Michael is a Managing Director and Principal at Robertson Stephens. Operating out of the Downtown Bellevue, Washington office, Michael works with Dr. Eli Ince, PhD, CFA and Adam Robertson to advise and support high net worth individuals/families, senior executives, and business owners on a wide range of wealth management issues, including risk allocation strategies, financial planning, business exit planning / generational wealth transfer. Michael draws on his 33 years of professional investment and capital markets experience in every aspect of his clients’ financial lives. As a wealth manager, Michael meets clients at their “financial pain points” and acts as a “personal CFO”, striving to expose and address financial blind spots with an aligned and unbiased perspective.
Prior to joining Robertson Stephens, Michael was a Founding Partner and Senior Investment Committee member at Steelhead Partners, a Seattle, WA-based Hedge Fund. For over 20 years, he played key roles in developing investment portfolio strategies across a broad cross section of industries and in building strong relationships with portfolio company management teams, limited partners, and banking counterparties. Preceding Steelhead, Michael was a Vice President at Ragen MacKenzie Inc, an NYSE-listed Member Firm specializing in research and investment banking with Northwest-based companies. Michael started his career at a prominent Seattle Family Office holding company, where he vetted public and private passive investments and provided financial analytical support to internally owned operating companies.
Michael earned a BA and an MBA in Finance/English & Information Systems from Seattle University (Seattle, WA). In addition to serving on the board of the Overlake Hospital Foundation, Michael also acts as an advisor to emerging companies in the Puget Sound area. Michael lives in the Bellevue area with his wife Lauren and two children. The Ridgeways spend time together enjoying the outdoors across the Pacific Northwest.