provide real time online oversight of Congress and those who seek to influence Congress.

In addition to these leadership roles, Mike continues his pattern of involvement in several other businesses and not-for profit organizations.

In the business world, Mike is actively involved in two other public companies and several non-public ventures.  He is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and lead outside director of Tutor Perini Corporation (TPC on NYSE) a leading international construction company, honored by Forbes and others as the best managed publicly held construction business.  He also serves as lead outside director and Chairman of the Governance Committee of the Board of Directors of SRA International, Inc. (SRX on NYSE), a leading systems integrator, serving primarily the federal government, which has for many years been among Fortune Magazine’s 100 best companies to work for.  He previously served as an outside director of National Education Corporation (formerly NYSE), Steck-Vaughn Publishing Company (formerly NASDAQ), and of Republic Waste Company (formerly NASDAQ) all of which were acquired. From 1974 through 2005, Mike was a partner in the law firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, based in Washington, D.C., now known as Wilmer Hale.

Mike is and has been associated with a number of non-public businesses.  These include AStar Air Cargo, Inc., a freight airline serving DHL, Inc. of which he is a director and owner, a director of Oz Fitness, a chain of fitness clubs in the Pacific Northwest,   He was also the co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Zenith Gallery, Inc. a contemporary art and crafts gallery in DC and of two of Washington’s finest restaurants: Le Pavillon (1978- 1991) and Le Paradou (2004-2009).

In the non-profit world, Mike has long also been involved in a wide array of organizations and activities.  Currently, these include service as a director of The American Himalayan Foundation which supports indigenous medical, educational, health and cultural activities throughout Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan in the Himalayan region, as a member of the Board of Directors of both the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund and the Aspen Music Festival and School, and as a member of the Deans Advisory Board of Harvard Law School and of the Committee on University Resources of Harvard University.   He also previously served as a member of the Board and as President of the PEN Faulkner Foundation, as a board member of two public interest law firms, the Center for Law in the Public Interest and of Advocates for the Public Interest (which he co-founded and served as Chairman), of the Support Center, an advisory support organization for non-profits generally, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami.