Michael Balter
MICHAEL BALTER is a talented and witty storyteller who captivates audiences with tales of his extraordinary life. Born in Berlin, he grew up in a bombed-out building with bars on the windows and bullet holes in the walls. When the Berlin Wall went up, his family fled to Ottawa and then moved to Detroit at the height of the 1967 riots.
During the Vietnam War, Michael served as an air traffic controller at the Udorn Air Force base in Thailand. After graduating from Santa Clara University with an aerospace engineering degree, Michael joined Intel Corporation, entering Silicon Valley on the ground floor and building a successful career in sales and marketing.
In 1998 Michael was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and joined a voice recognition startup that was “this close” to an IPO when it ran out of cash. Over the next 20 years, he became a serial entrepreneur, helping to create and launch new business ventures in Oregon ranging from a toolbox company to a renaissance art firm. One of his business partners was once kidnapped by a Russian mobster, which inspired a portion of the plot of Chasing Money, his debut novel. Michael now lives in Charlevoix, Michigan.
During the Vietnam War, Michael served as an air traffic controller at the Udorn Air Force base in Thailand. After graduating from Santa Clara University with an aerospace engineering degree, Michael joined Intel Corporation, entering Silicon Valley on the ground floor and building a successful career in sales and marketing.
In 1998 Michael was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and joined a voice recognition startup that was “this close” to an IPO when it ran out of cash. Over the next 20 years, he became a serial entrepreneur, helping to create and launch new business ventures in Oregon ranging from a toolbox company to a renaissance art firm. One of his business partners was once kidnapped by a Russian mobster, which inspired a portion of the plot of Chasing Money, his debut novel. Michael now lives in Charlevoix, Michigan.
